Gig review: The Osmonds, Usher Hall, Edinburgh

IN THE 54 years since four of the Osmond boys first sang as a baby barbershop quartet (to raise money hearing aids for their deaf elder brothers Virl and Tom), there have been seven performing permutations of the staggeringly successful Mormon family franchise, who’ve collectively sold more than 100 million copies of their 200-plus albums.

Most of the above information featured in a half-hour long session of “Let’s Play Osmonds Trivia” – involving backdrop projections of multiple-choice questions, accompanied by archive photos and film snippets – which preceded the music. Other arresting facts included Little Jimmy’s having once pipped Frank Sinatra to win Male Vocalist of the Year in Japan; the Osmonds sharing a jumpsuit designer with Elvis, and the reminder that their sheer weight of fans caused a balcony collapse at Heathrow in 1973, when the band arrived for their first UK tour.

After a thankfully brief ensuing set from the siblings’ backing band, calling themselves the Dropouts, the permutation for what’s being billed as their final UK tour was revealed as Jay (originally assigned mainly to drums), Merrill (a Kenny Rogers lookalike who’s now the official lead singer), and not-so-little Jimmy, who nonetheless remains the UK’s youngest ever No 1 singles artist.

Of course there was cheese practically dripping from the ceiling, but everyone onstage and off gave every impression of having a ball – the crowd were on their feet the minute the band kicked off with Crazy Horses – and the brothers can certainly still sing, at times giving the likes of Boyzone and Take That a run for their money, regardless of the generation gap.

Rating: ***