PERFORMANCE REVIEW

CONCEPTS
 Purpose: to describe, evaluate and indicate the quality of the event.
 Offer a balanced view rather than entirely positive and negative comments.
 Mainly informal / semi-formal in tone.
 Use descriptive language + colourful adjectives and adverbs to convey
to the reader what the event was like.
 Do not submit a basic list of praise and criticism; develop your ideas and support your points with
examples. In other words, don’t simply say it was good or bad, say why it was good or bad. Show,
don’t tell principle.
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USEFUL LANGUAGE
 This event took place at... ● Where it fell down was...
 What made it a success was... ● I found it rather...
 It was an incredible performance... ● Unfortunately...
 It’s worth mentioning that... ● A particular weakness was...
 This would appeal to... ● Slightly disappointing was...
 What I particularly appreciated... ● Something of a let-down...
 I highly recommend / On balance... ● However, overall...
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SAMPLE TASK

You see this notice on an events website based in your area.

WE NEED YOUR HELP

Here at the Riverfront Theatre we’d like to add to our database of event reviews. If you were at last
night’s concert given by the student band, Atmosphere, we’d love to hear from you. Please send your
review of the concert to the email adress below.

Write your review in 220-260 words.

 Enjoy the Atmosphere !
The Riverfront Theatre was the place to be last Thursday evening. Up-and-coming band,
Atmosphere, played their hearts out for 90 electrifying minutes, at once delighting their already solid fan
base while also gaining a multitude of new followers.
Atmosphere have been around for about two years now. Consisiting of four permanent band
members, they keep their sound fresh by regularly working with guest performers who contribute a
variety of instruments and harmonies to the mix. Their main genre is high-energy rock, which is
occasionally softened by pop beats and catchy lyrics.
What made Thursday’s concert such a resounding success was the choice of venue. Clearly
this type of platform suits them best...a band with a big sound needs an equally big venue.
Unfortunately, the sound quality left a lot to be desired at the beginning but this was quickly rectified
after the sound engineer fine-tuned the equipment.
Like any great front man, lead singer Adam Elliott has a powerful stage presence that gets
everyone hyped. He connects with the crowd instantly, drawing them in through ballads and conducting
them in several rousing choruses.
What Atmosphere might need to focus on a little more is rehearsal time. Some of the songs
weren’t as tight as they should have been and the bass player came in late a few times. Still, this did
nothing to spoil the overall experience.
You really should go and see this band at the first opportunity. They are destined for great
things, no question, and I fully intend to catch them again the next time I have the chance.

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TASK 1
You have attended a music festival in your region. The festival ran for five days with various events in
different parts of the area. Write a review for your local newspaper. Say whether the festival was a
success and what, if anything, might be done differently next year. Write your review in 220-260 words.

TASK 2
The music section of a national newspaper has announced a competition, and is inviting readers to write
a review of a live concert they have been to. Reviews must mention aspects of the concert they
enjoyed, and also the ones they found disappointing. You have decided to enter the competition, and
write about a concert you have attended recently. Write your review in 220-260 words.
 Rihanna disappoints during San Jose concert

All eyes were watching the main stage, expecting Rihanna to appear at any second on Friday night at the SAP Center
in San Jose. But the 28-year-old Barbadian pop/R&B star surprised fans as she came into view on a smaller elevated
platform on the other end of the arena floor.

She wore a hooded robe, which provided more coverage in the front than in the back, and slowly, warmly crooned 1 the
touching ballad “Stay” from 2012’s “Unapologetic.” The crowd, which appeared to be around 80-90 percent capacity,
erupted as Rihanna continued into her part of “Love the Way You Lie (Part II),” the brilliant duet she recorded with
Eminem for 2010’s “Loud.”

It was strong start. Unfortunately, the rest of the show failed to live up to that initial promise. Instead, the 90-minute
outing was a perplexing mess, which mixed an iffy 2 set list with patchy 3 arrangements and questionable
theatrics.That’s a real shame, especially since we know that Rihanna is capable of giving the fans so much more. But
her Anti World Tour — which was also scheduled to stop Saturday at Oracle Arena in Oakland — just doesn’t measure
up to Rihanna’s Loud Tour (2011) and other prior outings.

Part of the problem was that the show was so poorly paced. Sure, it made for a dramatic opening for Rihanna to go
against the grain 4 and initially focus on slower material, as opposed to the standing operating procedure of belting out 5
arena rockers. Yet, she stuck on that path way too long, sapping the energy out 6 of the building with a steady mix of
ballads and mid-tempo tunes.

She eventually rode over to the main stage, onboard a moving catwalk suspended high over the heads of fans on the
floor, and continued through such fairly recent offerings as “Birthday Cake” and “Numb.”

Rihanna’s voice sounded reasonably strong — at least it did when she was singing, which wasn’t often enough. There
was too much reliance on prerecorded vocals, when Rihanna really should’ve been trying to push these songs to even
higher heights in concert.

She also went with too many medleys 7 and abbreviated versions of songs. I understand that these strategies allow an
artist to shoehorn 8 more titles into a set list. Yet I’d rather miss a song than be teased by a shortened version. And one
really has to question Rihanna’s choices in these areas. Most notably, it’s hard to believe that any fan was happy with
the decision to perform an abbreviated rendition of — I kid you not — the smash “Umbrella.”

She rushed things at an uncomfortable level, touching upon a dozen or so titles in the first 30 minutes alone. That
dizzying pace left Rihanna little time to connect with the crowd. The result was a show that grew less gripping — and an
audience that seemed less excited — as the night progressed.

Some of the dance routines, especially when Rihanna wasn’t onstage, were decent. And the set design was mildly
intriguing, in a pseudo-artsy, minimalist kind of way. Of course, the star did a number of wardrobe changes, with many
of the risque 9 outfits looking like they’d been picked up off the floor of Madonna’s closet. Chalk it up as further proof
that revealing and sexy aren’t always the same thing. Rihanna did manage a few fine moments as the show
approached the finish line, such as “Diamonds” and “FourFiveSeconds,” but it just felt too little, too late.

1 to sing or speak in a soft gentle voice, especially about love

2 not very good
3 good only in some parts, but not in other parts
4 if something goes against the grain, it is not what you would naturally or normally do
5 to sing a song or play an instrument loudly
6 to make something weaker
7 a group of songs or tunes sung or played one after the other as a single piece of music
8 a curved piece of metal or plastic that you put inside the back of a shoe when you put it on, to help your heel go in easily
9 a joke, remark etc that is risqué is slightly shocking, because it is about sex
 FOCUSING ON NEGATIVE CONNOTATION

Expression Your own example

FAIL TO LIVE UP TO
THE SOMEONE’S
1
EXPECTATIONS

NOT TO CONNECT
2
WITH THE CROWD

TO FEEL TOO
3
LITTLE, TOO LATE

QUESTIONABLE
4
(adj)

TO COME AS A
BITTER
5
DISAPPOINTMENT
TO THE FANS

AS IF THIS WAS
6
NOT ENOUGH...

7 A (COMPLETE) FIASCO

LEAVE A LOT
8
TO BE DESIRED