Caetano Veloso

Throughout his four-decade career, Caetano Veloso has had a taste for musical innovation, keeping a keen eye on new sounds and tendencies while creating something of his own around them. It was the case in the era of Tropicalia, his native Brazil's psychedelic response to the Summer of Love. Veloso was also instrumental in bringing the Afro-Brazilian beats of Olodum and Carlinhos Brown to the international markets via Paul Simon and David Byrne, which eventually opened doors for a huge number of Brazilian artists stateside. For his current tour, which supports his recently Latin Grammy-winning Cê (Nonesuch), he leaves behind the lavish arrangements and stage settings common in previous outings. Instead he will be backed solely by his own acoustic guitar and a trio formed by Pedro Sá (electric guitar), Ricardo Dias Gomes (bass), and Marcelo Callado (drums). These much younger musicians give Veloso's music a rockier edge that brings to mind the material he played in the late Sixties with Os Mutantes and Novos Baianos.

With the current band, even the few classic tunes on the set list sound completely different. On "Sampa," his love letter to the city of São Paulo, the usual bossa nova feel is abandoned in favor of an electrified sound. The core of the show, however, draws from the new disc, whose songs are mostly about his then-recent breakup and other personal losses.