ORLANDO, Fla. — No one in multinational group Il Divo is Irish, but Saturday night’s concert in Steinmetz Hall had the feeling of a wake.
Stories, songs, memories, tears — all played a part as the Simon Cowell-created, hit-making group’s latest tour stopped at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Orlando. And while his body wasn’t physically present, as is typical at a real wake, the spirit of Carlos Marín loomed large over the show.
“Thank you for being here tonight in this difficult moment. We have no words to express our grief,” American David Miller said at the top of the show. “We are feeling very emotional so please bear with us.”
Marín, a founding member of Il Divo nearly 20 years ago, died of COVID-19 in December at age 53. The quartet’s other three members decided to turn their already planned tour into a tribute to their friend. The result was a mix of eulogy and the trademark harmonies and soaring vocals of the classical-crossover group.
The three Il Divo singers — Miller, Sebastien Izambard of France and Urs Bühler of Switzerland — are joined on the tour by American baritone Steven LaBrie, who handled a delicate situation with grace and poise.
Musically, LaBrie has a warmth that adds body to the group’s sometimes sterile arrangements. His robust voice fits magnificently with the Il Divo signature blend. Once or twice, he even seemed to overpower the others in the sound mix.
He deftly faded into the background when the others remembered their late friend, whose personality brought a cheeky flirtatiousness to the group. If the other three were the nice guys you’d take home to meet mom, Marín was the guy you wanted to hang with at the after-party.
He reveled in his showman role with Il Divo. After describing himself as a less-is-more kind of guy, Bühler said: “If you knew Carlos, you knew he was ‘more is more.’”
“He really could be over the top,” remarked Miller, pointing out that Marín traveled with a suitcase dedicated to his hair products.
Among the reminiscing, the group performed their hits and selections from their latest album, a tribute to Motown recorded with Marín. Il Divo and Motown are not an obvious combination, and the results are mixed.
A version of the Jackson 5′s “I’ll Be There” felt stiff, though a peppy “My Girl” had a more pleasing bounce. “Tracks of My Tears” lost something without the simplicity of Smokey Robinson’s vocals, but “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” created a sonic wall of sound you could actually feel in your soul.
The familiar hits were given their due: “You Raise Me Up,” “Regresa a Mí (Unbreak My Heart)” and a particularly powerful “Adagio.”
And though there was banter among the guys — mainly at the expense of LaBrie’s youthfulness, compared to the others — thoughts of Marín were ever present. Miller choked up and bobbled his entrance on “Come What May (Te Amaré).” Izambard did the same on Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” — the only song sung with Marín’s voice, recorded and represented by an empty stool.
The songs felt more overtly about Marín by the end of the show: Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” in grand style, a rather turgid “My Heart Will Go On.” For encores: An exhilarating “Somewhere” from “West Side Story” and the group’s traditional closer, “Time to Say Goodbye.”
A little showy, a little over the top. Marín would have loved it.
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