Fans at Hanson’s Sydney Opera House show got a special treat when the pop trio sang the Bee Gees’ hit “Too Much Heaven” acapella with no microphones! The band had just finished their set and then the three brothers put their instruments down for a more intimate performance. The boys showed off truly remarkable voices and heavenly harmonies, reminding everyone why they were such big stars back in the day.
The acapella performance is very fitting for Hanson, because as children back in the early ‘90s the brothers actually started off as an acapella band, who recorded old time rock hits together. The Sydney Opera House was naturally the perfect venue for such a performance, as the internationally renowned venue was designed to allow orchestras to play without the need for microphones. You can watch the performance below, which has been viewed 2.5 million times on YouTube.
The uploader of the video, Hanson fan Nicole Thompson, explained that the performance was the only encore that the trio gave on the String Theory Tour, which was made in support of their studio album of the same name. Thompson said that fans were “spoiled rotten with this unique treat from the guys.”
The String Theory album featured Hanson’s music paired with performances by the Prague Symphony, as arranged by composer David Campbell. The tour leaned into this, featuring symphonic arrangements of the band’s music. Hanson occasionally makes acapella performances and one of the most famous is their version of “MMMBop” live at the Music Awards all the way back in 1997, which you can watch below.
Fans really appreciated Hanson’s performance of “Too Much Heaven”, adding comments such as “Wow! They do have talent. It takes balls to do acapella, and a Bee Gees’ tune to boot. Well done” and “Two modulations. Perfect three-part harmony. Acapella. Holy god these guys are so freaking good.”
Prior to the performance Taylor Hanson gave some insight as to why they decided to make the special performance at this particular show, saying that the band “made a pretty consistent policy on this tour that we don’t do encores” because they were working with an orchestra that was using sheet music. He added that however “we’re going to sing a song that requires no sheet music, or for that matter, no instruments.
We’re going to try to honour one of the greatest exports Australia has ever produced, which is a band called The Bee Gees.”
Taylor added that doing a Bee Gees song was a very deliberate choice, as like Hanson, they were “a band of three brothers – the original three brothers.” While there is no version of the song quite like the micless Sydney Opera House performance, Hanson have tackled “Too Much Heaven” acapella several times. The group also sang the song at the O2 Arena in London and at the Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. If you would like to see more from Hanson, you can subscribe to their YouTube channel or follow them Instagram.