Seu Jorge

Théâtre Maisonneuve

November 14, 2016

Photos by Vitor Munhoz

Brazilian singer and actor Seu Jorge is perhaps best known in North America for his role as Pelé in Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, which featured Jorge’s stripped-down renditions of classic David Bowie songs, sung in his native Portuguese. Jorge never toured behind the film’s soundtrack, but following Bowie’s death earlier this year, he’s once again put on the red toque and embarked on a tour featuring his reworked versions of a number of Bowie’s hits. That tour rolled into Montreal’s Théâtre Maisonneuve on Monday, November 14th for a sold-out show before an enthralled group of fans, many sporting their own red toques in tribute to Jorge’s memorable turn in Anderson’s fan-favourite film.

Sitting amongst a stage filled with sea-faring detritus meant to evoke The Life Aquatic, Jorge excitedly addressed the crowd in French, admitting his English is rather limited. With the gift of a natural raconteur, he breezily recounted how he barely knew anything about David Bowie when he was approached for Anderson’s film (and in fact, often confused with him Billy Idol – they were both blonde). He laughingly admitted that he was so nervous during the start of filming of The Life Aquatic that he constantly forgot the names of his co-stars, and began thinking of them only in terms of their most famous films (Bill Murray simply became known as Ghostbusters).

Many of the Bowie tracks were introduced in a similar way, either with an anecdote from filming, or a personal reflection of what a particular song meant to him. Inescapable Bowie songs like “Space Oddity” and “Rebel Rebel” were imbued with a completely new feeling with Jorge’s sparse arrangements and powerfully emotive voice. Some of the minor details of the Portuguese adaptations were likely lost on non-speakers like myself, but from the occasional roars of laughter or applause from the packed hall mid-song, there was definitely a large contingent of Portuguese-speakers hanging on to every lyric.

Mentioning that his own father also passed away this year, the set packed an emotional wallop, especially during a moving version of “Life on Mars?” That said, the night wasn’t without it’s peculiarities. The encore featured two Bowie songs that Jorge had already performed earlier in the night, albeit this time there was a projector behind him showing scenes from The Life Aquatic (the projector also occasionally flashed images of someone’s iPhone behind Jorge throughout the set, so there was that). Perhaps Jorge only has so many Bowie covers in his repertoire, but it was a bizarre ending to what was otherwise a stirring tribute to one of rock’s greatest visionaries.