Live Music Performances

Watching musicians perform live is an other-worldly experience for me. No really, I find really loud and raucous rock shows transcendent, I'm transported by the lyrical mysticism of acoustic guitar players, and cute Swedes knock my socks off. I think, however, I've hit upon the most entertaining live genre of all -- a cappella.

Last year, I went to a fair number of coffee shop guitar performances at Politics and Prose in DC. I went to watch the genuinely talented, entertaining, and generally inspirational Duncan B. Ward. (I mean the inspiration bit quite literally. Almost no concert passed without the other performers telling Duncan how much his performance meant to them and how good looking he was. Especially this charming dichotomy)

These Friday night gigs, however, were sometimes painful expositions of the performers' innermost turmoils and worries. While young women sang mournfully through a veil of hair and Iraq veterans strummed guitars to beats against U.S. policy, the crowd tittered awkwardly, not wanting to laugh, but feeling compelled to anyway.

Tonight, I went to an event even more unintentionally hilarious than open mic: an all-female drag a cappella concert. It was astounding. The women started with a cover of Akon's "Caress My Body" they transitioned into the Police "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic." They also covered Gorillaz. Backup singers created all of the beats for the front woman and supplied dance moves. For "Everytime We Touch," the women included an intricately choreographed arm move with shifting throughout the dance semi-circle. (That's a rather dry description. It was amazing in person.)

Ben and I were going to leave after two songs, but were so enthralled by the music, we stayed almost until the end. Those girls can really create a multitude of sounds using only the human voice -- and by that, I mean they pretty much rocked my world. I was laughing to the point of tears without inhibition throughout the performance. Not because I thought it deserved derision, not in the least. Simply because I think choreographed, all-female, a cappella pop songs sung in drag are hilarious.

After attending the concert, I started to do a little research on what types of a cappella groups U Chicago has to offer. I was pleased to find what looks by name alone to be yet another hilarious group right here in Chicago: Rhythm and Jews, Hebrew-themed a cappella performers. I'm on the hunt for their tour schedule.