Review of Scala and Kolacny Brothers in The Olympia Theatre, Dublin, January 14th 2012.
Review: Aidan Cuffe
You know it’s funny how over the years your musical tastes change and merge. 8 years ago if you had asked me to go to see a choir I’d have stared blankly at you in disbelief. This rocker would be having none of that. Then as the years roll in, your type of music you both regularly listen to and are open to listening to widens and eventually, you find something that crosses the boundaries of genres and defies logic.
Saturday night I found myself in The Olympia, sitting down awaiting a performance from a choir of 20 gorgeous Belgian ladies, whom are conducted by Stijn Kolacny and accompanied by Steven Kolacny on piano (who also composes the original scores). You might be wondering how an all girl Belgian choir has managed to not only get the attention of this reviewer, but also completely sell out The Olympia Theatre on the final night of their European tour. Well put simply, they do stunning cover versions of songs which have been picked up by TV Programmes such as Downton Abbey, The Social Network and most recently on E4 in the advert for Desperate Housewives.
Kicking off with two originals and a soft but almost haunting version of Marilyn Mansons “Beautiful People“, guided by the wonderfully manic Stijn taking his girls through their paces. Coldplay’s “Yellow” is the first of two Coldplay songs to get the Scala treatment here in Dublin. Possibly my highlights of the evening come barely half way in with back to back quality versions of Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know” and then Peter Gabriels “Solsberry Hill“. “Black Moon” is an original score drench in drama and could be lifted from a movie like Inception or The Bourne trilogy, quickly followed by Depeche Modes “Somebody” and a track called Evigheden. Run Children Run drops the piano and the beat and time is controlled by the choir with timed claps, in any other gig the crowd my be tempted to join in to clap to the beat but instead it is complete and utter reverence as the crowd are entranced by these twenty talented girls.
The Police’s “I’ll be watching you” is one of the tracks that shot them to prominence through its use on Downton Abbey, and is another highlight followed by another Steven Kolacny original ‘Seashell’. They smash through the remainder of the set which features Coldplay’s “Rule The World” and KT Tunstall’s “Black Horse and a Cherry Tree“, and an 80s euro-pop classic in the form of another original by Steven Kolacny called “I Fail” which gets the crowd clapping along to the epic dance beats. Finishing on possibly their most well known track Radiohead’s “Creep” and, a promise of returning soon for two dates in The Olympia is greeted by an ovation from the sold out crowd.
Not really expecting them to come back out after belting out Creep they returned to us one more time to give us an Irish treat in the form of U2’s “With Or Without You” to finish the show and garner a standing ovation from the crowd. All in all a lovely gig with some beautiful and interesting renditions of some classic pop and rock songs. It’s stripped back, bare bones, vocal harmonies layers over simple piano. The Olympia acoustics beautifully bouncing the vocals around the venue, It doesn’t get much simpler, but that’s what is so good about it. To quote Radiohead “I wish I was special”, you can stop your wishing, “You’re so fucking special”.