WORD OF THE DAY: HUMAN NATURE ROCKS
We were off to see the Human Nature Concert tonight and we were able to get the boys tickets as well. The first question they had was ‘what type of music do they sing’? Now these kids are all over the top 40 songs, they know the words, the song names and the artist. The radio station here that we listen to play them over and over again, there really isn’t too much variation in playing of songs on the station, and we could hear the same song up to 4-6 times a day. No wonder the kids know them so well and it is just as well that all the current songs are goodies. So without seeming old I had to tell them they were ‘old’ songs without putting them off and I knew/hoped that Jake would enjoy it with all the dancing that is part of their show. Not sure how won over they were, but tough, as they were coming with us anyway. I just hope my enthusiasm would wear off on them. We did talk about staying in a hotel for the night tonight and seeing the Freemont Experience and the staying Downtown rather than the strip, but the prices weren’t too favorable, the boys were being monsters and Tippy had an early work start so we decided to just see the show and then come home afterwards.
I was so excited. Tarsh knows the Manager of Human Nature. Not a behind the scenes guy, not someone who works at the show, this is the guy that bought them to Las Vegas. The chances of me meeting them, worse case a photo with them was quite high and I was like a child being led to the candy store. I have seen Human Nature 3 previous times, all in Brisbane over a 3 year period. Shelly and I just love the group, love their music and we LOVE Toby Allen. We aren’t groupies as such; we don’t want to get into bed with any of them we are just big fans. We parked for free in the Imperial Palace car park and made our way into the bowels of the hotel. It was quite busy, so we all made sure we all held some-ones hands, as I guess it wouldn’t look good if we lost a child in a strip hotel. We found the Human Nature Theatre (yes their own theatre) on the 3rd floor where we were also to pick up the tickets for the evening. The theatre was open, so we headed in to find our seats and get ready for the performance. Tarsh’s friend, David, came up and said hello and stayed for a chat for a while before he had to head to the sound booth for the evening which was directly behind us.
Our seats were amazing. The theatre was set up with tables that ran vertical to the stage. There was the lower floor level where the tabled sat around 14 people, there were booths directly below us, we were on the second tier and right on the edge of a table of 14, there were booths behind us and then a third tier. As we were higher than the floor we had an unobstructed view of the stage and I think the best seats in the house. I rekon they were even better than the ones who were right next to the stage as they would have had to have cricked their necks all night. We really couldn’t have had better seats. I was so excited and couldn’t wait for the show to start. We ordered a cocktail each and the waitress was nice enough to bring the boys a red soda each and then the show began.
The show was pretty much exactly the same show that I saw in Brisbane a few years ago. I wasn’t sure if they would modify it for the American market, but there certainly was not an issue for me. They still had all the same enthusiasm, moves and good looks just as I remembered. The best thing was that we were allowed to take photos all we liked we just weren’t allowed to use flash photography during the show. Well no one needs to tell me that twice right. So all through the show I could take guilt free photos to my heart’s content. They even used the tables on the ground level as their stage and would step onto them like a catwalk, and people would have to pick up there drinks as each of the 4 members sashayed their way up and down. When they first did walked the tables I’m not sure the people sitting there knew what to do and they left their glasses on the tables and Mike accidently knocked her drink over when he turned around. I mean really, wouldn’t you just pick up the glass for goodness sakes. This also put them in prime view and seriously they were only like 2m away from us. It was a shame that Toby was on the far table to the left, but we got great views of Andrew and Mike and I think I may have become a bit of an Andrew fan as well now.
Human Nature are an Australian pop vocal group. The group was originally formed as adoo-wop band in 1989 while the current members were at school together in Sydney. So far, the band has had 17 Top 40 hits and five Top 10 hits in Australia since 1996 when their first album Telling Everybody was released. Three of Human Nature's albums have reached multi-platinum certification in Australia with four others reaching platinum. The group has certified sales of 1.6 million records in Australia. They have also had minor chart success in the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
Brothers Andrew and Michael Tierney joined with Toby Allen and Phil Burton while at Hurlstone Agricultural High School- representing their school in a combined regional schools concert at the Bankstown Town Hall on 27 November 1989. The quartet was known as The 4 Trax, a name that they retained until they began their recording career. Before being in Human Nature, Toby Allen worked as a perfume salesman while studying to be an accountant, Andrew Tierney was studying to be a physical therapist; Phil Burton was studying to be a music teacher and once stacked beer for a living. The youngest member of the band Michael Tierney was studying for his Higher School Certificate in high school. After an initial stint as buskers and wins in a number of club talent quests, The 4 Trax started performing professionally in clubs and built up a following winning- several awards as club entertainers. They started sending demos off to record labels. The band was signed to Sony Music Australia after walking into the office of Sony CEO, Denis Handlin, and performing an a cappella version of "People Get Ready". A recording contract was offered immediately. The band changed their name to Human Nature at a suggestion from Michael Tierney.
The group also helped build their reputation by working as support acts for Michael Jackson and Céline Dion on their respective Australian tours. The band teamed up with John Farnham for "Every Time You Cry" which was one of the biggest hits of 1997, and due to the success of the previous tours, were asked personally by both Celine Dion and Michael Jackson to continue to support them throughout their European tours in June–September 1997. The band played to crowds often numbering over 100,000 people, and also took the stage for three nights at Wembley Stadium. Upon their return to Australia in October Human Nature embarked on their first ever national concert tour.
