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| Vocalist Tina Simone |
Presented by
TEK Dainty.
Llewellyn
Hall, Canberra.
Performance on 31st August reviewed by BILL STEPHENS
Compere/vocalist Freedom Young
The power of
TikTok was never more evident than at Llewellyn Hall last night. The place was
filled to capacity by excited TikTok fashionista’s of all ages.
Scott
Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox is a rotating musical collective founded by New
York based pianist Scott Bradlee in 2011. Its forte is reworking popular modern
music into different vintage genres,
especially early 20th century forms such as swing and Jazz.
Postmodern
Jukebox originated when Bradlee began posting weekly videos on YouTube. Most were filmed in Bradlee’s apartment living
room but over time, the sets became more elaborate as the band covered songs by
artists ranging from Lada Gaga to Katy Perry.
As the popularity of the posts spread, the band started touring
attracting ever larger audiences.
In 2014
Postmodern Jukebox initiated a talent search for which fans were encouraged to
submit videos of themselves performing cover versions of Postmodern Jukebox posts
for a chance to perform on an upcoming official video. Many of those winners
were invited to tour with the band, which now undertakes regular sell-out
concerts around the world, to which their Canberra concert last night attests.
Not being a
TikTok devotee, none of the excellent performers were familiar to your
reviewer, and as there were no programs or songlists available at the venue,
nor were there any details of the performers in the pre-publicity, a frantic
search of the internet on my return home was necessary to establish that the
excellent artists whose performances I had witnessed were vocalists Tina
Simone, Effie Passero and Stella Katherine Cole. The virtuoso tap dancer was
Demi Remik, and the singer/compere was Freedom Young.
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| Vocalist Stella Katherine Cole |
The red-hot
band consisted of pianist, Grant Larcom and drummer, Dave Tedeschi, together
with multi-instrumentalists, Tristan Cappel (saxophone), J.P.Floyd (trombone),
Mitch Clews, (guitar) and Carlos Holguin (Bass).
However there
was also another problem. Your reviewer was thoughtfully seated close to the
stage in the fourth row. Llewellyn Hall is an excellent concert hall, with a
stunning acoustic designed for unamplified sound. When sound enhancement is
added much clarity is lost. At this concert the amplification was set at
stadium level, so from where your reviewer was sitting it was impossible to
understand the announcements or follow the lyrics of the songs, as much of the
sound mix simply turned to blare.
It should be
noted however, that a conversation after the performance with an audience
member seated towards the back of the hall, revealed that this was not his
experience, and he was happy with the sound mix. As the sound desk was operated
from the back of the room, the sound mix had obviously been set to favour this
section.
Of the
concert, which was very enthusiastically received by the audience, heavily
tattooed, Mohawk coiffed singer, Effie Passero, earned standing ovations for
her extraordinary renditions of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” and the Lizzo song
“Special”.
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| Vocalist Effie Passero |
New York
based singer, Stella Katherine Cole, who boasts 300,000 TikTok followers, got
the show off to a great start with her funky arrangement of Bill Joel’s “Uptown
Girl” and sultry Jamaican vocalist, Tina Simone delighted with her sophisticated
solos, but especially when she joined Effie Passero, Tristan Cappel and
J.P.Floyd for a brilliant arrangement of Justin Bieber’s “It’s Too Late To be
Sorry”.
The most
unusual items however were those by YoungArts Gold Medal Award winning virtuoso
tap dancer, Demi Remik, who contributed several arresting dance presentations,
the most outstanding of which was her final medley in which she responded to
rhythm challenges thrown at her by the musicians.
Sound
problems apart, the response by the audience to this performance by Scott
Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox left little doubt that most will be lining up for
the next Canberra visit by this talented outfit.
This review first published in the digital edition of CANBERRA CITY NEWS on 1st Sept.2023.