All the Re's—the trilogy concerts

It was in 1975 that Gil first began exploring this 'Re' idea, which is always linked to the idea of retaking, of recreating. It has borne four main albums:

Refazenda (1975), Refavela (1977), Realce (1979) and the live Refestança (1977), which he recorded with the singer Rita Lee.

At a time when records were still not selling 100,000 copies, his concerts were a way for Gilberto Gil to share his songs and perform his ideas in front of an audience.

In the 1970s, Gil's avowed love of the stage meant that he spent much of his time giving memorable performances, seeking to convey the message in his work and the energy that comes from a band performing live.

In May, four months after releasing the LP, the singer hit the road with a band named after the new album. The concert, which was held at São Paulo's TUCA theater in 1977, featured Moacyr Albuquerque (bass), Perinho Santana (bass), Milciades Teixeira (piano) …

… Carlos Alberto Chalegre (drums), Lucia Turnbull (vocals), and Djalma Corrêa (percussion). The band was pretty well-balanced and the tone colors produced on stage tapped into the sound they had created in the recording studio.

The concerts on this tour featured long solos and a lot of improvisation, making the songs considerably longer than the album versions. The title track, for example, lasted for eleven and a half minutes, almost four times as long as the original recording.

Talking about these performances, Djalma Corrêa remarked: "The concerts always had plenty of room for improvising, something I did with ease on the drums. It was a journey, and there was always some new innovation. You never knew what Gil was going to do. We always had to be ready but we never got it wrong."

Before making his first studio album with his new label, Gilberto Gil recorded the live album Refestança with the singer Rita Lee. While Gil never considered Refestança to be part of the trilogy—he saw the title as a bit of a joke—it was the last time the band Refavela would back him on an album.

Later, in 1978, the singer recorded a double album at his first appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival, featuring members of his own band and musicians from the group A Cor do Som.

The tour for Realce—the third studio album of his "Re" phase—included 51 performances in 30 cities. The funk and disco music influences are much more in evidence.

Discussing the energy on stage, the bass player Rubão Sabino said: "People really enjoyed playing. The mood was incredible and not only was Gil a great instrumentalist, he was also a fantastic communicator. Anywhere in the world he goes, he fixes stuff."

The recording features one of the first concerts where the singer performed the song <i>Se Eu Quiser Falar Com Deus</i>, which he would go on to record for his next album, Luar (A Gente Precisa Ver O Luar), in 1981.

The Realce tour was relatively short, with just one third of the Refazenda concerts. Writing for the Gilberto Gil 70 Years collection, Marcelo Fróes revealed that, at that time, Gil was wondering whether to continue his career …

… as well as going through a separation from his wife, Sandra Gadelha.

In 1980, he did not do many concerts. Instead, he joined the singer Jimmy Cliff on his Brazilian tour.

As Gil says in his lyrics to Palco "Let the soothing balm pour forth, set the tune, sing the song"