Rio de Janeiro Nightlife Guide for Friday, February 27, 2026

The headline event of the night — and arguably the most anticipated rock show of the year in Rio. Plebe Rude, the Brasília punk pioneers who alongside Legião Urbana and Capital Inicial defined the sound of 1980s Brazilian rock, launch their 45th-anniversary tour beneath the Arcos da Lapa. Philippe Seabra (guitar, vocals), André X (bass), Clemente Nascimento (guitar, vocals) and Marcelo Capucci (drums) will perform the landmark debut album O Concreto Já Rachou in its entirety — the 1986 record produced by Herbert Vianna that earned a Disco de Ouro and gave the country “Até Quando Esperar”, “Proteção” and “Minha Renda”. The setlist continues with career highlights spanning four decades. Opening the night, Fausto Fawcett brings Animakina, his audiovisual cyber-funk performance — expect “Kátia Flávia”, “Rio 40 Graus” and “Santa Clara Poltergeist” delivered alongside Paulo Beto’s analogue synths, Mari Crestani’s sax, and Jodele Larcher’s visuals. DJ Edinho spins rock before and between sets. Note: Clemente Nascimento returns to the stage after cardiac surgery in December — his first show since recovery. On a night when the city needs catharsis after the Recopa heartbreak, the Circo Voador delivers it.

Practicalities: Circo Voador, R. dos Arcos, s/n – Lapa. Gates open 8 pm. Tickets via Eventim (Lot 1: R$80 meia / R$160 inteira; Lot 2: R$90/R$180; Lot 3: R$100/R$200). Box office opens 2 hours before gates. Card and PIX accepted. Metro Cinelândia or Carioca (Lines 1/2) + 5-minute walk. 18+.

The counter-programme to the Circo Voador’s punk catharsis — and just as essential. Composer and guitarist Fred Martins and the legendary cellist Jaques Morelenbaum take the intimate stage at the Dolores Club on Rua do Lavradio for a tribute to João Gilberto, the man who invented bossa nova. Morelenbaum — who spent decades as Tom Jobim’s cellist and has collaborated with Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Sting — brings the harmonic sophistication. Martins, a prizewinning composer with eight albums and a career spanning Portugal, Spain and Brazil, brings the guitar and voice. Together, the duo weaves through the songbook that João Gilberto made immortal: compositions by Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes, Chico Buarque, Carlos Lyra, Dorival Caymmi, Ary Barroso and Geraldo Pereira — “Chega de Saudade”, “Desafinado”, “A Felicidade”, “Retrato em Branco e Preto”, “Doralice” — alongside original material from Martins that dialogues with the bossanovista language. The project was born in Lisbon in 2019 and has toured Europe, Africa and the Americas. Tonight is a rare Rio appearance. The room is small. The music is enormous.

Practicalities: Dolores Club, R. do Lavradio, 10 – Lapa. House opens 7 pm; concert from 8:30 pm. Tickets R$60 (inteira) / R$30 (meia) via Sympla. Card and PIX accepted. Three-minute walk from the Arcos da Lapa. Metro Cinelândia or Carioca. Five-minute walk from the Circo Voador — the two events can be combined.

American guitarist, vocalist, composer and arranger Mark Lambert returns to the Blue Note Rio’s intimate Copacabana stage for a tribute to Simply Red — celebrating 40 years of Mick Hucknall’s band — and the smooth, yacht-rock elegance of Christopher Cross. Lambert, a Berklee graduate who spent two decades as Astrud Gilberto’s musical director and guitarist before moving to Rio in 2004, brings a distinctive cross-cultural sensibility to the material. The setlist covers the most enduring hits of both artists: “Holding Back the Years”, “If You Don’t Know Me by Now”, “Stars”, “For Your Babies”, “Ride Like the Wind” and “Sailing”, all reimagined with original arrangements that reflect Lambert’s jazz and bossa nova background. He is joined by Vanessa Rodrigues (keyboards), Roberto Marques (drums) and Juliano Candido (bass). The Blue Note’s ocean-facing terrace and calçadão are open from 5 pm for happy hour and the piano bar — both free entry. The concert hall opens at 7 pm with ticket. On a rainy Friday, the beachfront room and the terrace canopy offer one of the most civilised evenings in Copacabana.

Practicalities: Blue Note Rio, Av. Atlântica, 1910 – Copacabana. House opens 5 pm (happy hour, free entry). Concert hall access from 7 pm with ticket. Show at 8 pm. Manobristas available. Smart casual — no beachwear. Book via Eventim or the Blue Note website. Metro Cardeal Arcoverde (Line 1) + 10-minute walk along the beachfront.

Friday is the biggest night of the week at Carioca da Gema, the Lapa samba institution that has been running since 2000 on Avenida Mem de Sá. The house has launched a new Happy Hour format for the summer of 2026 — doors open at 6 pm with free entry, dose dupla caipirinhas de limão, Original beer at R$12.99, and 50% off selected petiscos until 8 pm. From 7:30 pm, Gabriel Versiani performs voz e violão on the main stage. The headline samba act starts at 8:30 pm — check @barcariocadagema for tonight’s confirmed lineup. Three floors, a varanda upstairs with a view over Mem de Sá, and a dancefloor that stays full until 4 am on Fridays. The boteco menu runs all night: pastéis, bolinhos de bacalhau, feijoada petiscos. Carioca da Gema is the safest entry point into Lapa’s Friday circuit — start here with the happy hour, then decide whether to head to the Circo Voador for Plebe Rude, the Dolores Club for Morelenbaum, or Rio Scenarium next door.

Practicalities: Av. Mem de Sá, 79 – Lapa. Opens 6 pm; happy hour until 8 pm (free entry). Cover from R$30 after 8 pm. Tickets via Fever or at the door. Card accepted. Metro Cinelândia or Carioca (Lines 1/2) + 5-minute walk. Three floors; upstairs varanda is the best seat on a warm night. Open until 4 am on Fridays.

Nova Capela has been open on Avenida Mem de Sá since 1903 — the relocated original from Largo da Lapa that was designated a Patrimônio Cultural of the city in 2011. On a Friday night with rain in the forecast and Recopa wounds still fresh, this is where Lapa reconvenes after midnight. The cabrito assado — roast goat served with arroz de brócolis and batatas coradas — remains the anchor of the Lusitanian menu, a comfort dish inherited from the Portuguese founders that pairs perfectly with a cold chopp Brahma and the murmur of post-concert conversations. Garçons in white jackets circulate between tables decorated with watercolour paintings. Tonight, the house fills in waves: the early dinner crowd before 8 pm, the Carioca da Gema spillover from 10 pm, the Circo Voador and Dolores Club survivors from midnight onward, and the last sambistas drifting from Rio Scenarium by 2 am. Nova Capela is where you end a Friday in Lapa — the bolinho de bacalhau at R$13 and the chopp at R$12 are your closing act.

Practicalities: Av. Mem de Sá, 96 – Lapa. Open daily from 11 am; Friday hours until the last customer leaves (confirm via @nova_capela). Cabrito for two ~R$175. Bolinho de bacalhau ~R$13. Chopp Brahma ~R$12. Card accepted. No reservations — first come, first served. Air-conditioned interior. Metro Cinelândia or Carioca. Three-minute walk from Carioca da Gema, five minutes from Circo Voador.

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