Mutantes

After Zélia Duncan graced us with her presence in October, her former band Os Mutantes played in Toronto last night. Well, kind of. It wasn't really her band -- she was just lending her voice to the group -- and the band last night wasn't exactly "Os Mutantes;" from the original 3 mutants, only Sérgio Dias remains to carry the psychedelic flame.

Decked out in an Indian tunic, Dias seemed at ease and glad to be here. He spoke to the young crowd in flawless English and risked some French. The rest of the band is entirely new and the female voice which was once Rita Lee's, now belongs to Esmeria Bulgari (the other Mutante vocalist, Bia Mendes -- who used to sing backing vocals for Rita herself -- did not take part on this tour as she's expecting a baby.) Esmeria is good, but it must be hard to follow in the footsteps of Lee, Duncan and Mendes.

Despite the static staging, the band jams well together and the concert was well-balanced in terms of new and old material. Here's a rocky version of Beatle-esque Tecnicolor.

Fan favorites Bat Macumba, El Justiceiro and I Feel a Little Spaced Out (but no Baby) stood out against the new material which is highly uneven, despite being mostly co-written by the pope of all things weird, the brilliant Tom Zé. The album came out in 2009.

But all is forgotten at the sight of original mutant Sérgio Dias delivering one of his legendary guitar solos. The kids were all digging it.