Péricles prepares a Motown spectacle for Rock in Rio: pagode, soul and R&B will meet on the Sunset stage
Brazilian singer Péricles arrives at Rock in Rio 2026 with a performance that differs substantially from his usual concert program. In the special project "Péricles Canta Motown", one of the most recognizable voices of contemporary Brazilian samba and pagode will interpret classics associated with Motown on September 7 on the Sunset stage, the record label that had a decisive influence on the development of soul, R&B and global popular music. According to a Folha de S.Paulo report published on August 29, the concert is conceived as a 13-song set, and among the publicly confirmed titles are Stevie Wonder's "Superstition", The Temptations' "My Girl" and Smokey Robinson's "Cruisin'". Péricles has already tested part of the repertoire during a rehearsal with maestro Maurício Piassarolla, while the costumes, musicians and visual identity of the performance are expected to further emphasize the connection with the American Black music tradition. In this way, the festival will offer the audience a rare opportunity to hear Péricles outside the repertoire for which he is best known, but within a musical space that, according to him, has long been present in his performing identity.
The performance is scheduled for Monday, September 7, at Cidade do Rock in the Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro. According to the festival's current schedule, Péricles is expected to take the Sunset stage at 8:10 p.m. local time. On the same day, Vanessa da Mata with Rubel, Roupa Nova with Guilherme Arantes and Laufey, who closes the Sunset evening program, will perform on that stage. On the main Mundo stage, the September 7 program includes Luísa Sonza with Roberto Menescal, Jon Batiste, Gilberto Gil and Elton John. Rock in Rio 2026 takes place on September 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 12 and 13, and the official line-up shows that the edition has once again been conceived as a broad cross-section of rock, pop, electronic music, Brazilian popular music, samba, pagode, soul and R&B.
Thirteen songs, but the full repertoire has not yet been publicly revealed
The most concrete insight into the preparations arrived a few days before the start of the festival. Folha de S.Paulo reported that Péricles, together with maestro Maurício Piassarolla and a black concert piano, presented during a rehearsal part of the material he is preparing for Rock in Rio. The three songs performed at that time also demonstrate the breadth of the planned homage: "Superstition" belongs to Stevie Wonder's catalog, "My Girl" is one of The Temptations' best-known standards, while "Cruisin'" represents a more sophisticated, later phase of the Motown sound through Smokey Robinson's solo work. According to the same source, these songs are part of a set consisting of a total of 13 hits. By August 30, the complete song list had not been officially published, so it is too early to claim which other performers and periods from the Motown catalog will be given a place in the final program.
The official Rock in Rio website describes the project as a new phase in the presentation of Péricles, emphasizing his ability to approach the repertoire with a pronounced feel for soul. The organizers identify the presentation of Motown classics through the voice of a performer who has been associated with samba and pagode for decades as the key idea. An earlier festival announcement mentioned Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, The Supremes, The Temptations and The Jackson 5 as part of the historical circle of performers defining the reference framework of the performance. This, however, does not mean that songs by all of these performers have been confirmed for the final set of 13 compositions; the titles officially and journalistically confirmed so far are "Superstition", "My Girl" and "Cruisin'". This distinction is important because the project is based on a very broad catalog, while the final song selection remains one of the elements of surprise ahead of the concert itself.
Péricles explained to Folha that he does not view Motown merely as a collection of old hits, but as a model that changed the way popular music is produced, arranged and listened to. In the same conversation, he also emphasized the connection between the musical traditions of the African diaspora, from the rhythmic patterns that shaped Brazilian music to the styles of singing developed in the United States and other parts of the Americas. His intention, as he said, is to bring the audience closer to music that some listeners may think they do not know, even though its patterns have been embedded for decades in mainstream pop, soul, R&B and numerous national scenes. In that sense, "Péricles Canta Motown" is not conceived as an imitation of the originals, but as an interpretive bridge between musical languages that have long been communicating with one another.
Why Motown is much more than a nostalgic choice
The historical context of Motown explains why such a project on a major festival stage is more than a retro program. According to the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Berry Gordy founded Motown Records in Detroit in 1959, and the label developed a recognizable sound based on strong melodies, rhythmic immediacy, studio arrangements and production adapted to a broad audience. The Smithsonian points out that Motown became the first Black-owned record label that managed to compete with major American national labels and achieve international success with performers such as The Miracles, The Supremes, Four Tops and Stevie Wonder. The Motown Museum in Detroit states that Gordy launched the business with an 800-dollar loan from a family fund and that his idea of a "hit factory" was partly shaped by his experience working in the automobile industry.
The result was not merely a series of commercially successful singles. During the 1960s, Motown helped open space for Black performers in the American mainstream market at a time when the music industry and society more broadly were still strongly marked by racial segregation. From the Hitsville U.S.A. studios emerged performers and songwriters who became global reference points: Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, Four Tops, Martha and the Vandellas and later The Jackson 5 are only part of that legacy. Behind many recordings were the studio musicians known as The Funk Brothers, whose rhythmic precision was one of the foundations of the so-called Motown sound. That is why choosing Motown for Péricles's festival project simultaneously evokes the history of the record industry, the cultural breakthrough of African American music and the lasting influence of that sound on performers far beyond the United States.
For an audience that primarily associates Péricles with pagode, that connection may not be obvious at first glance, but the singer himself says that he listened to and incorporated soul and R&B into his work long before this project. In February, speaking about his plans for Rock in Rio, he highlighted the influence of Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and Smokey Robinson on his own understanding of singing and vocal arrangements. Ahead of the festival, Folha noted that the idea of more strongly emphasizing that part of his musical identity gained additional momentum after he included Ben E. King's "Stand by Me" in his concerts. That song is not a Motown release, but it illustrates well the broader American soul and R&B context from which Péricles draws repertoire and interpretive references.
