Critique – Young Divas Concert – Star City Showroom Sydney 15th July 2006

Critique – Young Divas Concert – Star City Showroom Sydney 15th July 2006

Not being a major fan of things “Idol” I was surprised to find myself (mostly) highly impressed with the Young Diva’s concert at Star City.

The girls boomed onto the stage with a raunchy first number, the quality of which surprised and impressed me – fortunately I was seated near the front of the stage on the left hand side – the “Paulini” end, and the power and quality of Paulini’s voice struck me immediately. After a couple of songs the girls left the stage – although to be honest at that point I would have been happy for more group numbers.

First solo artist up was Emily Williams. It’s a fairly well known fact that in order to retain musical credibility, noone other than Whitney Houston should sing Whitney. Emily sang “I will always love you”. Whilst there were moments of great power and loveliness in her voice & drawing the crowd in, unfortunately this was equaled by periods of weakness, or where she was either slightly off pitch or could not hold the notes for as long as the “Whitney” accustomed listener was expecting. She also covered a Tina Turner number, which was rocking and entertaining, however she relied heavily on the backing singer (who was in the background – thinner and less attractive than the Divas but who had one of the most outstanding voices I have ever heard). Emily’s fake American accent got on my nerves a little too – I fully understand that one must learn to “speak” and it’s a very difficult task to beat the kiwi accent (I’ve been trying for years!), however I believe her stage repartee still needs a little work.

Next up – I was disappointed to note (only because I was hoping she’d be in the second half when the crowd was really warmed up) was Ricki-Lee. Ricki looked absolutely fabulous with her hair dyed dark and she wore some excellent costume choices – a big girl by conventional (model/starvation) based standards, Ricki says an up yours to convention and proves herself to be one very sexy gal. First up Ricki got her throat around a fantastic version of the not-so-fantastic song “Hell No” which I thoroughly enjoyed. She followed this with her new single “Being Human” a very good rock song, bound to be a big hit, which highlights the strength of her booming soulful voice. The only thing that concerned me was that she too relied quite heavily on the fabulous backing singer while performing this song. Nonetheless the quality of Ricki’s voice was evident, I suspect that performing three concerts within two days may have been taking its toll on her stamina. However in the group songs Ricki-Lee by far stood out as the best singer/performer and exuded the most personality and ability to banter with the crowd.

After half-time it was Paulini’s turn. Wow. I had no idea she would be so amazing. This girl never ever hits a wrong note; she belted out Thelma Houston and Aretha with consummate ease. She was a bit “cooler” with the crowd in terms of friendliness but came across as by far the most polished performer. Paulini looked fantastic. Since being on that Celebrity melt down programme she has a fabulous figure and her legs are awesome. She wore a short blue, glittery sequin dress reminiscent of a young Tina Turner. The quality of her voice and performance was so superb that it would not have been out of place in a 1960s Motown revue.

Last up was Kate De Araugo. Kate delivered her sweetie pie numbers, starting with “Faded”, then she sat down and sang us “Heaven”. Everyone seems to love her version of this song, however I find it a little scratchy. She provided the crowd with warm fuzzy moments though by holding the microphone out to the crowd so we could sing the “when you’re lying here in my arms” parts back to her. She then sang Chaka Khan’s “Aint Nobody” which was her best song of the night. She then left us with a slightly teary eyed rendition of that #1 hit single she had after the Australian Idol final.

The girls then returned to the stage for a couple more numbers and got most of the Saturday night crowd up dancing (except me!). They finished up with, of course their hit single “This Time I Know its For Real”, which still irritates me because of its awful Stock Aitken Waterman backing track which doesn’t seem to have been modernised from the 1980s version. Nonetheless, vocally it was great and the performance was entertaining. It appears no standing ovation was expected and the girls said goodbye.

I suspect that young people, and also those old enough to remember the 1960s & ‘70s first time around, as well as hardcore Idol fans would have thoroughly enjoyed the concert. I am none of those, yet overall I felt the girls gave a great performance and was well worth 50 odd bucks for the ticket. I would consider seeing this one again.

Overall Rankings:
Diva’s group items 9/10
Paulini’s solo act 10/10
Ricki-Lee Coulter 9/10
Kate De Araugo 7.5/10
Emily Williams 7/10