TRINITY TIGER TONES (Melbourne, AUS)
TRINITY TIGER TONES with support from TRINITY CANDYSTRIPES
BMW EDGE, FEDERATION SQUARE
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
Saturday 6 October, 19:30
The Trinity Tiger Tones are an all male contemporary a cappella group from Trinity College, University of Melbourne. Originally running under the name No Bul Barbershop when the group was found in 2006 they have since evolved in leaps and bounds including making it through to the Semi Finals of Australia’s Got Talent earlier this year.
Opening as support was fellow Trinity College all female a cappella group the Candystripes. Versatile through their variety of many great soloists it was lovely to hear a rich alto solo by Madeleine Hodge as the opening for their rendition of “Lonely Boy” (The Black Keys). With only nine singers it would have been great to see them all using individual mics instead of a few condensers as there were often balance issues. This was more evident when the backing vocals were singing louder making it hard to hear the soloists. The Candystripes performed great arrangements, with a nice blend so it was unfortunate that a lot of their choreography was under-rehearsed. Stealing the limelight (in the best possible way) was Georgia Kiley-Lamont’s energetic and hilarious raps during both “Lady Marmalade” and their closing number “If You Wanna Be My Lover” (Spice Girls).
The Trinity Tiger tones stepped onto the stage with confidence and delivered an energetic, light-hearted and well-rehearsed show. Featuring a mix of styles from Billy Joel’s “Lullaby”, Maroon 5’s “Harder to Breathe” through to Red Hot Chilli Peppers “By The Way” the 15 young men displayed great camaraderie from whoa to go. Performing with a cohesive vocal tone and great intonation their synergy didn’t always extend to the lyrical intent and emotional expression of the song. This ranged from the facial expressions of the group portraying a different story from the soloists through to choosing movements for the backing vocalists that drew focus instead of enhancing the song.
The show was cleverly divided by some humorous reflections by Callum and Tony on the Tiger Tones time on Australia’s Got Talent including reading out some ‘fan’ letters, impersonations of the judges as well as a Chariots of Fire themed re-enactment of spotting a pretty girl on bondi beach during their recent tour to Sydney. Its was obvious that lots of time had been spent rehearsing stagecraft which made for entertaining viewing.
It was unfortunate that the Tiger Tones sound was often unbalanced as it could have been easily rectified with one change – microphone technique. The soloists who all had great voices were sadly holding the microphones closer to their chest than their mouths subsequently making it challenging for the audience to hear them clearly whenever the group was singing loudly.
Highlights that need a special shout out include fantastic solos from Sean Hewetson in “Hey Soul Sister” (Train), an emotional delivery of Coldplay’s “The Scientist” from Tom Li, the effortless high notes from the counter-tenors and the hilarious ‘whoop whoop whoop’ moment in their brilliant performance of Cecilia.
Overall, it was a highly enjoyable and entertaining show. The developmental growth that both The Tiger Tones and the Candystripes have made over the last few years shows promising signs for the future of University based contemporary a cappella groups in Australia.
Reviewer: Amelia Alder (Director, Vocal Australia)
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