Pentatonix, Auckland NZ, 2020

Pentatonix

16th February 2020
Spark Arena, Auckland, New Zealand.

Review by Alexis Brook. Photography by David Watson.

When you have been following a band’s career since their rise to stardom, it’s always a little nerve wracking when they have a key member change, however last night, at Spark Arena, Pentatonix proved with an outstanding showcase of vocal artistry that they continue to entertain with their signature acapella harmonies.

Opening the evening was Samantha Jade, who performed a slick acoustic set of power ballads with a little bit of R&B flavour. Having earned her stripes on X Factor Australia, the songstress delivered a medley of Beyonce’s ‘Drunk in Love’ and Steve Winwood’s ‘Higher Love’ that had the audience captivated.  ‘Heartless’ and ‘Killing Me Softly’ were next, where after singing “strumming my pain with his fingers” I heard someone nearby throwing in a bit of Fugees’ with the line “one time, one time”, which made me smile.

Clearly having a bunch of fun on stage, we were introduced to recent single ‘Bounce’ which had toes tapping with its peppy rhythm and effervescent energy. Jade spoke of how she first met her back-up vocalists, Joe and Isaiah, during X Factor Australia and how excited she was to reminisce when they accepted her invitation to join her on tour. Coming to the end of her set, Jade took us back in time to the competition winning song, ‘What You’ve Done to Me’.  It’s clear why this talented artist was the judges choice to win all those years ago, and absolutely the right decision by the promotors to warm up the crowd tonight.

The energy around the area was now primed for Pentatonix. While waiting for their arrival, there were Mexican waves and phone torches dancing in the dark until the opening rhythms of the famous Daft Punk medley echoed across the arena which stopped people in their tracks and ushered in great rounds of whoops and cheers. It was time. As the lights rose, Pentatonix entered the stage and demonstrated how cleverly they can intertwine medleys together. The aforementioned Daft Punk medley certainly one which caught a lot of attention on YouTube; Mitch Grassi’s high harmonies sparkling as much as his black glittery suit. The last time they toured New Zedaland was 2016, and while the energy was slightly different this time round, it was still exciting for me as an a cappella singer to witness the power of a group whose only instruments are their voices.

Second song of the set was their original hit ‘Sing!’, (another great show opener), where we got to hear new bass Matt Sallee strut his stuff, as the melody line switched around the group. When there are major changes in an established group you always have a clear expectation of what they should, or used to sound like, but Sallee is clearly a skilled vocalist and very comfortable on stage which immediately put my mind at ease.

Utilising clever visuals and a few chairs as props, and we were transported to an intimate night club for ‘Havana’, where Kevin Olusola displayed his vocal versatility mimicking a jazzy trumpet.  While known more for their covers, there came a time where the group wanted to write and release originals.  And so we went back to the start with first original song ‘Can’t Sleep Love’ which had more than a few audience members on their feet dancing along with the synchronised choreography.  Between clusters of songs, various members of Pentatonix spoke to the audience, and expressed their love of New Zealand and how much they’ve missed being here, but it was Matt Sallee’s “pinch me” moment where he expressed that six years ago, he was listening to Pentatonix and now here he is that was particularly heart-warming.

We had a reminiscing set of post Sing Off (where they won third season) which they dubbed ‘The Evolution of Pentatonix’ the group seating themselves on a couch in a living room setting and beginning with Lady Gaga’s ‘Telephone’, Katy Perry’s ‘E.T.’ and ‘Video Killed The Radio Star’ before shifting into ‘Dog Days Are Over’ by Florence + The Machine. There was a snippet of their first major viral video Gotye’s ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’, which would have been nice to have heard the complete version of; however as they explained, when you have nine years of covers and originals, it’s difficult to decide just what to sing on a tour!

New song ‘Happy Now’, was lovely and rather interesting, as the mood changed from a pensive introspective start to an anthemic finish; I look forward to listening to this one again.

With the audience well and truly warmed up, we were asked if there were any choir nerds in the house, I personally knew about sixty of my fellow singing friends were in attendance, but it was neat to see nearly ten percent of the full house audience holler and raise their hands. From my own experience, singing a cappella with a group is so wonderfully fulfilling, and I encourage anyone to seek out a chorus to sing and socialise with (search for groups in your local town!)

A crowd favourite John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ had just about every phone torch alight and waving in the air much to Pentatonix’s delight, as they mentioned New Zealand was among their biggest crowds of their tour. Scott Hoying then began to remind all how Pentatonix formed from friends who wanted to find a beatboxer to accompany their vocal harmonies, a search of YouTube resulting in the discovery of Kevin Olusola trending with his cello beatboxing. As the rest of Pentatonix took a break, we were captivated by this skill set as Olusola’s beatboxing intertwined with the resonant cello in a breath taking version of the Game of Thrones theme; the resulting standing ovation well deserved. This of course then led into one of my favourite songs of the evening as everyone returned to stage for ‘Shallow’. I’m a sucker for the cello and their cover is just gorgeous.

Again utilising the visual screens, ‘Natural Disaster’ was accompanied by a lightning storm background.  While the rest of Pentatonix took another break, Olusola and Sallee entertained the audience with a little participation singalong of ‘Stand By Me’, ‘The Banana-Boat Song’, and Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You’, which we, as the audience, were keen to keep on going forever, until they got us all starting on ‘I Want It That Way’.

Another medley set of The Evolution of Ariana Grande was good, but perhaps didn’t appeal to all who were present as one of their other evolution sets may have, but this was quickly rectified by a stunning version of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. Knowing how complex this piece of music is, it’s truly a great skill to do this justice with just five voices.

Before their last song of the set, an audience member, Amelia, who had been standing in the front row with a sign was wished a fabulous happy eleventh birthday. Of course, no gig is complete without an encore, and after returning with ‘Na Na Na’ and ‘Hallelujah’ (with standing ovations), it was time to head home with pleasant harmonies ringing in my ears.

I look forward to hearing how PTX 2.0 will develop even further in the future!

Were you there at Spark Arena for this astounding a cappella concert?  Or have you seen Pentatonix perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!

Setlist:

1. Daft Punk
2. Sing
3. High Hopes [Panic! at the Disco cover]
4. Havana/Senorita
5. Can’t Sleep Love
6. PTX Throwback Medley
7. Happy Now
8. Come Along [Cosmo Sheldrake cover]
9. Aha! [Imogen Heap cover]
10. Imagine [John Lennon cover]
11. Don’t Start Now
12. Kevin’s Celloboxing Solo [Game of Thrones Theme cover]
13. Shallow [Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper cover]
14. Cracked / Natural Disaster
15. Kevin & Matt Singalong
16. Evolution of Ariana Grande
17. Bohemian Rhapsody [Queen cover]
18. On My Way Home
19. Na Na Na [encore]
20. Hallelujah [Leonard Cohen cover] [encore]

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