Os Mutantes’ show was originally scheduled in the Commodore on September 3rd 2009 but then the venue changed to the Rio Theatre on Commercial Drive. Well, I was not super happy about this change; even though the band is Brazilian and playing at “Rio” Theatre...
First of all , people were buying popcorn! That’s really bizarre because Os Mutantes was a freaky-voodoo psychedelic rock band in the 60’s , and I guess their Vancouver fans can do whatever they want , which includes eating popcorn while watching Os Mutantes.
The opening band was Strange Magic from Vancouver. They have a new EP called “Songs to Burn” .They were good but the sound system was bad and yeah they were the opening band and people at Rio Theatre were hungry for their popcorn! I’m not sure if I liked them so I will probably see Strange Magic one more time(hopefully there won’t be any popcorn this time!) They reminded me a little bit Stereolab.
Os Mutantes is touring for their new album Haih or Amortecedor. It’s totally a new line up with the original founding member Sergio Dias. Sergio was wearing his magic robe, similar to the one that he was wearing on their super cosmic debut album’s cover.
They had a mixed set with their old and new material both in English and Portugese. They played “A Minha Menina,” probably one of their best songs. The new songs are good although there was one cheesy salsa song, which I could have done without. There is also one song on this album that Sergio Dias said he co-wrote with Tom Ze (another important Brazilian musician from Tropicalia Movement) when you heard it you could tell it had that weird Tom Ze vibe, the song is called '2000 e Agarrum!' The guitarist played clarinet on the new songs and I think that the clarinet mixed with Os Mutantes’ sound very well.
They concert finished with their voodoo mantra Bat Macumba, which I really enjoyed. Overall it was a good concert -in a better place, at a better time, it would have been....better! When I say that I am talking about the Rio Theatre and the audience (a few drunk, popcorn eating yahoos). There were lot of distractions, the lighting and sound system was not good and it was a little difficult to focus on the band’s performance.
Hey , did you notice that I used the word “popcorn” more than Os Mutantes.
Ps :
