Live Review: Seu Jorge, Karol Conka

It’s no surprise that Sydney Festival is once again delivering the goods when it comes to celebrating a diverse range of music to kick off 2015.

Anyone who thought this gig was going to be a low-key, sit-down event were sorely disappointed – Seu Jorge’s show was one big Brazilian street party.

Fellow Brazilian Karol Conka started the night with her unique style of hip hop, owning the stage with her trademark sassy showmanship, red Docs and pink hair. Rocking it like a Brazilian M.I.A., Conka had the whole crowd riled up and ready to party. Featuring some intricate percussion configurations (using materials from a construction site, including witch’s hats and plastic tubing) mixed with heavy bass, Conka spread some seriously positive vibes. One of the great things about the Sydney Festival is being able to experience types of music and different cultures that you may otherwise not get to. Karol Conka is a rising star well worth checking out, especially if you’re into hip hop (or even if you’re not).

The arrival of Seu Jorge was highly anticipated, and though the audience had to wait a while, any energy lost from the wait between this and Conka’s set was regained quickly. Strutting on stage clad in aviators and a leather jacket, jazz flute in hand, Jorge wooed the crowd with some incredible jazz-funk, showing off his talent as a multi-instrumentalist. His vocals were second to none, and a big take-away from this show was how much fun the band seemed to be having up on stage producing this amazing music. There were some pretty full on guitar-faces and onstage banter, as well as some of the best guitar work we’ve seen in a while, possibly ever. Each of the band members was exceptionally skilled, and their sound was super tight.

Seu Jorge’s style is hard to define – it’s a fantastic mixed bag combining elements of jazz, funk, salsa, pop, rock and even reggae. Nonetheless, it works, and there’s a reason why he’s so popular both in his home country of Brazil and all over the world. The language barrier was not really a problem during the music parts of the show, but whenever he spoke to the audience it was in Portuguese. This wasn’t a problem for most people in the crowd, though some of the interaction was lost on those not lucky enough to be bilingual.

Losing the sunglasses for an acoustic interlude, later it was just Seu Jorge on stage with his guitar. This moment is arguably what a lot of people bought tickets for, and his cover of É Isso Ai (The Blower’s Daughter) was heartfelt and beautiful. David Bowie fans were not disappointed when Jorge played two of his infamous covers from Wes Anderson’s film The Life Aquatic – Rebel Rebel and crowd favourite Life On Mars.

With his bandmates dancing back on stage for the last few songs, Seu Jorge rounded the night out with more funk and salsa, the show culminating in a dance party of the most unlikely people you’ve ever seen in a room together – a perfect example of what the Sydney Festival is all about.