Legião Urbana is Brazil's most successful rock band. Throughout their career, they achieved a pop feel and kept their controversial lyrics, which granted the appreciation of the urban hordes (translation of the band's name) -- who are not interested in the fact that the boys couldn't really play (out of tune guitars, etc.) or write melodies. Renato Russo even makes fun of it, asking the audiences to be patient with some faults, as he doesn't know all lyrics by heart and the band's members don't know how to play them, and "Sereníssima" is interrupted and retaken from the middle. This album, recorded in 1992 and released in 1999, has been selling very well, not affected by Renato Russo's demise, selling over one million copies. As the title makes reference to, this is an acoustic album, recorded live. Relaxed and enjoyable, with no predefined repertoire, Russo addresses the audience during the whole performance, exhorting people to "make safe sax or no sex at all," criticizing beginner bands who sing only in English (with a compliment to Sepultura), and explaining that the people should buy their new album, because they would only make shows after 300,000 copies sold -- to prevent requests of older songs. Includes the older hits "Baader-Meinhof Blues," "'Indios," "Mais Do Mesmo," "Pais E Filhos," and, from the new album (V, 1991), "Sereníssima," "Teatro Dos Vampiros" (lyrics about TV), and "Metal Contra As Nuvens." Includes the hit "Faroeste Caboclo" and several songs in good English (Russo lived in New York in his childhood) by Neil Young and others.
© Alvaro Neder /TiVo