Edinburgh Fringe 2011
Low Down
Neat arrangement of a series of popular hits from this twelve strong, all-girl a cappella group.
Review
Sticking twelve presentable and extremely intelligent young women on a stage is an almost certain recipe for a full house and In The Pink certainly had no trouble packing them in for their Monday lunch-time slot at C+3’s generously sized venue. In fact, they were still coming in some fifteen minutes after the first notes had resonated which makes you wonder about some people’s ability to get anywhere on time, particularly as this is only a fifty minute gig.
No problem with ITP’s timing though – they were spot-on with their first number, Faith Hill’s Someone Else’s Dream. That was followed by a competent enough rendition of Walking on Sunshine (Katrina and The Waves’) and a couple of arrangements I remember being favoured by The King’s Singers back in the 1970’s.
It was all pleasant enough stuff, nice easy listening with ITP sticking firmly to mainstream ballads that were instantly recognisable to their audience. In many respects this was probably just as well as, whilst the backing vocals were good and varied (with one of their ilk providing consistent and good quality percussive accompaniment), the soloists’ voices tended to get lost, particularly when operating at either end of their range. There were times, as well, when the syncopation drifted slightly, but some diverting choreography and their winning smiles meant that it was probably only the music pedants in the audience who noticed.
But when in doubt, leave them with something they’ll remember so we were hurried towards the exit with a cover of Elton John’s Your Song and Eurythmics’ Sweet Dreams. Something of a dreamy theme, then, to top and tail this concert. Maybe that explains the preponderance of latecomers – they’d forgotten to set their alarm clocks and had overdone the pre-prandial nap.
