The first five songs were awful. They were not sung that badly, but they
committed a musical mortal sin: they made you not care. How could you care about such sleepy, syrupy
songs you could not tell apart? I had
listened to all Rockapella albums one time through and still could not
recognize any of the songs.
And then I went to the bathroom. I went there, honestly, to slap water on my
face because I did not want to doze off in the middle of the show. When I returned, everything changed. The biggest musical transformation I’ve seen
since Rise Against in Richmond in ’09 started with a boogie – The Jackson
Five’s “Blame it on the Boogie.” That
song was the first to heavily feature George Baldi III, the bass who would go
on to steal the rest of the show. Like
Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight,
Michael Emerson in Lost, and Meryl Streep in, well, anything, you kept waiting for him to return – you were so
transfixed every time he came up to perform.
He could nail any style or genre: ultra deep in “Almond Joy,” ultra high
in “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,” Otis Williams in “Papa Was a Rolling Stone,” and
even Whitney Houston in “I Will Always Love You”!
As soon as Baldi started to shine, the whole band / show
picked up as well. “Stand By Me” with
this crowd woman who could not sing was exciting, and learning that Rockapella
was responsible for the Almond Joy commercial, the Today Show commercial, the Folger’s Coffee commercial, and the
Preparation H (!) commercial was hilarious.
Hark Tagunicar also said that their high-energy rendition of “Where inthe World is Carmen Sandiego?” made his week.
By the end, with “Papa Was a Rolling Stone,” everything had
come together. Lead singer Scott
Leonard’s voice no longer sounded strained and whiny; it sounded smooth and
natural. Vocal percussionist Jeff
Thacher was able to restrain his incredible
instrument so that it fully fit the lyrics.
And the whole band was able to unite for a performance that was,
according to my notes, “hella smoky / creepy cool.” Given this performance and
the rest of the night, it does not look like Rockapella would be able to hustle
any time soon, but I would definitely see them again. Any time Hark, Mike Gill, Nick Oben, Joyce
Oben, or Scott Bindel are interested, I’m there.
Grade: A-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p3zpopGQ3o
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