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[The Kats Report]

Human Nature continues to evolve its Australian-born Motown revue

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Human Nature’s Vegas show is the foundation of its growing global brand.
Photo: Christopher DeVargas

The beauty of a tight-knit collection of four a cappella singers is you can soundcheck pretty much anywhere. Example: Two years ago the guys in Human Nature, the Motown-driven group that headlines the Venetian’s Sands Showroom, were to appear on the radio show I co-host on 91.5 KUNV-FM. The guys were asked days earlier if they would sing their version of AC/DC’s “TNT,” the relatively rare instance where they covered a non-Motown song.

They had actually recorded “TNT” in 2003 for an album titled Andrew Denton’s Musical Challenge 2, a compilation of artists singing songs outside their genres. As a warm-up to singing that song on the air, they huddled in the UNLV parking lot and sang, “The Tracks of My Tears,” the song that sold Smokey Robinson on the group and prompted him to “present” the show in Las Vegas. As the group sang, students stopped and watched, later asking, “Who were those guys singing Smokey Robinson out in the parking lot?”

That moment says a lot of Human Nature, which is now offering a soundcheck/meet-and-greet experience before shows at the Venetian. For an additional $40, fans can show up at 5:45 p.m. and watch as the guys work out such songs as “The Tracks of My Tears” in jeans and T-shirts. The backing band, effectively named the Funk Foundation, is also onstage. This process is finely honed by now, as Human Nature has moved into its 25th year together, and over that time brothers Andrew and Michael Tierney, Phil Burton and Toby Allen have never recruited a sub. When one is feeling less than 100 percent, the others often cover. Rarely do they miss a show.

They get along, but Andrew Tierney says they are not above an occasional row. “We are four distinct personalities, and there are sometimes some interesting moments when we’re talking about our show,” Tierney says. “We can argue, but we don’t want people to see a train wreck. I think they are fascinated to see us in normal clothes, not in tuxedoes and bowties and doing the dance moves.”

Natives of Sydney who were booked into the old Imperial Palace showroom in 2009, Human Nature is no longer an oddity on the Strip. They are a proven success, a real Las Vegas production, which now uses that affiliation in its many dates around the country, and also its homeland of Australia. In May, the group wrapped a tour of that country, selling out every night.

The band “makes bank,” as they say, playing outside Las Vegas frequently when not performing its usual schedule of 35 weeks per year. In Australia, the Vegas brand has helped solidify the group’s artistic merit. “Australians still see Las Vegas as the place to see Celine, Britney, Elton, Mariah Carey, and it is still very much the entertainment capital of the world,” Tierney says. “So when you are playing here, they think, ‘They have to be good to be headlining on the Strip.’ ”

Human Nature has prospered through old-school methods: natural talent, extraordinary work ethic (the guys are soaked in sweat after every performance, but the Tierneys remain gym rats) and an unshakable belief in the consistency of the show. Many of the lines recited from the stage, such as Michael’s “Nothing screams popularity in high school like ‘boy soprano,’” date from the group’s early days at Imperial Palace.

“As well as we know each other, and know the show, it is hard to be off-the-cuff with four people who want to cut in and talk,” Tierney says. “We have to have some structure, and it has always been that way. We want to deliver a great show every night, but we are more free-form in our touring show, and we do want to evolve the show in Vegas, change it some, perform some of the music we’re into.”

That will happen later this year and into 2016; Human Nature’s contract with the Venetian ends in December. The men in the group, and their families, long ago moved to Las Vegas, where they all have been pleasantly surprised by the city’s close entertainment community. “We have a great relationship with the hotel. It’s a great marriage of act and property,” Tierney says. “We’ll work on some other material, how to grow and change without sacrificing the quality of what we’ll do.” He chuckles and adds, “We’ll have a lot of meetings about this, privately, but I think the fans will like whatever changes we made.”

If they’re looking for suggestions, I might suggest an explosive tune by another group from Australia. In fact, let’s start warming up now …

Human Nature Tuesday-Saturday, 7 p.m., $49-$118. Venetian’s Sands Showroom, 702-414-9000.

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