MusicHumberto Gessinger explains why he doesn’t play with former colleagues from Engenheiros do Hawaii

In the last year, Augusto Licks and Carlos Maltz performed a series of shows throughout Brazil playing songs from Hawaii engineers — in an initiative that will be repeated in 2025, with a show already scheduled in Porto Alegre (Sargent Peppers) for April 10th. The guitarist and drummer, respectively, made up the band’s most popular lineup alongside the vocalist and bassist. Humberto Gessinger.

At the same time, Gessinger himself is revisiting two specific moments in the group’s career, on a tour focused on the albums MTV Acoustic (2004) and Acoustic: New Horizons (2007). Both works were recorded without Licks and Maltz, who left in the 1990s, but feature versions of several songs originally conceived with them.

Would this be the perfect time for Humberto, Augusto and Carlos to play together again? The guitarist and drummer have already said they have “open doors”, but the vocalist/bassist has expressed, more than once, that he has no interest.

In a new interview with Carlos Redel for GZH (with paywall), Gessinger was asked if there is any chance of taking the stage with his former colleagues. In his response, he followed the same reasoning revealed on other occasions: he says he admires his former partners, but he doesn’t see himself playing alongside them again.

“The problem I have with talking about this is two. I run the risk of comparing myself to colleagues, companions of mine from various stages. And I don’t want to do that. And the other risk, more related to schizophrenia, is also comparing myself to now. […] But from a human point of view, I like them both, I have nothing, but I don’t see myself.”

Humberto points out that “the past is cool, but it can be a cage too”says that accepting to play with former colleagues “It’s like going back to the 1980s” and guarantees: “I don’t want to feed people’s madness about going back to the 1980s”. He also declared that he had no quarrel with Augusto and Carlos, defining the breakup as just “exhaustion”.

“The right question is not ‘Why did it end?’, but ‘How did it last so long with such different people?’. And this difference has increased even more now, because it’s natural, everyone goes one way. So, I don’t feel encouraged to play again. [com eles]because going back isn’t just about playing with the guys, it’s about going back to the 1980s. I would love it if I had a time machine, but there isn’t one [risos]. So, I don’t want to feed people’s madness about going back to the 1980s.”

Composer’s point of view

During the interview, Humberto Gessinger revealed what he considers to be the biggest difference between him and Augusto Licks and Carlos Maltz. The vocalist and bassist says he has a “composer’s point of view” and seeks “new paths for new songs”, while his former partners see the world as musicians, with “fixation on small details”.

“I have the greatest pleasure of being present in the collective unconscious of a lot of people. And a big difference is also the composer’s head and the musician’s head. As a composer, you are looking for new paths for new songs and you know that no moment is definitive. And the musician is a bit different, he says: ‘ah, but that solo, I don’t know what’. And this fixation on these small details is something that I don’t like. I like to see things more from the composer’s point of view, who sees things completely different from the musician. Maybe that’s the difference between us.”

Finally, Gessinger stated that he doesn’t see himself adopting a “let’s just play the hits” mindset, even in the future. For him, it is a trap.

“I spent a lot of my energy trying to escape that ‘just the successes’ trap, old man. I don’t want to sugar coat my pills, but I picked a lot of fights in the music industry and it wasn’t going to be now, when nothing like that exists anymore, that I was going to go back to this thing of: ‘ah, come on, I’m going to cut my hair like what it was’, because it is no longer the same. But this energy of guys doing nothing is very strange. It’s great that they’re playing, they’re active there, and they’re doing their thing. But, well, bah, don’t invite me to stay stuck in the past, I can’t afford the luxury of not living today.”

Humberto Gessinger’s new tour

Humberto Gessinger kicked off his new tour last weekend, celebrating 20 years of the show recorded by Hawaii engineers for the frame MTV Acoustic. The 2004 performance was released as an album and video — both CD and DVD achieved platinum certification for more than 80,000 copies sold each. In this new initiative, the musician also recalls Acoustic: New Horizonsa work released in 2007 and awarded a gold record for 40 thousand units sold.

The debut of the tour took place on Saturday (11) and Sunday (12), with two shows at the Auditorium Araújo Vianna, in Porto Alegre — Gessinger’s hometown. Taking on vocals, guitar, piano, viola caipira and mandolin, the 61-year-old artist is accompanied by Felipe Rotta on the guitar, Fernando Peters at the bottom, Paulinho Goulart on the accordion and Rafael Bisogno on the battery.

According to the Setlist.fmthe repertoire performed on both nights was as follows:

1. The pope is pop
2. Until the end
3. In the middle of it all, you
4. Don Quixote
5. Pose/February 13
6. Puzzle
7. Every form of power
8. Guantanamo
9. The mountain
10. 3rd plural
11. Of faith
12. Simple at heart
13. piano bar
14. We are who we can be
15. New horizons
16. Other frequencies
17. The price
18. I don’t love you
19. Vertical
20. 3×4 (excerpt from Oh Yoko)
21. real life
22. Chemical weapons and poems
23. He was a boy who, like me, loved the Beatles and the Rolling Stones

Bis:

24. Bolero chorus
25. To be honest
26. Infinite Highway / The Revolt of the Dandies I

Videos recorded by fans and the producer Opinion can be seen below.

Also during an interview with Carlos Redel for GZHHumberto Gessinger revealed that he intends to continue this tour throughout the year — and present two new songs, to be released soon. One of them, “Paraíbah”is a partnership with Chico Cesar and will be recorded during the artist’s trip to Sweden, with the intention of visiting his daughter, Clara — which even participates in the MTV Acoustic 2004. The other is called “Without Jokes or Text”. Both will be on a new album, which should also be released in 2025.

“We will continue, at least, the whole year on the road with this show, playing these songs (from the 2004 and 2007 albums) in acoustic format. But until they’re released, I won’t play the two new songs. I like that, for the first impression of the new song, the guy is in his habitat, on the car radio or in his room or with headphones. I think the show is a bit of a different thing. People no longer have a lot of time and attention. So, I have to stop myself from outrunning the ball.”

Check out Humberto Gessinger’s concert schedule for 2025 below:

• January 17th and 18th: Belo Horizonte (BeFly Hall)
• January 24th and 25th: Rio de Janeiro (Vivo Rio)
• February 1st and 2nd: São Paulo (Tokio Marine Hall)
• February 7th: Balneário Camboriú (Music Park)
• February 8: Florianópolis (Floripa Rock)
• February 15: Juiz de Fora (Cine Theatro Central)
• March 28: Dourados (Unigran Events Hall)
• March 29th and 30th: Campo Grande (Ondara Palace)
• April 5th: Vitória (Praça do Papa)
• April 11: Lages (CentroSerra)
• April 12: Criciúma (Flor de Lis Space)
• April 19: Toledo (Emporium Santa Maria)
• May 9: Goiânia (Goiânia Arena)
• May 10: Brasília (Mané Garrincha Stadium)
• May 16: São José dos Campos (Farma Conde Arena)
• May 17: Santo André (Clube Atlético Aramaçan)
• May 24: Araçatuba (Viveri Eventi)
• June 21: Pirenópolis (Cavalhódromo)
• August 16: Salvador (Concha Acústica)
• September 12th: Christmas (Teatro Riachuelo)
• September 13th: Fortaleza (Praça Verde)
• September 19: São Luís (Palazzo)
• October 3: Belém (Assembly of Pará)