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The deluxe edition of the live
concert DVD will come with an
eight-page booklet as well as a
12-track live CD.
Aside from the fact that they
hadn’t performed together for
a while, Amitai says the group
didn’t feel under any great
pressure recording their first
DVD. “As soon as we got on stage
everything flowed and it was
if we hadn’t gone our separate
ways at all,” he says.
For the live shows, the boys
have now got a pretty good idea
what goes down well with their
fans, and the DVD set-list reflects that.
He says the main challenge is to get the
right balance between their operatic
repertoire and pop standards.
“The DVD is pretty much built off the
original show we started with, so it’s still
got a lot of the favourites that the audiences
love,” Amitai continues. “But at the same
time, we have added in a few different things
for people who may have been to one of
our shows before, but may not have seen a
particular piece. So we have added in a few
special ones. And people love the encores,
things like
Ten Guitars
and
MyWay
and
songs like that.They’re always requesting
them and we make sure that we finish the
show off with a bang.”
The release of
Ladies And Gentleman…
Sol3 Mio Live In Concert
caps off what has
been a hugely successful year for Sol3 Mio.
Their self-titled debut album entered the Kiwi
record charts at No.1 and held the NZ top spot
for 16 weeks, becoming the biggest selling
local album of 2013, even outselling global
superstar Lorde’s
Super Heroine
. Sol3 Mio
duly picked up the highest selling album of
the year award at last monthVNZMAs, adding
to theTui they picked up earlier in the year for
best album at the Pacific Music Awards.
“All three of us were genuinely surprised
by how well the CD was selling,” Amitai
says. “Nowadays the internet has taken over
everything, people just buy music online. So
for us to see the numbers sky rocket like they
did… it’s crazy to think that people out there
were willing to go out and buy our CD.”
To coincide with the release of their
first DVD, Sol3 Mio has also issued an
international version of their first album,
which includes four additional songs recorded
for the UK version:
Amazing Grace, Nella
Fantasia,World In Union
and
You’ll Never
Walk Alone
.The album is also included in a
special set
The Complete Sol3
Mio Collection,
which also brings
together the DVD and Blu-ray
versions, the 12-track live CD
and a copy of
Sol3 Mio – Our
Story
, the group’s new book
published by Penguin Publishing.
All this will activity is sure to
get fans fired up for their new
tour, which kicks off on February
23 in Palmerston North and will
conclude in Christchurch on
March 5; there will also be
one-off ‘Christmas InTheVines’
concert at Auckland’sVilla
MariaWinery on December 21.
“The boys and I have been putting our
heads together to try and come up with some
new repertoire,” Amitai says of the upcoming
live shows. “There will definitely be a lot of
new material and a lot more solo stuff. I don’t
want to give too much away, but we’re still
going to incorporate a lot of our humour into
it as well – it will still be us fooling around!”
As yet there are no firm plans for a second
album: the priority for 2015 is cracking the US
market and focus there will be remain on their
debut
Sol3 Mio.
And as with this year, they also
intend taking a bit of time off from the group to
concentrate on their opera careers, with Amitai
and Moses returning to the UK, and Pene to
the US.
“I think it’s really important that we also
have our own individual stuff,” Amitai says.
“It kind of keeps your voice healthy because
you are going back to
your teachers and your
coaches and they are
always refining your
voice.Then when we
come back together as
a group things go off to a
whole different level.”
Ladies And Gentleman…
Sol3 Mio Live In Concert,
which captures the warmth and
magic of the trio’s hugely
popular live shows
Ladies And
Gentleman…
Sol3 Mio Live In
Concert
is out now.
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