The Idea Of North
The Prom Sessions
Promethean Theatre
Until Fri 29 Feb


One of the most successful acapella groups in the country, The Idea Of North are made up of four vibrant, well humoured performers. Each have stunning voices in their own right but truly shine when they come together as a quartet. Meeting in music school in Canberra the group has performed to audiences all over the world and won a number of international music awards.
Most of the audience were silent and absorbed from the first few notes as the quartet delivered flawless harmonies and vocal percussion. They set the bar high early with an upbeat and jazzy arrangement of Madalene Peyroux's Don't Wait Too Long delivered with true style by alto Naomi Crellin. Tenor Nick Bigby made a few jokes before breaking into song declaring his love for Julie, an elderly woman who was sitting in the front row. This was followed by a clever performance of Bach's Second Fugue.
The highlight was an arrangement of Joni Mitchell songs featuring solos by soprano Trish Delaney-Brown. This piece was delivered impeccably with a truly heart felt passion that gave me goose bumps. Much of the remaining set was made up of gospel songs off of their 2006 album 'The Gospel Project' which just didn't have the punch of the earlier pieces.
With a varied repertoire including Aretha Franklin, a southern American chicken song and an amusing prayer for Spam, The Idea Of North were very popular with the families and over 50's in the packed out Promethean. Their voices are simply crystal and in perfect tune with one another, a true pleasure to hear when they were singing the right songs. They announced at the end of the show that they are also performing a jazz hour, which I think would be more my cup of tea.


Jo Norton