The Brazilian samba-rock star Seu Jorge was last in London in 2017, playing his acoustic tribute to David Bowie on an Albert Hall stage that felt too big, too bare for just one man and his guitar. Having garnered extra kudos singing bossa-flavoured versions of Bowie hits in Wes Anderson’s 2004 film, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, Jorge had bided his time before touring.
Eighteen months on from that last visit, he’s still wearing his character’s red beanie, still regaling fans with film-related tales, still kicking things off with his deep, rasping take on Ziggy Stardust. But this time around he had the Heritage Orchestra in tow — and what a difference a string section makes.
On their own, Jorge’s stripped-down covers invest the likes of Changes, Rebel Rebel and Suffragette City with new beauty, a quality noted by Bowie, who died in 2016. Buoyed by the epic swell of massed instruments
— deftly conducted by a bearded, black-garbed Jules Buckley — and with dry ice swirling though multi-coloured shafts of light, this was a performance with moments of transcendence, as rejuvenating as it was soothing.
Intro-ed by a rippling harp cascade, punctuated by warm blasts on trumpet and tuba, Starman felt heaven-sent, with Jorge’s Portuguese-language lyrics communicating beyond words even as a contingent of fellow Brazilians sang along.
Between sips from a mug of tea, Jorge told stories: how he was playing videogames when the film offer came in, how he’d initially confused Bowie with Billy Idol. While an intro to Five Years revealed that both Bowie and his father had died within days of each other, Jorge’s mumbled announcement that Bowie made his final appearance as Ziggy Stardust on the same Hammersmith stage in 1973 went over heads. No matter. Bowie’s spirit was back, larger than life, in the building.
