Take me back there any day!
Wow and wow, and wow again! What can I say, last night’s Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox – Life in the Past Lane show- met and then exceeded all of my expectations! As I had mentioned in a previous post, I was late to jump onto the Postmodern Jukebox (PMJ) bandwagon, and as I was getting addicted to their 1920’s Swing and Jazz re-imaginings of today’s pop-songs, they announce that they’re coming down to Australia for 11 live shows. And last night they hit Sydney’s Enmore Theatre before jetting down to Melbourne to continue their lightening loop of Oz!
And although I was less pumped as the date of their show came closer, as I was preparing myself that they wouldn’t be as good in person, compared to their outrageous recorded content. But OMG! In person it was even better! I’m not exaggerating in the slightest! It started right from the get-go as opening act Kartik Kunasegaran (Australian Idol 2023 contestant) serenaded the packed Enmore theater with only his sultry voice and an electric guitar, explaining his ‘why’ behind all of his original songs. And he really connected with the audience, who frankly didn’t know him and were only there for PMJ! Not an easy life as an Opening act, but we loved him (and we will be following his career from now onwards), set things up perfectly for PMJ’s eventual entrance! Woohoo!
To say that the audience was enthusiastic, is an understatement to say the least, as the couple right behind us lost their sh*t! The dude had a remarkable ability to whistle with fingers in his mouth, while his fiancée definitely kept pace with him with her own cries of joy as PMJ entered (and they kept this up at the conclusion of each subsequent song). But yeah! This didn’t take-away from the experience, but in fact added to how memorable the night was, as this is why you go to live concerts right!? For the atmosphere and this is what we’ve all been longing for during COVID, and thank God live music is back! Baby!
The Postmodern Jukebox ensemble who was brought together for the Australian show, included only one of the “known” performers. *Sad look*. **Note: My definition of ‘Known performers’ are the original artists who performed the original Scott Bradlee versions on Spotify (thus forever immortalized). However, who cares! As they fooled me! I’d like to think that I have a pretty good ear (as I’ve been completely blind for 20 years now), and I thought I was next level with recognizing voices. But they fooled me! And fooled me good! After the show we met up with friends who also attended (we weren’t sitting together), and I was telling them with utter certainty that the songs that PMJ chose tonight, were due to the line-up of original artists who were travelling on this tour. As in, who we heard tonight, were the same singers as those who performed the Spotify tracks which I’ve been listening to for the past 6 months (on a pretty heavy rotation). But when we got home, and I looked up the Spotify tracks where they note who were the featured Artist in each track, I was both surprised (positively and negatively) that tonight’s performers were not the OGs, but unknown artists (at least to us). And as mentioned before, there was one original Artist who came down under, that being Stella Katherine Cole who was the original performer on PMJ’s take on Miley Cyrus’ ‘Flowers’. But why coming to this realization was also a good surprise? Because in retrospect, PMJ did such a good job in finding Artists who had similar voices as the original singers from 8 -10 years ago, so much so that I couldn’t tell the difference (except for Creep, as no one can sing like Haley Reinhart!).
And each of the performers last night were truly next level, just when people were made speechless by their performance of Hallelujah, and the aforementioned semi-drunk couple behind me uttered so eloquently “how could you top that?” The next singer comes up to center stage and does even better! Ok, perhaps not “even better”, but she at least held her own and kept the night’s vibe up at the same high highs!
There were so many songs, I can’t even tell you how many. I’m guessing they surely performed upwards of 20 songs? With a handful performed by a Tap dancer, which by the way is so freaking cool! If I wasn’t past 40 now, I’d be tempted to join an introductory Tap-dance class, as that was so cool to witness. Especially being blind, as I never really enjoyed dance performances before due to the visual nature of the art, but with Tap, it’s as audio as it is visual, so for the first time I actually appreciated and enjoyed dance! Come-on!
And the band, the band! Made-up of a Pianist, sax/clarinetist, Trombone, guitar, bass and drums! Each musician was Masters in their trade! Going all night, and never making a misstep, considering they probably haven’t been playing together for long, as they were an International collective. But PMJ respects their Musos, by giving them multiple opportunities to shine, taking center stage with solo performances each, and that’s so cool when that happens! As pop-acts are so often all about the frontman-woman, and the musicians are easily forgotten about in the shadows at the back of the stage. But the PMJ experience and product is just as about the singer, as it is about the band! And I respect that, being a forgotten muso (bass player) myself.
And to bring the entire night together in a neat bow, was the MC, Freedom Young! Jumping in each time to introduce the next singer as they came onto the stage for the first time or to tie separate parts of the show together, and he too can belt it out! He was as good as a singer, as he was an MC to get the crowd involved with all the performances!
So, from our point of view, it was a 10/10 night out for us! My wife was initially a bit meh about going, as it was a Friday night after a long week, and it was me who had the addiction to their music. But after the show she was just as pumped as I, and she said it was great value for money! As we were so entertained for 2.5 hours straight! We can’t wait for PMJ’s return to Sydney, as I’m sure the next time will be a completely different ensemble of musicians, a completely different song list, probably a different venue as well (no doubt larger as their following continues to grow), so it’ll be like an entirely new experience again! Check them out! They’re still touring Australia (South Australia and Perth is after Vic) or check them out on Spotify and YouTube! Now I can say, I’ve been to the 1920s and back, and it wasn’t bad, not bad at all!
Four Senses: Touch Smell Taste Sound
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