Sepultura
Pull a thread
Sepultura's Last Rock in Rio Show: A Derrick Green-Only Setlist and What Brazilian Metal Inherits
On September 5, Sepultura played Rock in Rio for the ninth and final time, and every song came from the years since 1997. The band stops on November 7 in São Paulo. This is an inventory of what stays behind.
The calendar, corrected first
A lot of coverage called Rio the penultimate Sepultura show ever. It was the last show in Rio and the penultimate in Brazil. The band’s official site still lists six dates after it: Casablanca on September 19, Montevideo on October 2, Cipolletti on October 4, Buenos Aires on October 6, Santiago on October 8 and Mexico City on October 11. Then São Paulo on November 7, and that one is the end.
Eloy Casagrande: the Brazilian drummer who left Sepultura's farewell tour and now drives Slipknot's "Arsenal"
Slipknot released “Arsenal” on 9 September 2026, its first new song in more than three years. The man behind the kit spent thirteen years in the seat Igor Cavalera made famous, and he left it days before Sepultura’s last rehearsal.
This is about the chair
Most of what got written about Eloy Casagrande in 2024 was about the exit. Fair enough. Walking out on a farewell tour is a story. But the exit is the least interesting thing about him, and it is over. What is still running is a line that starts in Belo Horizonte in the mid eighties, passes through São Paulo, and now sits in Iowa’s most famous band at the exact moment that band is rebuilding itself.
Sepultura at Rock in Rio 2026: The Farewell Set With Zero Max Cavalera Songs
On the Palco Mundo, one of the last shows of their career, Sepultura played 55 minutes and never touched “Roots Bloody Roots”. That was the point.
What actually happened on Saturday
Saturday, 5 September 2026, Parque Olímpico, Rio de Janeiro. Sepultura walked onto the Palco Mundo at 16:40 as part of the “Celebrating Life Through Death” farewell run and walked off at 17:35. Fourteen songs logged, plus one entry that setlist.fm left incomplete, so call it fourteen and change.
Sepultura's Rock in Rio setlist is Derrick Green-only — and the discography says that's the correct call
On September 5 Sepultura open the Palco Mundo at Rock in Rio with no “Roots Bloody Roots,” no “Arise,” no “Ratamahatta.” Nothing from the founding era. Look at what the band recorded and the omission stops looking like a snub.
What was announced, two days before the show
On September 3, 2026, Sepultura let it out: the Rock in Rio set would be drawn exclusively from material recorded with Derrick Green, from Against (1998) through The Cloud of Unknowing, the four-track EP released on April 24, 2026. The three songs everyone in that field knows by heart, the ones from the Max Cavalera years, are not on the list (Rolling Stone Brasil). The band opens the day on the main stage (Wikimetal).
Brazilian Metal Drummers: Why Gojira, Slipknot and the World Keep Calling São Paulo
When Gojira lost their drummer to a US immigration problem in July 2026, they called a 21-year-old Brazilian. If that sounds familiar, it’s because it keeps happening, and this piece is about the pattern.
The news, in sixty seconds
Mid-July 2026, Gojira had three American festival dates on the calendar and a serious problem: Mario Duplantier, the drummer, one half of the Duplantier brothers and arguably the most recognizable rhythmic voice in modern metal, couldn’t get into the country. The band’s statement kept it short: “Mario is dealing with an immigration issue that has made it impossible for him to travel to the US in time for our shows” (Loudwire, July 16, Lauryn Schaffner).