Photo Credit: Jiro Schneider
Pentatonix (PTX) is the five-person a cappella group from Arlington, Texas, that chose its name for a musical scale representing five notes per octave. But in their performance on Tuesday, June 18, at Fiserv Forum, the quintet proved that its range is endless, its vocals limitless, and the creativity of its arrangements stunning. For being together only eight years, PTX is at the height of its creative and musical powers; this showed itself again and again throughout the evening that simply delighted and amazed at every turn.
The band was in awe of the sold-out crowd—it being one of the largest PTX is playing to on its current tour—and the audience was just as adoring. It was a great big love fest for music that relied completely on “vocal instruments”—mezzo soprano Kirstin Maldonado, tenor Mitch Grassi, baritone Scott Hoying, bass Matt Sallee and human-voiced beat box Kevin Olusola, who pulled out his cello at one point and created a “cello-boxing” effect, using his vocals to play bassline beats against his expert string playing while looping the sounds. Incredible!
Having recorded six albums, PTX has multiple arrangements of familiar tunes, and that’s the draw: What will a cover of another artist’s song sound like? PTX zoomed from one end of the sonic galaxy to the other, opening with a playful take on Daft Punk’s “One More Time/Get Lucky” to pulling full throttle on a complex rearrangement of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene,” with lead vocals handled by supporting act Rachel Platten.
But it was a 1964 classic, Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence,” that demanded full attention. PTX recreated that haunting, metronomic guitar sound amid cascading, gorgeous harmonies. And what could be more fun than a straight-on rendition of the 1975 Queen anthem “Bohemian Rhapsody”? The fivesome even visually copied Queen’s opening video moments, standing close together, draped in shadows with white lights shining down.
|
|
In paying homage to these songs, PTX also breathed-in new life, as witnessed by their cover of the final encore, “Hallelujah.” Now a necessary staple included by many singers for the best-known Leonard Cohen tune, PTX gave it a new, soulful meaning and sound with its unique arrangement, while lit-up cell phones created a virtual starry, starry night. PTX was definitely at the center of this “universe,” its sounds still resonating long after the show ended.
