On Friday night, I went to see one of my all time favorite musical groups, Scott Bradlee and The Postmodern Jukebox (cool name, right?). I had bought the last ticket... I'm talking the actual very last ticket, to see them at the Rex Theater. A sold out show.
If you have never heard of Scott Bradlee, he is a pianist (an incredible musician) who makes YouTube videos of Top 40 popular songs and arranges the songs into jazzified/ragtime versions. He started making videos in his living room with only himself and "lead" singer, Robyn Adele Anderson ("lead," because he has many other vocalists perform in the band, as well), and now he performs with a band including many vocalists, a bass player, saxophone player, trombone player, a drummer, and ever a tap dancer. Yes, a tap dancer.
I got there at six for the 7 o'clock show to meet the band beforehand, who were all incredibly kind. After the little meet and greet, the opener, a swing dancing group from Pittsburgh, began to practice for their 7PM show. They invited everyone in the crowd to join, which I very willingly did. After a short lesson, the best concert ever had already begun. Who doesn't love to swing dance?
After the group practiced, they performed for about a half an hour... And then, after the three hour anticipation, the lights dimmed.
People were screaming- keep in mind, the crowd was packed with a wide range of a few five year olds to several high school kids to college aged to thirties to fifties. There was no demographic. Just people who love music.
A man came out, the "announcer," (who also sang). He announced that we were going back in time to listen to a radio station PMJFM (Post Modern Jukebox). Scott Bradlee and Robyn came on stage with the rest of the band and started off the show. From Robyn to Ashley Stroud to Christina Gatti to Von Smith, to Scott Bradlee- everyone was incredible. Each vocalist has a voice that anyone would die to have- and Scott's piano skills are out of this world. And each musician, even the tap dancing tambourinist, was clearly well learned in their instrument.
I can hardly explain in words how incredible they were live, but to give you an idea, here are a few of my favorite covers of theirs. I had to choose at random because they are all my favorite.
Hope you enjoy!
(After watching these- isn't in awesome/breathtaking how many possibilities music has?!)
Emily
"Rude" cover by Von Smith
"Timber" cover by Robyn Adele Anderson
(I also highly recommend their covers of Thrift Shop and We Can't Stop... and all of them.)
Also, if you have time, Scott has a wonderful TED Talk about how he came up with the idea and what it all means to him. It's extremely inspiring for all of the musicians out there!
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