Collabro at the Regent Theatre Stoke Review

Collabro
Regent Theatre, Stoke

18 March 2016

www.atgtickets.com/regent-theatre

Reviewed by Catherine Brown

On Friday night I enjoyed a pleasurable evening being entertained by ‘Collabro’, the musical operatic group who impressed the nation as winners of Britain’s Got Talent in 2014. The band were performing at the Regent Theatre in Stoke-on-Trent as part of their second tour, suitably entitled ‘Act Two’.

The theatre is in the Hanley area of Stoke and has plenty of public car parks nearby. Staff at the venue were very friendly and welcoming and the seating and facilities were clean. The biggest surprise of the night was the demographic of the audience – I was astonished to discover that most ‘collaborators’ (as fans of the band are known) were old enough to be the band’s parents if not grandparents!!

The evening began with performances by support act AJ Brown, a soulful singer whose vocals were mesmerising. He took centre stage playing the grand piano and singing his own compositions plus music from acts such as Sam Smith. His endearing style reminded me of Jamie Cullum and I thought he was a suitable appetiser for the evening.

The main act Collabro are a five piece vocal group made up of easy on the eye 20-somethings Michael, Richard, Jamie, Matt and Tom. They opened their show with ‘Circle of Life’ from the Lion King and immediately captivated the audience with their musical talents. Some songs such as Boyzone’s ‘No matter what’ were in keeping with their image as a boyband, but there were also many powerful theatre tunes such as ‘I dreamed a dream’ from Les Miserables and ‘The Music of The Night’ from Phantom of the Opera.

Classical soprano Catriona Murray also joined the band on stage and performed solos such as ‘Danced all night’ from My Fair Lady and ‘Never walk alone’ originally from Carousel. Her most impressive vocal was with boys singing ‘Phantom’.

I was moved by many of Collabro’s songs and will definitely be looking out for them on any future tours (especially as they promised to perform the Full Monty!). If you enjoy theatre tunes and a bit of banter from some cheeky chaps this is the show for you.

Rating: 5/5

Collabro are currently touring the UK, for more information and tour dates visit www.gigsandtours.com/tour/collabro.

For other shows at the Regent Theatre in Stoke visit www.atgtickets.com/regent-theatre.

Regent Theatre, Piccadilly, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, ST1 1AP | 0844 871 7649