Straight No Chaser UK Tour 2012

STRAIGHT NO CHASER

From the second Straight No Chaser walked onto the stage in Liverpool they had the captivated audience in the palm of their hands.

From start to finish this talented a cappella group engaged their audience with a selection of songs from the 1950s right through to modern day hits, from The Four Seasons to Madonna, Lady Gaga and even Justin Bieber and the comedy timing during certain songs was excellent.

A group by their own admission "serious about music but not of ourselves" makes Straight No Chaser a unique and refreshing group to watch, to be honest by the time the concert reached its climax Straight No Chaser had engaged so warmly with the audience it didn't even feel like you where at a concert anymore.

The concert itself was almost cut short as somebody mentioned a "free bar" but thankfully this was a false alarm and once word got to them as they dashed down the centre aisle that they would have to pay for drinks they did a quick u turn and got back onto the stage in a gracious leap to thankfully finish the concert.

When they sang Coldplays Fix You you could hear a pin drop as the audience hung on every word and every perfectly executed harmony, although this song has been heard by the majority of the audience via You Tube until it is heard live you really cannot appreciate how powerful it is. Also, being true to how they got "found" we we're priveleged on a cold February night to Straight No Chasers uniquely funny and excellent version of 12 Days of Christmas, for those who may raise eyebrows to that song selection I fear every single member of the audience would have left with slight disappointment had they not heard this "live"

Straight No Chaser received two well deserved standing ovations at the end of the evening but for me they saved the best until last as their version of Up On The Roof was in my opinion simply outstanding and worthy of an ovation on it's own.

After the show Straight No Chaser set up a "meet and greet" area to meet their fans and sign autographs and I must say this was something that the fans enjoyed and to look at the members of Straight No Chasers faces is something that they themselves enjoyed as they took time to chat,shake hands, sign autographs and let you take photographs and to me this "personal" touch just added to the overall excellence of the evening.

As you left the building you had a sense of three emotions -

  1) Happiness that you had the pleasure to see these guys perform live

  2) Sadness that they would soon be returning back to the US, and

  3) Injustice that these guys STILL have no awards for their choreography

Hopefully this will be the first of many visits to the UK from Straight No Chaser and I wish each of them all the success that their talents deserve.

(all comments welcome, alternatively feel free to comment via Twitter @redrogue70)