The album's tracks span a number of musical styles, including tropicalia, a genre with which Gil is closely associated, as well as samba, funk, bossa nova, reggae, jazz, salsa, and pop.

Quanta gente veio ver: Ao Vivo was recorded at the Teatro João Caetano in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil during his 1997 world tour.

Stylistically, Gil's well known association with the tropicalia genre is evident on the album, and its musical content has also been described as including samba, funk, bossa nova, reggae, jazz, salsa, and pop songs and styles.

[4] Interviewed the following year, Gil expressed that the award was particularly meaningful not only because Quanta was intended to represent a summary of the artist three decades into his career, but also because it was the live version rather than the studio album which won.

[2] AllMusic's Richard S. Ginell's positive review commented that Gil is "still in possession of a quicksilver voice with a beautiful falsetto, a staccato guitar style that makes his electric model sound like an acoustic, and strikingly original, even quirky tunes".