The Thursday Morning “Nobody-Asked-Me-To, But-Here-I-Go-Anyway-Concert-Review” – Il Divo.

(Or, Why I Will Never Be A Professional Concert Reviewer…)

OK, so I’m an Il Divo fan – what of it???

I picked up their first CD on a hunch, way back when nobody had even heard of them. We loved it, Mrs. That Dan Guy and I, and we spread the word to everybody we knew. So, go ahead, blame us – that’s why they’re so doggoned popular now...

Well, we were able to see them live last night, and it was every bit as tremendous as we had expected. Maybe even a bit more than tremendous. How can you really track that sort of sensation?? It may have been tremend-tastic!!

The crowd was sold out to the rafters, and as you might expect, it was assembled mainly of bikers and blue-collar males. Ha Ha Ha! Kidding!! The other six guys there and I met for a beer before the show…

After a surprising performance by opening act William Joseph, a pianist who has written songs with David Foster, the stage was opened to reveal a huge orchestra pit, and a stage that was essentially 5 various-sized discs. More likely they were giant doubloons, to signify the coinage these four guys are pocketing these days, but again, who can tell??

At any rate, once the show got under way, the Il Divo Orchestra began an overture of their hits.
Well, technically OTHER people’s hits, as Il Divo does like a good cover tune. If you’re not entirely familiar with their library, the quartet has covered songs by The Righteous Brothers, Eric Carmen, Bryan Adams, Harry Nilsson, and Toni Braxton (man, how would you like to be Paul Anka? Elvis, Frank Sinatra, and now Il Divo have covered his song “My Way”. I’ll bet you HIS credit card never gets declined!!).

At any rate, a cover is what they opened with – “Nights In White Satin”. From there, it was an evening of stellar vocals, sung in English, Spanish, Italian, French, and Ancient Mayan. It all sounds Mexican to me…

About midway through, they took advantage of a Trans-Siberian Orchestra-style musical interlude, to go offstage and change. From matching black suits, to different black suits.
When they did their Kleenex-grabbing version of “Mama”, that’s when the blubbering, the screaming, and the fainting hit an all-time high. I must say, Mrs. That Dan Guy is very understanding when I act like that in public…

The only thing I can say that I’ve ever seen similar to Il Divo in decades of seeing live entertainment may have been The BeeGees, way back before they became the poster children for 1970’s disco. There was one segment in that show where the three brothers gathered around a single microphone, with a single guitar, and harmonized.

Jeez, I’m getting teary-eyed again…

Chow for now!!