They may be more than double her age, but just like Katy Perry, a group of northern Adelaide singers are coming at you like a dark horse.
Perry, in Adelaide for her Prismatic World Tour concerts at the Entertainment Centre, is not the only singer belting out her hits in front of an adoring audience this week.
The Silver Beat Rock Choir — a song and dance group
with an average age of 77 — is taking on some the US singer’s biggest hits as part of its Rock and Roll Survival Tour, which takes to the stage at The Parks Community Centre on Sunday.
And if Perry, 30, could take a few hours out of her hectic schedule, choir member Bobbie Hockley reckons the pop superstar would like the group’s take on her songs.
“We put so much into it,” she said.
“There’s a lot of energy in the choir.”
Bobbie, 75, of Salisbury, said the young-at-heart choir recently took on some “modern” hits “just to bring us up to date”.
“You don’t expect it from grandmas do you,” she said.
“Although we’re older people, we just enjoy it.”
The group practices at the Grenville Community Connections Hub at Elizabeth.
With lyrics like “you hear my voice, you hear that sound, like thunder gonna shake the ground,” Bobbie said Perry’s 2013 hit Roar was her favourite song to sing.
“I think it’s sort of stating what we feel as older people,” she said.
“We don’t just sit back.”
Unlike Perry, who has a multi-million dollar stage show, complete with dazzling light and sound effects, the Silver Beats like to keep it simple.
“We have microphones and a good backing group,” Bobbie said.
And the crowd, although often surprised at first by the band’s set list, are often quick to get on their feet.
“They start clapping and dancing and singing along,” Bobbie said.
Silver Beat artistic director Lisa Lanzi said the group aimed to breakdown stereotypes among the older community.
“There’s such a perception of older people in society about what they should do and how they should behave,” she said.
“And we don’t believe that.”
Ms Lanzi said the choir was a huge hit when it performs at conferences and expos across Adelaide.
“People just go crazy,” she said.
So popular is the group, it plans to take the show on the road for a statewide tour next year.
Ms Lanzi said she was even working towards securing a gig at the Sydney Opera House.
But before this, fans of pop music, and some older classics, can catch the choir at The Parks Community Centre at Angle Park on Sunday from 2.30pm.
Tickets are available at trybooking.com or at the door.
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