Naturally Seven & Michael Bublé Review – Brisbane Entertainment Centre 12.05.14
Having just finished a fun, pleasant and slightly eventful interview with Naturally Seven’s front man and musical director Roger Thomas (In the middle Michael Bublé burst into the room asking the guys if they wanted to get drunk before the show…again), it was now time to work my way around to the front of the Entertainment Centre to get ready for the show. It became immediately apparent that I was amongst a sea of Mother’s Day presents, uncountable middle-aged women milling about excitedly in anticipation for the show to begin. I was out of my element, but excited too. I’d researched Naturally Seven and was looking forward to seeing what they did live. That, and you can never fault some sweet, smooth Bublé.
After being seated in oddly good seats that made me feel a little guilty (surely those people with signs up the back deserve these more?), it was time for the show to begin. To put it simply, Naturally Seven were excellent. Immediately, they brought out smooth and beautiful vocals, revealing each member one by one, and coupling them with near-flawlessly mimicked instruments. It was immediately clear that each man on stage wasn’t merely imitating an instrument, they were the instrument. They even had a fun little fake-out by showing you a silhouette of one of the members playing a drum-kit but revealing that it simply him beat-boxing a flawless sounding drum-kit. If anything, it started to get to a point where it was hard to believe that these sounds were coming from the men on stage.
Treating the audience to a few opening ‘orchestral’ numbers, Naturally Seven went on to explain to the audience that they practice a form of a Capella that they call “Vocal Play”. They then proceeded to demonstrate their group and individual abilities with their own concoction that they called the “Wall of Sound”. The audience was almost assaulted with all the different sounds these men could make, a feat that was truly impressive enough until one of the members started turning “off” and “on” the other members, displaying what each individual added or took away from the overall sound of the group. Mind. Blown. This was simply the perfect and most inventive way to demonstrate their immense talents to the audience.
Their song choice was often flawless, choosing the best songs to display their range. That said, I’m sure they could take any song and make it sound vocally complex and impressive. The highlights of the show would have to be one of the best covers of Coldplay’s “Fix You” that you could ever hear, complete with an awesome ‘guitar’ solo, and then a clever audio-visual performance with a young Stevie Wonder to truly get the audience on their feet and dancing. Doing their job perfectly, they pumped up the audience and got them ready for the main act, Bublé, who I swear looked like he might have had a few before the show. That, or he was simply sweating a little from all the pyrotechnics going off around him. Who knows?
Bublé is a pro, no doubt about it. He’s done this a million times and knows the exact things to do and when to do them to get the audience worked up. He started his set off with ‘Fever’ accompanied by eyebrow singeing pyrotechnics. He played to the audience right off the bat, exuding confidence and charm, inviting everyone to sing along with him and knee-sliding between different sides of the audience. The show continued and Bublé revealed a giant imax-sized LED screen behind him which played inventive and beautiful patterns behind some of his slower songs.
When he wasn’t singing, Bublé kept things very loose, constantly engaging and talking to the audience. He joked around with his security guard, accepted gifts from fans and even invited a woman on stage who brought him a stuffed animal, giving her a kiss and posing for a photo op. He even stopped mid-spiel when a man was waving frantically at him and agreed to take a photo with him. He played everything off with a cool, relaxed demeanour and kept up the mood between numbers with surprisingly witty banter. In fact, he was quite delightfully dirty in some of his humour.
The show continued on, Bublé often alternating between slower songs and the more upbeat, working in hits like ‘Moon Dance’ and ‘Feeling Good’. He even shook things up after a while, stating he couldn’t sing any more ballads and proceeded to break into ‘Get Lucky’ by Daft Punk. The show reached a climax when he brought back Naturally Seven to sing a couple of numbers with him, singing some Motown in dedication to his father who was there that night. It was truly a great show, Bublé and Naturally Seven together sounded like smooth caramel. Truly delightful to the ears. Even better, the group and Bublé wrapped things up with a spectacular rendition of ‘All You Need Is Love’ by The Beatles, punctuated by insane confetti cannons spouting out red and white love hearts. The team of Bublé and Naturally Seven really did put on a fantastic show.
Bublé has worked his live performances down into a perfected art-form, hitting all the right notes and knowing when to give the audience exactly what they came for, and then some. The true surprise here is a Capella ‘Vocal Play’ sensation; Naturally Seven. These men are a talented bunch and basically the ultimate warm-up band; they’re charismatic, talented, fun and have an amazing ability to truly engage the audience. It’s no wonder that Bublé has kept them as his supporting act for seven years. If you can, I strongly recommend catching one of their solo shows around the country they are doing at the end of May. I can only imagine what these men will bring to the table with a whole show at their disposal.
Brendan Dousi
