The lights go down, the concert hall hushes and the screens on stage flash to life with the lyrics to a beloved ABBA song. Slowly, and with growing volume, the audience begins to sing-along, hundreds of voices blending together in a joyful chorus – and it’s just the warm-up. Dynamic duo Daveed Goldman and Nobu Adilman take to the stage and the party is on!

“We’ll do anything to get people to let down their guard and sing. It’s a party. It’s a bunch of people coming together and creating something together,” says co-founder of Choir! Choir! Choir! Nobu Adilman. “There’s zero responsibility. You just do what we tell you to do, and you’ll have a great time.”

For both Daveed and Nobu, the return to live is more than welcome. Like many performing artists, they took to the internet during the pandemic garnering crowds of 9000 participants in their Choir in Teams series.

“We did them as often as possible, and we found that people would set up extra screens so they could see their friends, and the chat rooms were as vibrant as they would be at a live Choir show. Everyone did their best,” says Nobu. “We connected with our audience as best we could, but it was always weird. After the show ended, we’d close our laptop. It would be Daveed and myself either sitting in his living room or my living room, and it was just silent. We’d have that same post show energy, but it would be quiet. It was a real struggle.”

It’s not a unique sentiment as so many of us experienced that same feeling throughout 2020 and well into 2021. When the communal spirit is key, it feels like so much more is lost in translation. Earlier this year, Daveed and Nobu began to make forays back into live performance, sticking close to their Torontonian home base. The response, to put it lightly, was electric.

“In those first shows back it was overwhelming. You feel so much in the roar of the crowd now. It’s not just let’s have a fun night, it’s more than that,” says Nobu. “It’s so unnatural for us to be cooped up and isolated. People really want to share, people want to dance, shout things out, and people want to be surprised by the moment. We are so hungry for that.”

On October 7, Arts Commons Presents and Choir! Choir! Choir! invite you to come as you are – no auditions required – and join in a high-energy evening that is just plain fun. Whether you’re a fan of ABBA, or just a fan of music, it’s an opportunity to sing, play, and be part of something extraordinary. Learn more at artscommons.ca/choir.

Photo by Joseph Fuda.