An exciting blend of booming voices, passion-filled instrumental solos, astounding acrobatics and unbelievable (for all the wrong reasons) dancing; History was definitely more than I expected.
The posters promised a rigorous two-hour performance at the Magma Centre in Las Americas and boasted more than 30 artists from 14 different countries covering everything from Beethoven and Mozart to Abba and Beyonce.
Singing From the Same Song Sheet?
The singing as a whole was mediocre. The perfect example being when The Beatles took to the stage; the group definitely looked the part decked out in identical clothes and haircuts, but the singing was just average.
It’s understandable that acts have to imitate the sound of the real bands but there was very little enthusiasm put into the vocals.
Fortunately, not everyone was average; two singers really did stand miles above the crowd. They performed a superb rendition of All I Ask of You from Phantom of the Opera, causing the audience to fall into a stunned silence as the duet belted out this beautiful song with great passion.
Dancing in the Dark
The majority of the dancing was disappointing and some of the audience seemed actually shocked at just how poor it was. There was nothing wrong with the choreography; it was the timings that were terrible.
One of the most astonishing dance scenes was Ravel’s Bolero. One man was bursting with confidence but his partner looked like he had skipped rehearsals ““ every single one of them. His timing was out, he kept nervously glancing at his partner to see what he should be doing and he just omitted the complex moves completely.
An exotic delivery of Arabian Nights looked promising ““ a seductive woman entered the stage and began a very ethnic style of flute-playing. Unfortunately, she was joined on stage by a group of very flexible, though totally out-of-synch, belly-dancers.
Luckily, it wasn’t all badly-timed and jerky moves ““ the male dancers who performed to Van Halen’s Jump were incredible. As they followed their energetic routine of break-dancing, gymnastics and acrobatic stunts, it was as if the rules of gravity just didn’t apply to them.
Uplifting Performances
Some performances, however, were incredible and transformed the night into something much greater than a string of ordinary singers and dancers.
Pink Floyd’s The Wall really stood out. A huge wall was slowly built on stage during the song with a gap through which the lead guitarist played a fantastic solo. A video of another wall being violently knocked down was projected onto the stage wall, making its falling seem even more dramatic and symbolic.
Another impressive performance began when the music of Michael Jackson’s Billy Jean started to play and the audience was shocked to see a young girl of no more than ten take to the stage and give a dance performance that the King of Pop himself would have been proud of.
The atmosphere suddenly took on darker tones as the sound of Thriller filled the air and zombies crawled onto the stage. The make-up and costumes were incredible and scarily life-like. Everyone was mesmerised as the performers re-enacted the world-famous Thriller dance.
The Future for History
History has already had its second performance which took place at the Teatro Guimera in Santa Cruz earlier this month. A few changes were made ““ the worst performers have been given the boot and the stronger ones have cleaned up their act and done everything they can to improve the quality of the show.
With these positive changes in place, I would recommend the show for an entertaining evening which is sure to bring back many musical memories.
History will be performing three nights per week at the Magma Centre in Costa Adeje between June and November 2012 before hitting the road for a tour of Spain, Portugal, France and Germany.
Images courtesy of History and Rock Story
