Live Performance Review: Pink Martini, Tuesday 04.11.2014 19:30, The Usher Hall, Edinburgh
The gig started with a support slot from The Von Trapps, who had collaborated on Pink Martini's last album, 'Dream A Little Dream' (2014). 'The Von Trapps' are grandchildren of one of the children represented in 'The Sound Of Music' (1965). I preferred the tried and tested songs by others that they did and much less so the original material. Though having said this I could not fault their singing and playing and felt they had an effortless charm and are clearly very practiced at performing with each other.
When I saw Pink Martini last year they had performed with an orchestra, this time they were by themselves, though their sound felt just as rich. The two founder members, singer China Forbes and pianist Thomas Lauderdale, were both staggeringly supreme and displayed quite touching personal interplay between each other.
I have a strong sense that without the orchestra, they could go a bit more off-pieste. It had got to a point in the performance where Pink Martini thought that some parts of the audience misunderstood which piece they were about to perform. So Thomas Lauderdale checked with China, why don't we do that one first and at the same time invited people to come up to the stage to leave notes for requests. There was a considerable stream of people coming forward with requests and this resulted in Pink Martini doing their first ever medley of songs they had previously recorded in their 20 year career. This could not have been done with an orchestra, and gave a uniqueness to the show that added to how memorable it was. Pink Martini played for a solid 2 and a 1/2 hours. Fantastic music with a splash of chaos for such a long show, who could possibly quibble.
Rating: 10/10.
