Collabro
Cliffs Pavilion
4th and 5th March 2016
Cliffs Pavilion
4th and 5th March 2016
Collabro are made up of Michael Auger, Richard Hadfield, Jamie Lambert, Matt Pagan and Thomas Redgrave. They first got together upstairs at a north London pub, having met through mutual friends and social media and went on to win last year's Britain's Got Talent.
These days it's easy to be flippant about the success of winners of shows such as The Voice, X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent. One tends to dismiss them as either one hit wonders or give it the "well they won't last" attitude. However, Collabro, I feel, is not having any of that malarky and seem as though they are set for a good solid career in doing what they do really rather well; and let's be honest, we all know that Simon Cowell is nobody’s fool - he knows a good signing when he sees one!
Since winning Britain's Got Talent, the band's first album, 'Stars', and subsequent tour proved to be hugely successful. They have accumulated some amazingly loyal fans with each of the lads having nigh on 20k followers on twitter, which these days is always a certain indication of one's popularity.
They are now on tour again, promoting their second album 'Act Two' which was released last June and has already sold over 300,000 albums and lucky Southend audiences have the pleasure of their company for two nights at the Cliffs Pavilion out of their 29 date tour.
The show begins with the band rising up majestically from below the stage as they sing 'The Circle of Life' from the Lion King and they continue to perform up to no less than 10 songs in the first half of the show, which includes their own interpretation of 'I'll be There For You', otherwise known as tv's Friends theme, Westlife's 'No Matter What', 'That's Life', a fabulous rendition of Christina Perri's 'A Thousand Years' and finishing the first act with a rousing rendition of Stephen Sondheim's 'Somewhere'. Catriona Murray guests for the boys and shows off her beautiful vocals with 'I Could Have Danced All Night', 'You'll Never Walk Alone' and later joining Collabro to sing 'The Prayer'. .
In between their goose bump inducing harmonies each of the boys take turns to chat to the appreciative audience, who seem to lap up every word they say, especially in Act 2 when we hear a rather cheeky story involving Jamie and a zip wire! They really show what they are made of when they sing "Bring Him Home' the Les Miserables song which they first sang together upstairs in that pub in London Bridge and which got them through to the Britain's Got Talent final.
Act Two whetted the audience's appetite for even more magical moments with at least another ten songs and also an opportunity to get into Collabro's personal photo album as they whip out their selfie stick and take a photo of themselves with the audience behind them and then pose for photos so the audience can get that all important 'proof that they were there' pic!
Collabro have certainly produced a highly polished show, filled with some great musical theatre numbers as well as, what they call, 'Collabrofy'ing' a few songs to suit their harmonising skills - the Mumford & Sons song, 'I Will Wait' being one such number; and just when you think you can't possibly hear another version of 'Over The Rainbow' without throwing up, Collabro come along and blow you away with their own powerfully moving version.
Catriona joins them again for a wonderful Phantom of the Opera medley and is clearly en route to playing Christine in the West End before too long.
Finishing with an emotionally charged 'Memory' from Cats and returning for an encore with their Britain's Got Talent winning song 'Stars', the boys had every single one of the audience on their feet with a well deserved standing ovation.
Collabro, with their dashing good looks and natural charm have the ability to make classical music look cool and are sure to be a hit with boyband obsessed teens as well as their mums. It's a win/win for the five lads who deserve every ounce of adoration their fans can throw at them.
These days it's easy to be flippant about the success of winners of shows such as The Voice, X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent. One tends to dismiss them as either one hit wonders or give it the "well they won't last" attitude. However, Collabro, I feel, is not having any of that malarky and seem as though they are set for a good solid career in doing what they do really rather well; and let's be honest, we all know that Simon Cowell is nobody’s fool - he knows a good signing when he sees one!
Since winning Britain's Got Talent, the band's first album, 'Stars', and subsequent tour proved to be hugely successful. They have accumulated some amazingly loyal fans with each of the lads having nigh on 20k followers on twitter, which these days is always a certain indication of one's popularity.
They are now on tour again, promoting their second album 'Act Two' which was released last June and has already sold over 300,000 albums and lucky Southend audiences have the pleasure of their company for two nights at the Cliffs Pavilion out of their 29 date tour.
The show begins with the band rising up majestically from below the stage as they sing 'The Circle of Life' from the Lion King and they continue to perform up to no less than 10 songs in the first half of the show, which includes their own interpretation of 'I'll be There For You', otherwise known as tv's Friends theme, Westlife's 'No Matter What', 'That's Life', a fabulous rendition of Christina Perri's 'A Thousand Years' and finishing the first act with a rousing rendition of Stephen Sondheim's 'Somewhere'. Catriona Murray guests for the boys and shows off her beautiful vocals with 'I Could Have Danced All Night', 'You'll Never Walk Alone' and later joining Collabro to sing 'The Prayer'. .
In between their goose bump inducing harmonies each of the boys take turns to chat to the appreciative audience, who seem to lap up every word they say, especially in Act 2 when we hear a rather cheeky story involving Jamie and a zip wire! They really show what they are made of when they sing "Bring Him Home' the Les Miserables song which they first sang together upstairs in that pub in London Bridge and which got them through to the Britain's Got Talent final.
Act Two whetted the audience's appetite for even more magical moments with at least another ten songs and also an opportunity to get into Collabro's personal photo album as they whip out their selfie stick and take a photo of themselves with the audience behind them and then pose for photos so the audience can get that all important 'proof that they were there' pic!
Collabro have certainly produced a highly polished show, filled with some great musical theatre numbers as well as, what they call, 'Collabrofy'ing' a few songs to suit their harmonising skills - the Mumford & Sons song, 'I Will Wait' being one such number; and just when you think you can't possibly hear another version of 'Over The Rainbow' without throwing up, Collabro come along and blow you away with their own powerfully moving version.
Catriona joins them again for a wonderful Phantom of the Opera medley and is clearly en route to playing Christine in the West End before too long.
Finishing with an emotionally charged 'Memory' from Cats and returning for an encore with their Britain's Got Talent winning song 'Stars', the boys had every single one of the audience on their feet with a well deserved standing ovation.
Collabro, with their dashing good looks and natural charm have the ability to make classical music look cool and are sure to be a hit with boyband obsessed teens as well as their mums. It's a win/win for the five lads who deserve every ounce of adoration their fans can throw at them.
A special mention has to go to Collabro's support act, A J Brown who is one of the best warm up acts I've come across for some time. With just his piano as accompaniment, A J has a natural charm and easy-going way about him that completely endeared Collabro's audience - no easy task. He sang his own songs which I initially thought were cover versions of songs I must have known but obviously didn't, so good and catchy they were. I particularly enjoyed 'Zippidy Kind of Love'. Think Jamie Cullum with a splash of Justin Timberlake and a dash of Justin Bieber but with the kind of lyrics that Lionel Richie could write and you kind of have a feel for A J's style. This amiable young talent is clearly one to watch for the future.
www.aj-brown.co.uk
www.aj-brown.co.uk
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