The five member a cappella singing group, Pentatonix, stopped by Austin City Limits Live at The Moody Theater on Thursday, March 26 as part of their "On My Way Home" Tour. The quintet, made up of Scott Hoying, Kirstin Maldonado, Mitch Grassi, Avi Kaplan, and Kevin Olusola, performed some of their signature selections before a packed house of enthusiastic fans.
For many of their fans- and I count myself among them- the first time we heard PTX sing was on an a cappella singing competition called The Sing-Off. In the fall of 2011, NBC aired 11 episodes of Season 3 of this out-of-the-ordinary reality game show. After a fierce battle featuring 16 incredibly skilled acts, Pentatonix was named the winner.
Although they won The Sing-Off, the road to stardom was not an easy one for this massively talented group. Pentatonix was dropped by their record label almost immediately after their win. They had to start all over again, but thankfully had acquired the beginnings of a dedicated fan base from their time participating in the singing show. Using the internet and YouTube to their advantage, PTX has remained in the spotlight and has signed with a new label. They even released a Christmas album this past year entitled "That's Christmas To Me" which went platinum and was the fourth best selling album in the U.S. for 2014. The 57th Grammy Awards in February 2015 brought the groups' highest accomplishment to date as PTX was presented with award for
Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella for "Daft Punk."
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| Scott Hoying |
PTX completed the U.S. leg of their "On My Way Home" Tour on March 29 in Grand Prairie, Texas and will next head to Europe and Asia for shows from early April through mid June. Starting July 11, Pentatonix will be on tour in the North America with another amazingly talented vocal competition winner, Kelly Clarkson.
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| Kirstin Maldonado |
Austin audiences are well known for their music savvy and the immense talent of these five performers was not lost on the diverse crowd in attendance at ACL Live. Music lovers from 8 to 80 years of age sang along to and applauded wildly for each selection. The setlist included versions of popular numbers from a wide array of easily recognizable artists including Beyonce, Lady Gaga and Daft Punk, as well as some original numbers.
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| Mitch Grassi |
Scott Hoying, Mitch Grassi and Kirstin Maldonado normally switched off as the leads for the different songs with bass vocalist Avi Kaplan and beatboxer extraordinaire, Kevin Olusola providing a dynamic rhythm and percussion section.
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| Kevin Olusola |
At one point in the show, Kevin Olusola performed solo, playing the cello and accompanying himself with beatboxing rhythms. The highlight of the evening was an amazing 4 and one half minute performance of "The Evolution of Music" in which the quintet rapidly moved from a 11th century Gregorian chant, to classical instrumentals including Beethoven's 5th, to 20th century classics like
Danny Boy,
Old Man River, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, and hits by The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, and Queen, to 21st century hits from Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, and Celo Green. Later in the show, the group also performed a very touching original song,
On My Way Home, the title of this tour and
That's Christmas To Me, the title track from their 2014 Holiday album.
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| Avi Kaplan |
For an a capella group, using only their voices to deliver each song in their set, this was an awesome show. Actually, this was one of best shows I've ever attended, with or without musical instrument accompaniment. The power and precision of the delivery each song along with the imaginative arrangement of each piece, made for some extraordinary performances and I look forward to the next time I am fortunate enough to see PTX perform in ATX.
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