After arriving onstage with a dramatic flourish with flames coming out of the stage, Michael Buble quickly got on to the business at hand. It was a show that oozed class, high on energy, humility and consistency. Clad in black suit, white shirt, bow tie and shoes that glistened, he swung into Just Haven’t Met You Yet. “I’m going to start the show slow and romantic and by the end we’ll be dry humping each other,” he promised the predominantly female crowd.
With the audience firmly on side, he went on to deliver Feeling Good, Everything, Home and the grand finale It’s A Beautiful Day. Although a nifty songwriter himself, Buble’s strength is as an interpreter. The latest show includes The Beatles’ All You Need is Love (when red and white paper hearts tumbled from the ceiling) and Daft Punk’s Get Lucky with earlier staples as To Love Somebody, Cry Me A River, Moondance, Burning Love, Save The Last Dance For Me and I Want You Back, and joined opening act Naturally 7 for a Motown run-through.
He wandered around shaking hands with fans as he sang, exchanged light hearted cheeky banter with the crowd, picked out a little eight-year old sporting a I Love Michael Buble T-shirt and chatted to her, announced his parents were in the audience (“mum will kill me if I got her to stand up”) and introduced his 13 musicians (Team Buble) as his “brothers and best friends” and spoke at length about each of them. The American musicians were joined by seven Australian violinists and cellists.
Openers, acapella outfit Naturally 7, were a joy themselves. With no instruments, they delivered Summer Breeze, Runaway, Wall of Sound and Coldplay’s Fix You which showed off their exquisite harmonies. They’re returning for their own shows, and well worth catching.
BY RENUKA ELIEZER
Loved: Doing Home as a solo which exhibited how great his voice is.
Hated: He didn’t do Sway.
Drank: Red wine.
