by Gianni Fiasche

Anyone who says “vintage” is dead is obviously wrong. If you were in the nearly sold-out crowd at Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox last Wednesday at MTELUS, you could clearly see and hear that vintage was the theme of the evening. If you are not familiar with Scott Bradlee’s PMJ, each week they put out a new video on their YouTube channel, covering different popular artists (ie: Lady GaGa, Katy Perry, Radiohead, The White Stripes) and put a vintage twist on their songs in the genre of jazz, ragtime and swing. The Postmodern Jukebox has become so popular that they now have millions of followers, and have toured five continents. Talk about branching out.

Their concert featured 18 tracks performed by a various array of talented singers (LaVance Colley, Sara Niemeitz, Vonzell Solomon, Constantine Maroulis, Oilvia Kuper Harris), a dancer (Anissa Lee), and an insanely great backing band. They performed songs from Gloria Gaynor to Aerosmith to Miley Cyrus, and the general admission floor was turned into a massive dance party. Audience members came dressed up for the part and ready to have a good time. For a Wednesday night, this crowd was loud, and got the attention of the performers onstage immediately.

The show opened up with a jazzy rendition of Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive”, and what an opening it was! Singer Sara Niemeitz nailed it as if she performing her encore song. The evening was filled with such great vibes and music; it was hard not to smile. The roof almost tore open during Vonzell Solomon’s gospel cover of “Every Breath You Take”, and then the bar was raised even higher during LaVance Colley’s heart wrenching cover of Beyoncé’s “Halo”. In the encore, an acapella version of Miley Cyrus’ “We Can’t Stop” had the crowd howling, LaVance Colley came back out for his killer cover of Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On”, and the evening ended with Taylor Swift’s infectious “Shake It Off”. The crowd wanted more and the performers wanted to give more (too bad for venue curfews). PMJ promised to be back in our beautiful city soon, if you didn’t get a chance to see them this time around. An experience not to be missed for any music lover. If you can’t wait until the next time they’re in town, you can catch Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox on tour across North America until May 3rd.