Review: A Vision Of Elvis
Venue: Grand Opera House, February 7
Rob Kingsley put on a very polished performance in his tribute to Elvis. Having watched a number of tribute acts over the years this was one of the most enjoyable performances that I have seen – both my mother (a devoted Elvis fan), and my brother have both seen Rob before and had advised me I was in for a treat.
Perhaps the most fitting review from the evening belongs to my 11 year old daughter, who wasn’t brought up on Elvis as I was, but who enjoys his music. She said “It was ACE and AWESOME, and that’s in capital letters Mum!”
I think that about sums the evening up!
I counted six costume changes during the course of the performance – the gold jacket from the Sun years, the GI uniform, the white gospel suit, my favourite black leather and then both a white and a red jumpsuit outfit from the Vegas years.
Like the costumes the hairstyles were absolutely spot on and you could tell no expense had been spared.
There were times when Rob would just have that smile, not to mention the moves!
It’s rare to see an Elvis tribute that can cover the whole range of years that Elvis performed, yet Rob managed it easily, both in looks and voice.
The Cadillac Band and backing singers The Sweet Sensations did an excellent job of entertaining us during the costume changes.
The girls have amazing voices, and I have to say I found the brass sections dance moves during one number where they weren’t playing highly entertaining.
Rob played a number of songs that were personal favourites of mine which most tributes never bother with, including Daddy Big Boots from the GI Blues movie. I really do love that lullaby.
Of course he played the usual suspects such as Wonder Of You, Suspicious Minds and American Trilogy, but I think for me, it was the lesser heard songs that really made this such an enjoyable evening.
There were a number of occasions where Rob chatted and joked with the audience – it’s clear he loves performing and enjoys the audience interaction.
If I have any disappointment from the evening at all it was the audience – they just didn’t seem to get involved in the performance as much as I expected.
They were the quietest audience I’ve seen in a long time and I really believe Rob deserved a better reaction.
That said they were on their feet and joining in for the last two numbers. It wasn’t that they weren’t enjoying the performance from what I could hear, just that they didn’t seem to show it.