There is no denying it, Sarah C is a world class vocalist. She is engaging, welcoming and has a set of pipes like none other. The 2025 Adelaide Fringe marks Sarah’s first ever Fringe show, and hopefully this isn’t the last.
Soul Divas is a celebration of some of the greatest female vocalists that have graced the music industry. As Sarah stated, “Tonight is a celebration of female excellence”. And she’s not wrong. For sixty minutes Sarah belted out hit after hit of some of the most iconic songs in existence.
The set was a wonderful homage to artists such as Amy Winehouse, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston and Tina Turner. Sarah moved between numbers with ease, her voice holding its own in these artists’ biggest hits. Standout numbers included Valerie, I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me), I Will Always Love You and Simply The Best. Sarah included a wonderful bracket of songs that paid tribute to Australian divas Tina Arena, and the late great Renee Geyer.
Sarah’s voice is exquisite. In numbers like Valerie her silky smooth vocal tone oozed like honey and her impressive vocal range was on display in many of the uptempo numbers. Sarah’s performance is refined and you can feel and see her strong connection to these sensational numbers. What was also impressive is how she honoured the original melodies and never overdid the vocal gymnastics. She kept it true to the originals.
Sarah was backed by a great live band, featuring Chris Neale on drums, Billy Cooper on bass. Will Metzer on keys and Lenny Rose on guitar. These musicians moved with ease between the many styles of music that made up the set list.
There was only one slight let down to this performance and that was the audio mix. It is hard in venues during the fringe to have adequate tech rehearsal time. The excess treble in the mix at times made the audio rather piercing and hard to decipher the finer details in the vocal runs in Sarah’s performance.
Soul Divas has only a short season, so if you have a spare hour on Saturday 15th or Sunday 16th February, grab what remaining tickets there are and celebrate the music of these great dvas, performed by one of Australia’s best soul vocalists.