We’re going to their Sydney show!!!!! Yeah, baby!
I have to admit, I’m joining the Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox very, very late in the piece. Only noticing them for the first time in Feb 2023, a dozen years after their first YouTube videos were uploaded (and guess what? I only realized today that they started out as Youtubers!).
So, back in Feb I was making that mixed-tape for work, right? So, I made a compilation of up-tempo songs, and then created a ‘re-imagined’ version of the same playlist, this time selecting remixes, acoustic versions, and covers of the same songs, for that more mello vibe (and for a bit of a shock factor). And in the process, I added a version of Miley’s ‘We can’t stop’ by Scott Bradlee’s, in a 1920s Swing style. And I just kept coming back to that song because it was so unique and like no other cover I’ve ever heard before! And eventually went down a rabbit hole in seeing what else Scott Bradlee did, and since then I’ve been obsessed with them. I have heard the entire Spotify curated playlist enough times where I recognize all 3 hours of their major hits. And now we’ve got tickets to their Sydney show in September, for one night only at the Enmore theatre!
For those who were like me, pre–Feb 2023 and unaware of Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox, they’re a U.S. musical collective, led by the jazz pianist Scott Bradlee. They perform covers of your favorite modern pop-songs but re-imagined into Jazz big band renditions or in a 1920s Swing style- picture musicians playing in a basement speakeasy bar in the prohibition years. So, each track is quite unique to the next, and sometimes they go so far to make it their own, that it becomes a bit of a game in trying to associate the postmodern rendition back to its original- because they sound completely different! If you’re remotely a fan of music, you’ll love Scott Bradlee’s troop of musicians! Right down to someone in their 70s who has never heard of Lady Gaga before, but is a fan of Jazz!
At the peak of my 2 month fandom over the group, my wife noticed that they’re touring Australia! “Get out of here!” I exclaimed, as what were the chances of that! A New York based group, coming all the way down under to Australia just when I started to notice them!? But I was devastated to hear that from the list of cities and states they were visiting in Australia, Sydney was not one of them. Boo! The nearest was Newcastle, which is around a 2.5 hour drive away.
So life went on, weeks had passed since those first dates and locations were announced, and I had just started to listen to Scott Bradlee’s actual artist channel on Spotify, where there’s albums and albums of their work for you to binge, many more hours than the 3 hours in the Spotify curated playlist. And I was just thinking wistfully, only if I could go see them live, even considering a trip to Newcastle when I clicked on the ‘Live events’ banner on their Spotify page and then lost my shit when I heard that Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox had announced a Sydney show, at the Enmore theatre! I literally hovered around my wife until she was finished with what she was doing, and I literally forced her to buy us tickets, right there and then! No need to check dates, or take some time to consider, I wanted to go, and I wanted to go now! Yes, they were more expensive than we would usually pay for, and they were in the worse section of the second worse section of the theatre, but who cares! We’re going to see Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox live!!!!! And imagine how awesome they’ll be live, trumpets blazin’ in that relatively intimate venue!
So, if you want to check out the musical collective known as Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox, just search for them on your Spotify app! “Hey babe, where’s my fedora!? As I’m going back to the future, to 1928 New York City!”
Four Senses: Touch Smell Taste Sound
Published by