Featuring a photo from the their private reception with the Prime Minister and acting President of Trinidad & Tobago, the three boys of Blake were proud to make the front page of the biggest newspaper in the Caribbean, celebrating their debut concert at the national concert hall in Port of Spain. The evening was put on in aid of the Cancer Society, in order to raise funds for enhanced screening.
Quote from the Express Newspaper – United Kingdom vocal trio Blake stole the hearts of the women in the audience of the Trinidad and Tobago Cancer Society’s benefit concert titled, A Gala Evening at the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA), Port of Spain, on Saturday.
The award-winning group delivered a sterling performance in which they sang from arias and religious songs to selections from classic movies and pop favourites. From the moment the trio, Oliver Baines, Stephen Bowman and Humphrey Berney, stepped on stage the audience seemed thrilled without even one note having been sung.
Many appeared who knew the music of Blake and applauded as they opened with a song “Make You Feel My Love”.
One could immediately see why these men are so popular as their vocals are crisp, powerful and blend perfectly. As the evening progressed one would also appreciate the versatility of Blake as they flowed effortlessly from the operatic style to pop vocals, one form being delivered just as perfectly as the other. And all through they had the audience mesmerised.
One of the Blake moments which endeared them to the audience was their greetings after the first song in which they expressed their pleasure over being in Trinidad for the first time. Oliver Baines said they had been to other islands in the region, but Trinidad was by far the superior among them.
He also commented that the women here are simply gorgeous and then dedicated the next song, “She” to the beauty of the women here and especially to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who was present along with acting President Timothy Hamel-Smith.
Blake was joined on stage at intervals by the Love Movement Choir led by Bernadette Laughlin-Scott, which performed “Hallelujah,” “Somebody Prayed For Me” and even “High Mas” by David Rudder with them.
The Love Movement opened the show with a medley of popular songs from the 1970s complete with costumes from that era. People were dancing in their seats as the choir performed “Silly Love Songs” (Wings), “Then Came You” (Dionne Warwick and the Spinners), “Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song” (BJ Thomas) and “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” (Leo Sayer) among others.
Blake, during their set, performed “Desperado,” “Start Over, ”Chasing Cars,’“Beautiful Night,” “Nessun Dorma,” “With Or Without You,’ “Closest Thing To Crazy,” “God Only Knows,” “Time To Say Goodbye,” “Up Where We Belong,” “Jerusalem” and others.
COMMENTS: