On Saturday, November 7, 2026, Sepultura took the stage for the last time in São Paulo, with around 30 songs, special guests and 9,000 people at Suhai Music Hall.
Four decades, dozens of countries and a farewell tour that lasted almost three years. On Saturday, November 7, 2026, Sepultura took the stage for the last time in São Paulo, turning their farewell into a celebration of their history, with around 30 songs, guests spanning several generations of Brazilian metal and an audience of approximately 9,000 at Suhai Music Hall.
The end of a nearly three-year tour
The farewell was announced in late 2023, as the band turned 40. The Celebrating Life Through Death tour began on March 1, 2024, at Arena Hall in Belo Horizonte, the city where Sepultura formed in 1984. Shortly before the opening show, drummer Eloy Casagrande left the group to join Slipknot, and American drummer Greyson Nekrutman, formerly of Suicidal Tendencies, took over behind the kit from the very first show of the tour. Since then, the lineup of Derrick Green, Andreas Kisser, Paulo Jr. and Greyson has toured the world, with stops in Europe, North America and throughout South America.
The final show was announced in May 2026, initially for Mercado Livre Arena Pacaembu, a stadium with a capacity of around 26,000 and ties to the band's history: they had played a historic show at Praça Charles Miller, in front of the stadium, in the early 1990s. In September, Live Nation moved the performance to Suhai Music Hall, a venue with a capacity of just over 9,000. Tickets purchased for Pacaembu remained valid, and anyone unable to attend at the new venue was entitled to a refund. The move sparked debate among fans, but ultimately gave the farewell a more intimate and intense atmosphere.
The opening acts
The evening began early. American band Sacred Reich got things started with old-school thrash metal, followed by Krisiun, one of the biggest names in Brazilian death metal. Before Sepultura, Metal Allegiance took the stage, a supergroup bringing together Mike Portnoy, Alex Skolnick, Testament's Chuck Billy, Mastodon's Troy Sanders, Phil Demmel and Mark Menghi. A lineup worthy of a farewell.
A journey through the entire discography
Sepultura came on at 9 p.m. and opened with Arise, a start that left no doubt about the tone of the night. The set was put together as a retrospective, balancing the band's two major eras: 18 songs from the Max Cavalera era and 12 from the Derrick Green era, in what was considered the longest show in the group's history. There was also room for returning songs that sent longtime fans into raptures. Altered State returned to the set for the first time since 2013, We've Lost You for the first time since 2015, while Itsári, from Roots, had not been played live since 1998.
Guests appeared throughout the show, giving the evening the feel of a family reunion. Yohan Kisser, Andreas's son, shared the stage with his father on Convicted in Life. Krisiun's Moyses Kolesne joined in on Itsári and Kaiowas, and for the latter the band invited fans and celebrities to play percussion onstage, including TV host Serginho Groisman. Torture Squad's Amilcar Christófaro took over on drums for Beneath the Remains, while Eminence's Allan Wallace and the members of Chained Saint also had their moments.
One of the highlights was João Gordo's appearance. The Ratos de Porão vocalist sang Reza, which Sepultura had not played since 2005, before the band became a kind of Ratos de Porão for a few minutes, playing Crucificados pelo Sistema and Beber Até Morrer. Another historic moment followed: Jairo Guedz, the guitarist from the lineup on the early records, took the stage for Biotech Is Godzilla, Slave New World and Troops of Doom, with Derrick Green swapping the microphone for a guitar to accompany him.
Thanks and absences
Andreas Kisser took the stage wearing a Looney Tunes T-shirt bearing the phrase That's All, Folks, the classic cartoon sign-off. In his speeches, he thanked the former members, Paulo Jr., Derrick Green and his wife, Patricia Kisser. He also paid tribute to Vânia Cavalera, Max and Igor's mother and a pivotal figure in the band's early years, and praised Greyson Nekrutman, saying the drummer had brought fresh energy to the group.
The night's most notable absentees were the Cavalera brothers. Despite efforts to bring them in, Max and Igor did not take part in the farewell, nor did former drummer Jean Dolabella, who had been mentioned as a possible guest. Even so, Andreas made a point of saying that the two brothers will always be Sepultura, and Derrick stressed that the band is, and always will be, Brazilian.
The final encore
The closing stretch was a run of classics: Beyond the Dream, Territory and Refuse/Resist brought the main set to an end, with the crowd singing every verse. For the encore, after a drum solo from Greyson, came a shortened version of Ratamahatta and, inevitably, Roots Bloody Roots, the final song in Sepultura's live history. A fitting finale for the band that put Brazilian metal on the world map.
Andreas Kisser has said in interviews that the band is not ruling anything out for the future, but that what matters now is stopping. In the meantime, fans can still look forward to a live album recorded throughout the farewell tour, featuring songs captured in different cities. Onstage, however, the story ended there in São Paulo, with Sepultura saying goodbye the way they had always lived: loud, intense and surrounded by the Brazilian metal family.
Setlist
- Arise
- Altered State
- Desperate Cry
- All Souls Rising
- Kairos
- Means to an End
- Propaganda (with Ethan Kahn and Sean Sterling of Chained Saint)
- Dusted (with Allan Wallace of Eminence)
- Convicted in Life (with Yohan Kisser)
- Attitude
- We've Lost You
- Against
- The Place
- Itsári (with Moyses Kolesne of Krisiun)
- Kaiowas (with Moyses Kolesne and guests onstage)
- Dead Embryonic Cells
- Beneath the Remains (with Amilcar Christófaro of Torture Squad)
Guitar solo by Andreas Kisser
- Sepulnation
- Reza (with João Gordo)
- Crucificados pelo Sistema (with Ratos de Porão)
- Beber Até Morrer (with Ratos de Porão)
- Biotech Is Godzilla (with Jairo Guedz)
- Slave New World (with Jairo Guedz)
- Troops of Doom (with Jairo Guedz)
- Beyond the Dream
- Territory
- Refuse/Resist
Encore
Drum solo by Greyson Nekrutman
- Ratamahatta
- Roots Bloody Roots
*cover photo: Rick Rocha @oldriff