Bebel Gilberto, Brazilian chanteuse extraordinaire


What a great show in a great venue. I haven’t been to The Fillmore in years though after this visit, I’ll make sure to show up more often.

My spouse and I (along with another couple which includes a Brazilian) went to the show last night. I’ve been steadily listening to more Brazilian music over the past few years and this was a great chance to see a popular performer put on a high energy and passionate show. Most of the songs played were new to me, I could only identify two from the entire set, but that didn’t really matter. A mixed crowd of Brazilian ex-pats along with the San Francisco natives were engaged and happy. It was something of an older crowd (thankfully) but still managed to muster good enthusiasm for the show.

The band was great and was comprised of two guitar players, two percussionists, and a utility wind player that switched between instruments. But the star of the show was Bebel and her smooth vocal stylings. Many of the lyrics were in Portuguese but that didn’t really matter as the music conveyed the feeling behind each piece. The place was packed and friendly, the music was great, the company was great, what more could you ask for?

The only other things I’ll observe is, it was overly loud for the type of music being presented – I think that’s come to be expected here. The other thing was a couple that stood in front of us most of the concert that seemed to be engaged in a bad Saturday Night Live parody of Dirty Dancing. Hey, Baby says “get a room!” That may be the unfortunate side effect of the concert; as a Bebel song played this morning all I could think of was that couple dancing and I started laughing…

If you haven’t heard the great Bebel Gilberto sounds, visit her site and have a listen. It’s great. So Nice (Summer Samba) is my favorite.

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