IL DIVO'S David Miller was under the stage, not the boardwalk, when an incensed fan lobbed a drink at Barbra Streisand last month after a mid-concert skit poking fun at President Bush.
"I watched the whole thing go down," Miller said. "Some people don't like her political activism. They feel they paid to hear her sing, not talk about the government."
Since the Republicans got slammed in the recent midterm election, Streisand has been hitting some different notes on stage. But there's still some Bush-bashing during the longtime lefty's current 20-city charity tour, which wraps up Monday at Staples Center.
"She says if you don't like the act, don't come see the show," Miller, Il Divo's tenor voice, said. "There's no call for bad behavior from the audience. The weird thing is, the guy that threw the drink had gotten his tickets free - he was comped somehow - and he got ejected from the
venue."
Streisand herself invited Il Divo, the international pop-opera phenomenon consisting of four dashing gents from Europe and the U.S., to perform on the 64-year-old icon's longest concert trek in a dozen years. But instead of having the quartet open the shows and thus be missed by a large chunk of the audience, she had the guys accompany her during the first and second half of the concerts.
Il Divo is joining Streisand for "Evergreen," "The Music of the Night" and "Somewhere."
As Miller tells it, Streisand's strategy for giving Il Divo maximum exposure stems from personal experience.
"She said when she was first starting out, she went on the road opening for Liberace, but the problem was people were skipping her act," Miller said. "So, Liberace decided to put her on in the middle of the show."
The honor is a fitting end to a year on the road for Il Divo, in which its debut world tour took in 86 shows across 18 countries. The group, formed in late 2003 by "American Idol" judge Simon Cowell, also performed the official FIFA 2006 World Cup song at both the opening and closing ceremonies in Germany with a worldwide TV audience of 1 billion people.
"We're playing to 20,000 people a night (with Streisand), most of whom have never seen us before," said Miller, 33, who lives in New York. "We're bound to gain some new fans each time out."
Il Divo - which also includes Sebastien Izambard (France), Urs Buhler (Switzerland) and Carlos Marin (Spain) - is set to release a new album, "Siempre," on Tuesday. The lush, multilingual disc features 10 romantic tracks, including "Nights in White Satin," "Somewhere" and "Without You."
Miller says that despite the glamour of life in the spotlight, none of his fellow Divos have changed dramatically.
"We're still the same - it's the people around us who've changed," he said. "As the fame grows, the stars in people's eyes grow bigger and you stop being a normal person to them. We live a luxurious lifestyle and work very hard for it."
The work ethic is something the men of Il Divo have in common with Streisand.
"She works very hard to make every show the best possible," Miller said. "She's a very grounded person, arguably the biggest singer in the world right now. And that fame and notoriety hasn't gone to her head. What we see is a well-balanced and grounded woman.
"She rates No. 1 in our book."
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Sun Nov 19, 2006 9:32 am
