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my soul The lighting on the playing area changed, as smoke gently rose and the first of the night’s opening guest performers, Serala Athulathmudali, took the mike, with Adrien DeNiese on guitar and Sanjeev Dabare on piano. The clean, beautiful, sharp, untainted sounds of a steel-string acoustic pierced the air as Serala’s nightingale-like voice effortlessly wrapped itself around a perennial favourite: Sarah MacLachlan’s “Angel”. And so began a night of well arranged, efficiently performed pop music. Opening for Adlib were the acoustic band AD, fronted by the talented Prageeth Silva, who nearly stole the show from the headliners, with some snazzy showmanship on up tempo, dance-inducing covers of George Michael’s “Faith” and a jazzed-up reading of the Paul Simon favourite “Late In The Evening”. They also performed a harmonica-drenched cover of the Bob Dylan classic “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door”, accidentally ascribing it to Guns N’ Roses, who had an early 90s hit with a cover of the song. Also on their repertoire was the Creedence Clearwater Revival song “Midnight Special”. Also opening for the boys were two other talented young female singers Devashree and Marisa. First on stage was Marisa, who joined Serala on a rendition of “When We Believe” from the Dreamworks animated film The Prince of Egypt. Devashree later came on stage to perform the final song of the opening set – a faithful cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi”, which unfortunately was marred by a rather poor sound mix. It was then that the boys from Adlib took to the stage, with Mario de Soyza taking on MC duties for the night. Following a brief introduction to the proceedings, in which Mario seemed to profusely thank his parents more than anything else, the boys began, their crisp harmonies, perfect pitching and textbook modulation in tune with what can be described as a rather breathtaking reading of “In The Still Of The Night”, mainly taking their cue from the Boyz II Men version of the song. And so they launched their first headlining gig, with a well-chosen selection of songs both new and old, from a rather limited array of genres, obviously reflecting the overall tastes of the members. Although not adventurous in any way, this was a standard night’s entertainment, where the audience knew exactly what to expect and got it: nothing more nothing less. Those most American purveyors of country flavoured rock, the Eagles featured quite prominently in the setlist, with at least four songs of theirs being performed at regular intervals during the night. There were solo performances that peppered the group’s set, with each singer taking on songs they obviously had great affinity towards. Being a vocal group, Adlib’s biggest asset, their voices, served them well. Technically as close to perfect as anyone will ever get, they kept the crowd breezily content with covers of popular favourites. Their arrangements also veered slightly off the beaten track, as they augmented their choice of music with bits and pieces of harmony and melody that gave it an individual marker. Standout songs included a beautiful cover of the Extreme song “More Than Words”, Vince Gill’s “I Still Believe In You”, an awesome version of Lionel Richie and Alabama’s “Deep River Woman” and a spirited cover of Dobie Gray’s “Drift Away”, all sung in perfect pitch, modulation and harmony. They were accompanied for the most part by AD, who proved quite adept at giving the boys much-needed musical support. Of the solo performances, Mario de Soyza’s soulful rendering of Luther Vandross’ Grammy-winning song “Dance With My Father” surely deserves a mention, as does Anuruddha Lihinikaduwa’s gentle, wafting reading of “Rest Your Love On Me”, written by the Bee Gees and made most memorable by Andy Gibb and Olivia Newton-John. Another highlight were the toe tapping, up-tempo medleys, which kept the crown swaying and clapping as the music lifted the night into the stars. Kudos must also go to Akhry Ameer, whose fine handling of the lights lent a much-needed third dimension to the performance. Mixing the subtle with the brash, he created moods that did not clash with, but augmented the singers on stage, giving the audience an additional push at understanding and feeling the words and music being laid bare on stage. Surein de S. Wijeratne also did a commendable job with the sound, given the circumstances that it was an open air performance, which is very difficult to judge in terms of sound quality and balance. However, the performance was not without its weaknesses. The biggest let-down was the lack of interpretation put into the songs. Although technically perfect, songs are documents of human emotion, and a well-written tune has the power to move like no other. In this respect, the boys had a tendency to sacrifice essence for technical proficiency with some songs totally losing their soul to over-polished harmony and stress on the technical. It was almost as if sometimes they were concentrating so hard on getting the technical aspects of the song correct that they almost totally jettison the song’s core, which is its emotion. Unfortunately, the biggest casualty in this respect came in the solo performances. The Eagles’ “Hole In The World” and The Monkees’ “I’m A Believer” were also instances where the songs did not seem to have the space to breathe; sometimes turning to mere words to music, uttered without meaning or feeling. Adlib, with the right backing and exposure, have what it takes to put themselves on the map, which they have already done with a good, well-judged performance. Despite a few failings that only knit-pickers would comment on, they commanded their audience, making the night their very own and delighting their audiences with some well-sung renditions of perennial favourites mixed with newer, more modern pop fare. In a musical landscape populated with a lot of rock and not enough elegantly mounted pop, Adlib has a major trump card. Soldier on, boys! |
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