If you’ve seen the Soweto Gospel Choir before, you’re hopes will be understandably high, your ears ready to be lavished with soaring vocals and wonderfully uplifting songs. An internationally renowned, Grammy award winning outfit, they regularly have audiences moved and on their feet with applause.
Alas, something’s missing from this year’s lacklustre show. Maybe it’s the songs, which seem less memorable than before. But on the basis of this performance – and it feels almost heretical to say so – it seems more to do with the eighteen or so performers themselves, who run through the show’s routine professionally but with little of their usual passion, soul or energy. It’s as if we’re watching a rehearsal, a proficient but somehow blasé practice session, with the heart on hold for the main event.
There are certainly glimpses of this spirit and at some points that spark returns, but always briefly, and the show settles into a nice, pleasantly enjoyable but entirely unexceptional experience.
Yes, some of the vocals still impress – there are truly some beautiful voices on display – and some of the dancing and African drumming is impressive but the overall impact seems muted, an effect not helped by the fact that, for most of the show, the choir remains passively at the back of the stage, as if unwilling to let rip, have fun and engage or move the audience.
As with so many concerts, the audience takes its cue from the passion and energy of the performers, and the politely composed audience is never in danger of being so moved or uplifted that they leave their seats. Towards the end of the show, the choir do start to deliver but by then it’s a little too late.
Not a bad show by any means, but for nearly twenty quid a ticket, it’s rather a disappointment.
Pleasant rather than inspirational.
2/5 
Lee McRonald
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