Il Divo with Katherine Jenkins

In a packed auditorium Il Divo burst onto a stage crowned in lights to rapturous applause and before we knew it the four talented vocalists let rip, delivering what they described as their greatest hits. But for all their individual talent, and clearly they have great voices, I was far from impressed. Why? Well there was no balance to their collective sound, no sense of ensemble, no subtlety – they were just very loud. And it grew into a battle of egos, the vocal equivalent of how high can you pee up the wall. I also question the crazy italian translations of popular hits. Singing a Carpenters number in ‘yer actual foreign’ does not make it sophisticated – just silly. Thank heavens then for Katherine Jenkins who sang like an angel and, when sharing the stage with the boys, kept them vocally in check at least for a while. Full marks also to the excellent orchestra who although rather loud were extremely good.

Brighton Centre, 6 April 2013
Il Divo

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