Presented by La Boheme at the Soul Box
Reviewed 6 June 2014
During the opening, audio of some of Chrissie Amphlett’s interviews set the scene before the show launched into the song I’ll Make You Happy. I was reminded that the Soul Box is not an ideal venue for this type of music. The venue is too small to allow the music to be balanced correctly. It would seriously benefit from some sort of baffle for the drums, which force the other instruments to compete and subsequently drown out any vocals. To be fair, the sound tech worked to improve the balance and the muddy vocals, but there was only so much he could do.
The band faithfully covers many Divinyls songs and Iris Montanari presents a fair representation of lead singer Chrissie Amphlett. The other members, Jeff Oldfield, Rowan Dennis, Marco Giardini and Ben Hastings play well and obviously enjoy the music. I was hoping for more recognisable songs up front and I enjoyed Science Fiction, Only Lonely and Back to the Wall.
Several non-Divinyls numbers were included, which were mostly okay but not what I was there for. Their version of To Sir with Love did not work. Unfortunately, due to parking being so difficult and the show running longer than I anticipated, I missed some of my favourite numbers which, I am sure, will have been kept until last.
If you are a die-hard Divinyls fan you will probably enjoy this, but you would probably enjoy it more in a venue better suited to this style of music.
Reviewed by Fran Edwards
Twitter: @Franeds
Venue: Soul Box, Hindley St Adelaide
Season: 6 – 27 June 2014
Duration: 2hrs
Tickets: $19.50 -$24.50
Bookings: Book through the Cabaret Fringe Festival online or tickets at the door if not sold out.
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