I'm so excited to share some behind-the scenes looks at the #Whitney #Houston #Tribute Show! This show has been a dream come true for me, and I'm so grateful to have the opportunity to perform Whitney's music for her fans....says Tilarni
The rehearsal process for this show has been amazing. We've been working hard to learn Whitney's songs and to perfect our performances. It's been a challenge, but it's also been a lot of fun.
One of the most challenging things about performing #Whitney's songs is that she was such an incredible singer. She had such a powerful voice, and it's hard to match her vocal range. But we're working hard to do our best, and I think we're really starting to get it right.
Another challenge of this show is that we're performing all of Whitney's biggest hits. These are songs that people know and love, so we have to make sure that we do them justice. We want to give people a show that they'll never forget.
Getting the band together
This was kinda an easy process, but also hard, if that makes sense. We started off just using backing tracks and testing out the songs at our gigs, the response we were getting made us think about the possibility of doing a full show, at that time we only had about 5 or 6 songs.
We used to do "#The Greatest Love Of All" as this song was with us since I started singing early in my career, says #Tilarni. People started to take the the #greatest hits of #Whitney Houston, and I thought this could be the start of something. After #DavidSenn took this project on, he put together some of his closest acquaintances and formed the nucleus of the band and we soon had our first rehearsal several months later.
I used to study #Whitney's every nuance in an attempt to get as close as possible to her feel and rendition of her anthemic songs so I can do justice to her. Knowing full well that there would be moments of uncertainty and doubt as to will we ever pull this off.
The band came together slowly and David our band leader got us our first gig at the #Kingsford RSL" in Sydney in 2019. IT was an exciting show and the crowd were very supportive.
Production
One of the most time consuming aspects of the show is the Production
Its not possible to predict just how long and how much time goes into production one show at a time. #David Senn is now the chief person who's in charge of putting the entire show together. From managing rehearsals, to organising venues, set up, travel, accomodation, lighting and sound requirements to backdrops, staging and just about all other facets of putting the show together come under him. Not an easy task but somethings get easier and you get to know a few ropes says David. "We tend to rehearse less and less as we get to know the songs, but we still do at least one rehearsal before each show, unless we have to learn a new routine or song, we generally only do one rehearsal now"
Setup and Bump In
This is another area which requires a lot of attention prior to the show on the day. "we are generally there at the venue from 2.30pm setting up and bumping in." The main issue is to get the sound check up and running to the times specified and to ensure that everything goes according to plan" A lot of the times things can snag up and you end up spending more time than you'd wish which can then snowball into the next issue and cause an avalanche of issues before you get onto the stage"
Directing the whole band is not always easy but the guys are very professional and they need little worry or fuss, and help each other to set up and bump out.
Every venue is different and the trick to liaising with the production staff at the venue to try and stick to the plan can be tricky.
Often times there are production meetings and planning weeks before hand to ensure we are on the same page musically and technically.
If we ever need Sound or Lighting we usually hire from #Cosmic sound and lighting
I usually use https://www.stageplot.com/ to make up my stage plot and design my floor plan for every gig. For visuals I use https://qlab.app/ This is an awesome program and works well for us.
