The New York Venue - Gig 17th January!

This is an extract from the venue where Collabro are performing in New York. Interesting to read how they see the Band and what they know about them!   Can't wait to read what they write once they've heard them sing! This is how they are promoting them!  Plus a bit about the venue itself!

Collabro

SINCE winning Britain’s Got Talent, Collabro’s diary has been a whirlwind of Touring, recording studios, TV appearances & International travel! 

The five-piece musical theatre group swept to victory on the ITV reality show in June 2014 and won a £250,000 cash prize as well as a much-coveted slot on The Royal Variety Show. 

The band went on to sign with Simon Cowell’s Syco Music & their career has gone from strength to strength here in the UK & Internationally. 

They released their debut album ‘Stars’ which smashed in to the no.1 spot beating Ed Sheeran in the process and at the time being the fastest selling album for a debut act. A Christmas released special edition of ‘Stars’ followed to further their domination of the charts. 

A sell out 32 date UK tour started at the beginning of year, which saw the band play in prestigious venues such at The London Palladium and perform to over 55,000 people!! 

2015 has seen the band release their 2nd album ‘Act Two’ which charted at No.2 beaten only by Florence & The Machine. The band have sold over 300,000 albums in 1 just a year ! Not bad for 5 guys that were completely unknown just one year before. 

Collabro have played shows in America, Japan & Hong Kong where they have been greatly received with great demand for future shows. 

2016 will see the band embark upon another, larger tour, this time selling out venues such as The Royal Albert Hall. 

The band – Michael Auger, Richard Hadfield, Jamie Lambert, Matt Pagan and Tom Redgrave – first got together in a grotty north London pub where the floors were sticky with beer and the musty air thick with dust motes. 

Having met through mutual friends and on social media, the five young men planned to spend some time rehearsing a few songs they could then use to audition for cruise ships and international tours. Each night, those who didn’t live in the capital had to trek back to their £30-a-night hotel to contend with dodgy electrics, no hot water, and bed bugs. 

It was an inauspicious start to life in a band, and the boys admit they were facing an uncertain future. In fact, if it hadn’t been for their success on BGT, the boys might have gone back to their day jobs – which included accounting, teaching, and working in a petrol station.

The Venue inside

With renovations totaling $150,000, including a unique lighting and stage treatment designed by Abigail Rosen, The Iridium initially debuted its new look in September 2015 welcoming back Front and Center, public television’s critically-acclaimed music series, for the filming of four all-new episodes.  These initial Front and Center tapings featured performances by singer-songwriter BØRNS, iconic pianist and five-time Grammy Award nominee Joe Jackson, Platinum selling Country star Kip Moore and British singer-songwriter George Ezra.

The Iridium is a musical landmark famously known as a destination for intimately experiencing the best rock, jazz, and blues artists in the world.  Over the last 20 years, The Iridium has built up a reputation for attracting iconic instrumentalists and vocalists seven nights a week, and as a result has grown in the diversity of its music offerings as emerging songwriters seek to join in the room’s rich history of music discovery.  Among the superstar acts that have graced The Iridium stage are Les Paul, who played weekly at The Iridium until his passing in 2009, Jeff Beck, Steve Miller, Buddy Guy, Joe Walsh, Zakk Wylde, Joe Satriani, The Rolling Stones’ Mick Taylor and Charlie Watts, Max Roach, Michael Brecker, among many others.  Today, in addition to its consistent draw of legendary rock guitarists and jazz and blues musicians, The Iridium regularly showcases next generation talent spanning a variety of genres including folk, indie pop, alt rock, R&B, cabaret and world music.

Les Paul, revered as a pioneer in electric guitars and music recording, has influenced The Iridium becoming one of the only NYC concert venues to double as a live recording studio boasting its own music label – IridiumLive.  Since 2011, notable releases on the IridiumLive label have included Grammy-winning guitarist Albert Lee’s ‘Live At The Iridium’ and ‘Les Paul Trio And Friends: A Jazz Tribute to Les’ featuring Les Paul’s band performing with special guests Nels Cline of Wilco, jazz guitar legend Stanley Jordan, Jane Monheit, and Bucky Pizzarelli.  Jeff Beck’s Grammy-nominated ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Party Honoring Les Paul’ is also among the historical recordings at The Iridium