Postmodern Jukebox
12th October 2019
The Town Hall, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by Lauren Sanderson. Photography by Chris Zwaagdyk.
Scott Bradley’s Postmodern Jukebox transported us back to the 1920’s last night with their toe-tapping ‘Welcome to the Twenties 2.0 tour’. After successfully winning our hearts for the past four years, Postmodern Jukebox came back bigger and better last night (who knew that was even possible) for a night of sass, jazz and spell-binding music.
If I am honest, I’m not too sure where to begin, I think it’s going to be pretty difficult to sum up the musical masterpiece that I witnessed last night. Let’s just say the Auckland Town Hall was lit! It’s hard to believe that this multi-talented collective all started in Scott Bradley’s basement in New York, but we are so grateful it did.
Just in case you don’t know, Postmodern Jukebox takes contemporary hits from today and turns them into much-improved jazz classics. The effervescence of the evening was extremely contagious from the get-go and what was meant to be a seated performance, soon had the crowd up on their feet. Even the opening track ‘My Heart Will Go On’ from Titanic was made to feel like an upbeat, move your tootsies track.
Our host for the night was the wonderfully eccentric Casey Abrams, who certainly knew how to work a crowd. He had everyone clapping from the start and was very entertaining as well as musically gifted. As he sashayed around the stage introducing us to the many members of Postmodern Jukebox, he declared “We take that pop and give it a hint of barbershop” and I couldn’t agree more, that’s exactly what they do.
Hannah Gill was certainly a thrill with her rendition of Jets ‘Are You Gonna be my Girl’; not only were her vocals on point, her dance moves were glitzy and made you feel like you were part of the Great Gatsby. When it came to the vocals of David Simmons, I could have listened all day, his Motown performance of Keanes ‘Somewhere Only We Know’ had the crowd clicking and bobbing along to every beat. Simmons had you hook line and sinker with his contagious energy, as soon as he opened his mouth, you couldn’t help but move your body.
Queen B of Postmodern Jukebox Robyn Adele Anderson took on Iggy Azalea’s ’Fancy’ and completely improved on the original, while Aubrey Logon became Elton John – sunglasses and all during her performance of ‘Bennie and the Jets’
Each song rolled onto the next and was broken up by random jam sessions from the band, whom may I add, are masters of their trade with skilful mastery oozing out of every instrument. Another uniquely talented element to the show was tap dancer Demi Remick with her interactive fast-paced, high-energy tap performance. Seriously, this woman could move her feet to anything. She had us clapping out beats and would dance to the likes of Stevie Wonder and Bruno Mars. You don’t realize how much skill goes into tap dancing, until you watch it up close, it’s purely mesmerizing.
Were you there at The Auckland Town Hall for this retro throwback? Or have you seen Postmodern Jukebox perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!
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I attended the show in the Regent Theatre Dunedin last night which was absolutely fantastic.We were lucky to have the right sized theatre with excellent sound.A musican friend who came said it was the best show he had seen in years,
What a pity the Hamilton venue was useless. PMJ were awesome but handicapped by terrible sound and audience handicapped by flat floor and atrocious seating. Missed most of stage moves as unable to see
Why no mention of the sound problems that forced dozens from their Circle seats adjacent to the stage? Most of the ones dancing enthusiastically downstairs had fled the Circle after the first ten minutes. For those of us who stayed, the performances remained muffled and muddy for most of the evening. Why don’t bands and performers sort out their sound issues before the audience arrives. The Circle seats were $100. As the show progressed, many were left empty, and people were far from happy.