Curiosities

The famous Sucata club in Rio de Janeiro decided to go with the daring new sound of Tropicalism and, on the night of Friday, October 4th, 1968, inaugurated a two-week run of memorable shows.

The Tropicalists were hot from their runaway success at the FIC, but the shows at the Sucata in the weeks to follow would surpass anything that had gone before: screams, whistles, sighs, distorted guitars and ironic ripostes to the heckling of the audience.  Advertising for the show attempted to forewarn the unwary: “An aggressive show, different to anything you have ever seen”. Forewarned or not, the public showed up en masse at the nine-day run.

Excitement at the shows was contagious. Nobody remained indifferent – some were scandalized, throwing eggs, tomatoes and ice cubes at the stage; others, excited or scared; there were also those who got into the vibe and climbed up on stage to sing along and dance. Film directors from Brazil’s cinema novo such as Glauber Rocha, Cacá Diegues, Arnaldo Jabor and Leon Hirszman were among the most enthusiastic…

The show began on a less aggressive note, with two numbers from the Mutantes. The high point was left to Caetano – and no holds were barred: he swung his hips, did somersaults, headstands, crawled across the stage, sang lying down…

His choreography was always accompanied by an outraged chorus of “Faggot! Faggot! Faggot!” But the artists soon incorporated the refrain into their own ironic improvisations. The real scandal was when an American hippie, Johnny Dandurand, came on stage, the very same who had irritated the crowd at São Paulo’s Tuca theatre by howling and screaming incomprehensibly into the mike during “É proibido proibir”.

The madness was such that the October 10^th show made the front page of Rio’s Última Hora newspaper, in an article headlined “Show is a night of madness with a happening by Veloso”. The photo showed Caetano stretched out on the floor of the stage. Screaming “Stop, stop! This is just showing-off! Get off! Off!” a girl tried to interrupt the show, but had the opposite effect, stirring the musicians and the crowd to even greater extremes. To the deafening beat of the music, the packed club went literally delirious.