Lovely Legião Urbana
The double live CD Como É Que Se Diz Eu Te Amo presents concerts recorded in 1994
Silvio Essinger
23/03/2001
The cover reproduces the ticket for the concerts that took place on October 8th and 9th, 1994, when the band played for ten thousand people on each night, in Rio de Janeiro. The concerts can be checked out now on the double CD Como É Que Se Diz Eu Te Amo 
(EMI). More than two great moments for Legião Urbana, the concerts were also symbolic: three months later, the band would play its final show and, exactly two years later (on Ocotber 11th, 1996), leader Renato Russo would succumb to Aids, which he had been fighting since 1990.
The ticket on the cover looks like a relic that only true fans keep - not surprisingly, because, in fact, Renato Russo lived for his fans. "We're here on this stage, but you are the real Legião Urbana", he says, in one of his spoken interventions (and few artists were better at it than him), with his typical half-teacher, half-elder brother tone. "If it isn't masturbation, you must wear condoms", he said.
But the interest raised by Como É Que Se Diz Eu Te Amo is not restricted to the fans. The band was in excellent shape - the original members, Dado Villa-Lobos (guitar) and Marcelo Bonfá (drums), and the new ones, Gian Fabra (bass), Fred Nascimento (acoustic and electric guitars) and Carlos Trilha (keyboard). Besides, Legião had put out one of their best albums, O Descobrimento do Brasil
, from 1993, whose repertoire filled the set list.
Tour de force
This is certainly the most attractive posthumous release of Legião material, which include Uma Outra Estação (1997), Mais do Mesmo (1998) and Acústico MTV (1999). In an interview to the reporter at the time, Renato (who would be turning 41 on March 27th) told how they were plaanning a tour de force, willing to perform over 30 songs: "The show should have a tighter script, with connections between the songs, offering an overview of our music".
It is possible to feel the balance on the first CD. Two hits - Será and Eu Sei, impeccably performed - make way for La Nuova Giuventù. Two more hits - Ainda É Cedo (with a citation of the Rolling Stones' Gimme Shelter ) and Daniel Na Cova dos Leões (with Dado's and Fred's guitars very much in display) - are followed by three new songs: Vinte e Nove, Um Dia Perfeito and Os Anjos.
The acoustic set brings high impact tracks: Monte Castelo, Quando o Sol Bater na Janela do Seu Quarto, Geração Coca-Cola, O Teatro dos Vampiros and Meninos e Meninas. Somewhere through the show, Russo reminded the audience that the band was entering its tenth year - and the crowd unexpectedly sang Happy Birthday to You.
Disc two concentrates Legião Urbana's anthems, the songs that granted Renato Russo the Messiah reputation: Pais e Filhos (which features the symptomatic verse "We have to love everybody as if there was no tomorrow"), Faroeste Caboclo, Tempo Perdido and Índios (one of the songs that the vocalist interrupts to start talking with the audience). Then comes the cathartic Perfeição, featuring a few lines from Nirvana's Lithium - Kurt Cobain had taken his own life a few months before and had been devastated by drugs. The Legião leader was in rehabilitation process, back then: "I was almost following Cobain's steps, but I have found people to help me", Renato told the reporter. "The album [Descobrimento do Brasil] is about that."
The track (Vamos Fazer um Filme) that bore the sentence picked to name the album was taken from that album. "How do you say 'I love you' these days?", he would ask his fans. A tender moment right before the sonic attack with Que País É Esse. Years later, on their Acústico MTV , the group Paralamas do Sucesso would reinforce the firing power of the song.
Dedicated to Lucy Needham Vianna (who died in the same accident that left her husband, Paralamas leader Herbert Vianna paraplegic), Como É Que Se Diz Eu Te Amo brings sincere moments that renew Renato Russo's myth qualities. A real myth, the type that cannot be manufactured.
(EMI). More than two great moments for Legião Urbana, the concerts were also symbolic: three months later, the band would play its final show and, exactly two years later (on Ocotber 11th, 1996), leader Renato Russo would succumb to Aids, which he had been fighting since 1990.The ticket on the cover looks like a relic that only true fans keep - not surprisingly, because, in fact, Renato Russo lived for his fans. "We're here on this stage, but you are the real Legião Urbana", he says, in one of his spoken interventions (and few artists were better at it than him), with his typical half-teacher, half-elder brother tone. "If it isn't masturbation, you must wear condoms", he said.
But the interest raised by Como É Que Se Diz Eu Te Amo is not restricted to the fans. The band was in excellent shape - the original members, Dado Villa-Lobos (guitar) and Marcelo Bonfá (drums), and the new ones, Gian Fabra (bass), Fred Nascimento (acoustic and electric guitars) and Carlos Trilha (keyboard). Besides, Legião had put out one of their best albums, O Descobrimento do Brasil
, from 1993, whose repertoire filled the set list. Tour de force
This is certainly the most attractive posthumous release of Legião material, which include Uma Outra Estação
(1997), Mais do Mesmo (1998) and Acústico MTV (1999). In an interview to the reporter at the time, Renato (who would be turning 41 on March 27th) told how they were plaanning a tour de force, willing to perform over 30 songs: "The show should have a tighter script, with connections between the songs, offering an overview of our music".It is possible to feel the balance on the first CD. Two hits - Será and Eu Sei, impeccably performed - make way for La Nuova Giuventù. Two more hits - Ainda É Cedo (with a citation of the Rolling Stones' Gimme Shelter ) and Daniel Na Cova dos Leões (with Dado's and Fred's guitars very much in display) - are followed by three new songs: Vinte e Nove, Um Dia Perfeito and Os Anjos.
The acoustic set brings high impact tracks: Monte Castelo, Quando o Sol Bater na Janela do Seu Quarto, Geração Coca-Cola, O Teatro dos Vampiros and Meninos e Meninas. Somewhere through the show, Russo reminded the audience that the band was entering its tenth year - and the crowd unexpectedly sang Happy Birthday to You.
Disc two concentrates Legião Urbana's anthems, the songs that granted Renato Russo the Messiah reputation: Pais e Filhos (which features the symptomatic verse "We have to love everybody as if there was no tomorrow"), Faroeste Caboclo, Tempo Perdido and Índios (one of the songs that the vocalist interrupts to start talking with the audience). Then comes the cathartic Perfeição, featuring a few lines from Nirvana's Lithium - Kurt Cobain had taken his own life a few months before and had been devastated by drugs. The Legião leader was in rehabilitation process, back then: "I was almost following Cobain's steps, but I have found people to help me", Renato told the reporter. "The album [Descobrimento do Brasil] is about that."
The track (Vamos Fazer um Filme) that bore the sentence picked to name the album was taken from that album. "How do you say 'I love you' these days?", he would ask his fans. A tender moment right before the sonic attack with Que País É Esse. Years later, on their Acústico MTV
, the group Paralamas do Sucesso would reinforce the firing power of the song.Dedicated to Lucy Needham Vianna (who died in the same accident that left her husband, Paralamas leader Herbert Vianna paraplegic), Como É Que Se Diz Eu Te Amo brings sincere moments that renew Renato Russo's myth qualities. A real myth, the type that cannot be manufactured.