Postmodern Jukebox presented a hugely entertaining show at Longwood Gardens on Sunday evening. The troupe puts a vintage spin on popular music, performing top-40 songs by the likes of Katy Perry and Justin Bieber in jazz, swing, piano bar or big band styles. A couple of times they even threw in a little scat, klezmer, ragtime, New Orleans funeral music and a "Harry Potter" movie theme.
The likeable, nattily dressed singers and musicians (there was even a tap dancer!) were top notch and brought a huge amount of energy and good cheer to the stage. In particular, Maiya Sykes was incredible -- she was hilarious in Meghan Trainor's "All About the Bass" and sang an amazing version of Radiohead's "Creep" and, as a tribute to Aretha Franklin, "Natural Woman."
Some of the other songs the group covered during the two-hour show were Michael Jackson's "Thriller," Justin Bieber's "Sorry," Smashmouth's "All Star," Katy Perry's "Roar" and "Last Friday Night," John Legend's "All of Me," the Cranberries' "Zombie," Pearls of Music's "20 Dollars in My Pocket," Gary Jules' "Mad World," Kelly Clarkson's "Since You Been Gone" and Taylor Swift's "Shake It Up."
All day long I was watching the weather map hopefully, and it looked as if the rain would move out and it would be a clear evening for the concert. Not so much, but the show went on and I didn't see many empty seats. The audience dressed for the weather, in ponchos and hats, and people were cooperative about putting away their umbrellas when the show started. The crowd did thin out toward the end of the evening, which was a big mistake because the encores were amazing.
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