Il Divo sing their Armani socks off

May 21 2007 By Sam Wonfor, The Journal

Although I'd never had the live Il Divo experience before, for some reason I've always thought of the four-strong "operatic supergroup" as the rich man's G4 … and last night they proved me absolutely right.

There were no gimmicks (I seem to remember an excruciating G4 Beach Boys medley during their gig at Newcastle City Hall a couple of years ago) and no jumping from style to style.

Il Divo - American David Miller, Sebastien Izambard from France, Urs Bühler from Switzerland and Spain's Carlos Marin - know exactly who they are and exactly what they do best.

Basically, the foursome wear stylish, sharp suits and sing their Armani socks off … and NEVER attempt a dance routine. Perhaps that's why G4 are about to embark on a farewell tour while the Il Divo boys are filling arenas all over the world. But enough of the comparisons.

A sell-out audience had assembled on Saturday to hear the talents of the cosmopolitan quartet whose brand of operatic pop has sealed a meteoric rise to success since their arrival on the scene in 2004.

Before the boys arrived, we were treated to a cinematic-style overture, courtesy of the full orchestra who had taken their position on stage. It gave us an idea of what to expect from the concert and all provided the perfect injection of drama in the lead-up to revealing themselves on stage to a rapturous reception.

Like Il Divo themselves, the audience straddled the pop and classical markets.

While many were clearly happy simply to sit back and enjoy the music on offer, there was also a fair slice of the audience who were demonstrating screaming techniques Take That fans would have been proud of … all the while clutching glo sticks and delivering red roses to the front of stage.

For an hour and a half, we were treated to a selection of tracks from their trio of smash-hit albums including Nights in White Satin, Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman, Every Time I Look At You and Mariah Carey's Hero.

The only black mark against an otherwise flawless performance was a stream of sickly banter which peppered the show … I think even their most admiring female fans must have found themselves reaching for the Pepto Bismol at least once. Next time, leave the cheese at your respective homes, boys … but by all means bring the voices and model looks back.