Postmodern Jukebox Sends Bardavon Back in Time
A standing ovation from a sold-out Bardavon Opera House crowd met Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox as their show came to an end Tuesday night.
Postmodern Jukebox, a cover band that gained its fame on YouTube, wowed patrons with a unique, eclectic blend of ragtime, swing and doo-wop renditions of modern pop songs.
The crowd fully immersed themselves in the period that the band aimed to celebrate. Many women donned full flapper dresses complete with feather boas, pearls and headbands. A plethora of gentlemen wore suits, vests, fedoras and some form of facial hair.
In essence, it was a hipster haven. This was understandable given the style of music being played.
The show featured vocal performances from Dani Armstrong, Mario Jose, former “American Idol” finalists Brielle Von Hugel and Casey Abrams, along with Robyn Adele Anderson, the original voice of Postmodern Jukebox.
With drums pounding and a brass fanfare of Europe’s “Final Countdown,” the band took the stage. Anderson opened the performance, dressed in flashy silver Thoroughly Modern Millie-esque skirt and fringe, with a 1920's ragtime version of Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe.”
On the surface, the idea behind Postmodern Jukebox is cutesy and worthy of a laugh. In practice, Bradlee’s adaptations are nothing short of brilliant. The dichotomy of styles are toe-tappingly, shoulder-swayingly wonderful. The performers embrace the tongue-in-cheek nature of their work with onstage antics that kept the audience loose.
“You know, we’ve never actually been to Poughkeepsie before,” Armstrong said between songs.
“You haven’t lived!” a man shouted back from the balcony. Armstrong couldn’t hold back a laugh to her band mates.
Though Casey Abrams’ is considered the band’s main attraction, given his popularity from his run to the finals on “American Idol,” Armstrong truly stole the show vocally. With scarlet hair and an elaborate long red Jessica Rabbit-type dress, she flaunted her belting range with a stunning ballad, “Toxic” by Britney Spears.
It sounds ridiculous, admittedly, because words cannot truly do justice to how genius the instrumentation is and how powerful Armstrong’s belt is. Her command over three different octaves as an alto makes her the most dynamic and powerful singer on the tour. To start in the basement with a sultry introduction to “Toxic” reminiscent of a nightclub filled with cigarette smoke and scotch on the rocks and finish with the sailing vocals of an operatic 11 o’clock number, Sia’s “Chandelier,” is a range even Mariah Carey would envy.
“How is that even possible,” one audience member asked rhetorically of her range. “That’s just not fair.”
Armstrong’s “Chandelier” was met with the longest applause of the night, well over a minute long.
Other songs included Abrams’ New Orleans-jazz “Sweet Child o’ Mine” (with a roaring clarinet solo that Benny Goodman would applaud), Anderson’s doo-wop “We Can’t Stop,” and a trio of Anderson, Armstrong and Von Hugel on N’SYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye.”
“Their voices just sound so different,” one audience member remarked. “It sounds so new, so refreshing.”
Postmodern Jukebox offers a unique product featuring some of the finest vocal talent available. It has a broad appeal, as evidenced by the staggering hit count on their YouTube channel (their poster boasts over 1 billion aggregate views). Younger audiences pick up on the popular source material and can appreciate the incredible vocal talent that is not easily found on the pop stations. Older audiences can hearken back to the days of vinyl and big band.
The band quotes licks and melodies from other jazz songs in homage as well. At various points throughout the show, the band played riffs borrowed from Sinatra’s “New York, New York,” “The Office” theme from the film Brazil, and Michael Buble’s “Feelin’ Good.”
PMJ’s wide array of talent keeps things fresh as well. Their Poughkeepsie show featured five main vocalists, plus a brief vocal performance from their clarinetist, and a tap-dancer to accent several songs. The band keeps a rotation of over a dozen other vocalists as they tour North America and Europe, with their most popular artist (according to YouTube views) being “American Idol” finalist Haley Reinhart.
Novelty is the name of the game for Postmodern Jukebox. Where else can an audience hear, in succession, an Andrews Sisters-type trio of “All About That Bass” leading into a jazz-club “Same Old Love” which then transitions into a Stevie Wonder funk cover of “Sandstorm?”
It’s hilarious, intoxicating, and in the end, executed to perfection.
Scott Bradlee’s music can also be found in the video game Bioshock Infinite, as the game features jazzy ragtime covers of songs such as “Tainted Love” and “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.”