From Exaltasamba to a solo career and a new festival format
Péricles's official biography links his professional path to Exaltasamba from 1986, when he became one of the voices of the group that would grow into one of the best-known names in Brazilian pagode. After a long period with the group, he began a solo career in 2012 and continued releasing studio, live and audiovisual projects. Over those decades he developed a recognizable style based on a deep voice, melodic phrasing and a combination of samba with a romantic pop sensibility. It is precisely this vocal characteristic that is one of the reasons why a project dedicated to Motown feels more convincing than an ordinary festival "cover" set: the songs are chosen for a singer whose interpretive style can naturally connect with the soul, gospel and R&B tradition without abandoning his own Brazilian identity.
Rock in Rio curator and Rock World vice president for artistic programming Zé Ricardo told Folha that Péricles's performance also demonstrates the breadth of the festival itself and its intention to present the audience with the full range of the singer's talent. In this sense, the project is integrated into the identity of the Sunset stage, whose 2026 program features a larger number of specially designed collaborations and thematic concerts. That same weekend, among others, Jota Quest with a Tim Maia repertoire, Roupa Nova with Guilherme Arantes, João Gomes with Orquestra Brasileira, as well as projects bringing together performers from different generations and genres, have been announced there. Sunset therefore does not function merely as a smaller alternative to the main stage, but as a space in which the festival develops concerts that often cannot simply be transferred from performers' standard tours.
For Péricles, this is a particularly important framework because "Canta Motown" requires a different performance dynamic from him. Pagode relies heavily on collective energy, percussion, rhythmic interplay and direct communication with the audience, while a large part of the Motown repertoire requires precisely shaped vocal lines, tight grooves, brass and keyboard colors, and a dramaturgy built around short, exceptionally recognizable songs. The singer does not abandon his musical language, but places it in dialogue with another system of arrangement and performance. This is precisely where the concert's greatest creative potential lies: if the balance is found, the audience will receive neither "Americanized" pagode nor a mere reproduction of old Motown recordings, but a new festival form built around Péricles's voice.
The visual identity should follow the musical theme
Preparations do not stop with the repertoire. In his conversation with Folha, Péricles announced that the choice of clothing and musicians would be part of an atmosphere referring to the world of Black music, although details of the stage design and the final visual concept had not been publicly presented by August 30. In this way, the organizers retain an element of surprise, but it is clear that "Péricles Canta Motown" is conceived as a complete festival project, not merely as a series of covers. Rock in Rio's official announcement of the performance also emphasizes that the project reveals a different side of the singer and celebrates musical roots passed down between generations.
That formulation carries additional weight because of the very nature of Motown's legacy. The label shaped not only the sound but also performers' presentation, choreography, stage discipline and visual identity, which were crucial to the entry of Black performers into the American television and concert mainstream. In today's context, such history requires a careful approach: a contemporary homage cannot be reduced to costume-based nostalgia, but must show why these songs remain relevant today. Péricles's project attempts to achieve this by starting from the shared roots of Black music on both sides of the Atlantic and from the fact that soul, R&B, samba and pagode have been touching one another for decades through rhythm, vocal interpretation and popular culture.
One of the most interesting projects of September 7
The Rock in Rio program on September 7 is particularly focused on performers for whom strong interpretation and historical musical references are at the forefront. On Sunset, Vanessa da Mata with Rubel and Roupa Nova with Guilherme Arantes will perform before Péricles, followed by Laufey, a performer whose contemporary pop draws on jazz, orchestral sound and classic singer-songwriter traditions. At the same time, the Mundo stage will connect Brazilian pop and bossa nova through Luísa Sonza and Roberto Menescal, contemporary American soul and jazz through Jon Batiste, the body of work of Gilberto Gil and the catalog of Elton John. Péricles's Motown set is therefore not an isolated programming curiosity, but part of a day in which the festival emphatically connects different generations of popular music.
According to the currently published schedule, his 8:10 p.m. slot places the concert in the central evening portion of the program, before Laufey on Sunset and before the closing performances on the main stage. This increases the project's visibility and places it before a festival audience that does not necessarily follow pagode or Péricles's discography. For the performer, it is an opportunity to introduce his own audience more deeply to the history of soul and R&B, but also to show listeners who know Motown how those songs sound through the voice and experience of a musician formed in the Brazilian samba tradition.
Eight days before the performance, on August 30, the most important elements of the concert are already known: the date, stage, time slot and concept, as well as three of the total of 13 songs. What remains hidden is most of the setlist and the full visual and arrangement form of the performance. It is precisely this space between the known and the unrevealed that makes "Péricles Canta Motown" one of the more intriguing special projects of this year's Rock in Rio. If the announced concept is carried out consistently, the concert could demonstrate that Péricles's connection with soul and R&B does not lie on the margins of his career, but deep within the musical influences that have shaped his interpretation of samba and pagode for decades.
Sources:
- Folha de S.Paulo - report on the rehearsal, the 13-song repertoire, confirmed compositions, statements by Péricles and the concept of the performance (link)
- Rock in Rio - official page of the "Péricles Canta Motown" project and description of its place in the festival program (link)
- Rock in Rio - official line-up for September 7, 2026 and schedule of performers by stage (link)
- Gshow / Globo - published performance times at Rock in Rio 2026, including Péricles's slot on the Sunset stage (link)
- Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage - historical context of Motown Records, its founding in 1959 and the label's role in the development of R&B and the international success of Black performers (link)
- Motown Museum - information about Berry Gordy, the founding of Motown and the development of the "hit factory" model in Detroit (link)
- Péricles - official biography with information about his period in Exaltasamba and the beginning of his solo career (link)