For their fifth studio album, Human Nature decided to release an album of Motown covers, Reach Out: The Motown Record, on 6 November 2005. It peaked at number one on the Australian charts and has reached 5 times platinum, with sale of over 350,000. On 29 October 2006, Human Nature won their first ARIA - highest selling album - after 15 nominations. With Reach Out being such a success, the quartet decided their sixth studio album would be along similar lines. Dancing In The Street: The Songs Of Motown II was released on 13 October 2006, and debuted at number one. Mid-2007 saw Human Nature return to Australian arena stages with the Dancing In The Street Arena Tour. The 24 November 2007 saw Human Nature hit No.1 on the ARIA Australian Albums Chart with Get Ready, the third Motown-themed album, which this time featured appearances by several original Motown artists including Smokey Robinson, Martha Reeves, Mary Wilson of The Supremes and The Temptations. All three Motown albums have now sold close to a million copies in Australia. Human Nature's total album sales in Australia number almost two million.
At the start of 2008, Human Nature headed over to perform for the first ever time in the United States, with a two-month engagement at Atlantic City's Tropicana Casino. In April 2008, Human Nature took the stage with The Supremes' Mary Wilson on the television show It Takes Two. They performed two duets from their Get Ready album: "It Takes Two" and "River Deep, Mountain High". In May 2009, Human Nature began a year-long engagement in Las Vegas at the Imperial Palace Hotel and Casino, performing 6 nights a week. They are the first Australian band to have a residency on the strip. The group made a brief return to Australia in December 2009 to perform a "homecoming" show with Smokey Robinson at the Wyndham Estate winery in the NSW Hunter Valley wine region. On 11 May 2010, Human Nature announced that the Imperial Palace had signed them for a further two years, and had also given the group the honor of renaming the Imperial Palace Showroom after them. They currently perform six nights a week in the "Human Nature Theatre". The mayor of Las Vegas, Oscar Goodman, decreed that 11 May 2010 would be known as "Human Nature Day".
Human Nature finished their first concert tour of the U.S. on May 6, 2012. The group performed to a sold out crowd at New York City's Beacon Theatre. As of May 14, 2012, the group has resumed their residency at the Imperial Palace in Las Vegas, NV. The band consists of: Andrew Tierney, Michael Tierney, Toby Allen and Phil Burton and is the same lineup that performed as the 4Trax in 1989.
The guys really don’t stop dancing the whole time they are in stage and there was even a few points of crowd participation with dance moves and Jake and Luke were up in a flash, but it was a little too cool for school for our 12 year old Nick. The show wrapped up 90 minutes later at 9pm and I was getting a little nervous on whether we had to ask David if we could meet them when they made an announcement that they would be outside the theater to sign programs and selling their latest album. This was AWESOME and I was so nervous!!! As we were waiting for the theatre to clear out one of the usher ladies tapped me on the shoulder and said that the drummer guy would like to give the boys a set each of drum sticks that was used during the show and asked if we could wait a few minutes until he came out. How nice is that, so we waited for a few minutes and the piano man came out with only 2 sets of sticks, not realizing that Nick was hiding behind Tippy the whole night and not dancing they had only seen the 2 smaller boys. So he ran back stage and got another set which was extra super nice and then I was hurrying everyone out so we didn’t miss the boys. Human Nature were standing behind a glass counter that had all sorts of Human Nature stuff tucked in there and I joined the line to get my ticket signed by them. But when I got to the queue I felt a little scabby asking them to sign my ticket, so when I got to the top of the queue Phil was the first member up, so I bought 2 programs (they were only 10USD each) and I got one dedicated to Shelly, Phil signed it and then passed it down to Andrew, then to Mike and lastly Toby. In the meantime I also asked for a photo with them which they were very obliging but I wasn’t allowed to stand behind the cabinet with them, I had to stand in front and then they all lent for the shot that Tippy took. Not sure what the big deal is about them staying behind the glass cabinet, but I guess it must be for a reason. As I waited for my second programe to come down the line for me, I was lucky that Toby was the last member on the line and asked for a picture with him on his own and he was more than happy to say yes. They also signed the drum sticks that the boys had been given which was groovy and all of us, including Nick, left the show with smiles from ear to ear.
The show was as good as I had hoped, Tippy thought it was amazing and Jake and Luke also had a ball. Nick I think may have secretly thought it was okay, but didn’t want to seem like he was having fun. You know how kids can be at the age of 12. I would see that show over and over again, they really are true entertainers and definitely taking the time to see the show if you get a chance. Vegas was a little bit different in regards to it was a more personal venue being in a smaller theater and it felt like they were only playing for you. It was a great atmosphere and as usual they were very engaging with the crowd. It made me proud to call them Australians and the Americans seemed to love them as well.
Jake and Luke were still singing 2 of the songs the next day and Jakey and I were busting the moves from one of the sings that they got us to participate in, so this was nice that they were still thinking about the show the next day. My work here is done and the band now have 2 move fans to the fan club!!! And for me, to walk away with a photo with the group and a photo with Toby is a major Odyssey Highlight, like up in the top 10 and I still smile now thinking of just how nervous I was to be standing in that queue, what a buzz and Shelly was the first person I text and the pictures were loaded straight into Facebook when I got home.
HUMAN NATURE ROCKED LAS VEGAS
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