The group is constantly on tours and the last few years, on Black Friday, their route has put them in St. Louis(or Chesterfield more precisely) at the Factory. I finally decided this year, to take the splurge and get tickets to go see them, even on shopping holiday. Me and my wife even decided to do the dress up. We took clothes and changed on the way, not letting it get in the way of shopping. But we didn't necessarily have retro-style and we sort of hurried it at the last minute. If we do it again, we'll definitely have to plan out better.
And The Factory was a new venue to us. It has very open vibes and not really many frills, with slick new looks. There's a little foyer way, then just off to the main floor seating area and a some balcony seats above. It's like a bigger modern Blue Note basically, though I'm guessing with a better back stage area. We got there at door open time and our seats were three rows back in the dead center
The lights dimmed a little after 8 PM and journey through eras past and present began. As it was beginning, I told my wife, she might recognize more songs through they night, as they do reimagine a lot of more recent pop hit, something I'm more out of the loop. But I was pleasantly surprised as it was closer to 50/50, with many other pop and rock songs peppered throughout the set. The opening song was,Hotel California, in a Cuban/Salsa style, sung by the MC for the group.
There was a backing band of six instrumentalists who all got their chance to shine at various times throughout the night. And the lead vocals were alternated by Rogelio Douglas the MC, who brought more soul sounds, Lauren De Marco, who featured on more jazz tinged songs, Tatum Langley, who could knock out various styles , another male singer who had a 50's Rockabilly vocals, as well as tap dancer Demi Remick. Special guest and local Missouri vocalist, Ruby Leigh also preformed two numbers, and she recieved a standing ovation after her second song performance of Creep.
There was a lot of polishedness to the show aspect, which dealing with pop songs, I came to expect. A lot of revving up and crowd pandering, but it was all in good fun. It kind of reminds me of my last concert, Weird Al, in that they're both playing with pop songs and subverting what they are, all in revernance and good fun. Plus wardrobe changes for singers after almost every song they performed. The whole show only last about an hour and 40 minutes. A decent length though coulda been a touch longer maybe.
The top song or highlight for me, was the rearranged All About That Bass, which kept the fun and flighty attitude and brought on the by the performances. And of course seeing the 50s's Doo-Wop/Rockabilly version of Dancing in the Dark was fun. My wife loved the tap dancing to the Zelda Theme, because it was Zelda of course. The nerd.
As it does look like they change up their set lists on tours and they add several new songs throughout the year, if they do the same date next year, we very well might be seeing them again.
Songs Performed
Hotel California (The Eagles) 1940s Cuban Style
This Magic Moment (The Drifters) 1920s jazz-1950s Elvis-1990s Hip Hop
Dancing in the Dark (Bruce Springsteen) 1950s Doo Wop/Rockabilly
Basket Case (Green Day) 1960s "Mrs Maisel style
Gimme! Gimme! Gimmie! (A Man After Midnight) (Abba) Peggy Lee Jazz Style
I Started a Joke Today (The Bee Gees) 1960s Countrypolitan
Blue Christmas
Tap Dancing
Flowers (Miley Cyrus) Jazz Waltz style
Creep (Radiohead) Smoky Jazz
Legend of Zelda Theme Tap Dancing
Die For You (The Weeknd) James Bond Style
Radioactive (Imagine Dragons)
All About That Bass (Meghan Trainor)
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I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (U2) James Brown Style
Last Christmas (Wham!)
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
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