Only At A Pentatonix Concert

A few months back, I went to a concert by Pentatonix in London. For those that don't know them, they are a 5-person a cappella group, which means they make music with just their vocals - no instruments whatsoever. They earned their uprising stardom through the millions of views on their YouTube videos and winning the TV a cappella competition, The Sing Off. If you haven't heard them, go learn you some right now.

From that premise alone, you can tell it was a bit of a musical nerd fest. I don't really attend concerts very much, mostly because I'm too socially awkward to know what to do at one. Do I dance? Do I stand still? Do I put my hands in the air and wave 'em around like I just don't care? But this concert I just had to check out. And let me tell you: it was mind-blowing. Their performance was absolutely adrenaline-pumping and their live vocal standard was just astoundingly impressive. But you can read about that everywhere; that's not what this blog post is about.

You see, a Pentatonix concert isn't like any other - even by a cappella event standards. Here's why:

Only at a Pentatonix concert will you find:

1. ... People singing accurate, part-specific renditions of the group's songs whilst waiting in queue. And I mean accurate - to the key and tempo.
2. ... The most synchronised audience participation. Those finger clicks and claps were precisely on the beat - all 300 of them.
3. ... That when a performer shouts "Any choir nerds in the house tonight!?", he gets a harmoniously loud response.
4. ... That the performers can sing dubstep.
5. ... That the phrase "drop the bass" is unexpectedly even more epic than usual.
6. ... The special performance involves a cello - and people go crazy for it.
7. ... The audience member serenade involves Marvin Gayes' Let's Get It On and a fake trumpet.
8. ... The performing group splitting the entire audience into three, and getting them to sing the individual parts to the song. And the audience gets it pitch perfect.
9. ... A performer asking someone to "give me an A", and an audience member produces a harmonica to give them that A.
10. ... An audience that is so passionate and in admiration of the group's musicality. 

I guess it goes to show that Pentatonix fans are really a breed of their own. An awesome breed, of course. I had a blast - Pentatonix were mindblowing, and the crowd was exhilarating. It turned out to be a lot more fun than I expected, and a notch I'm proud to have under my concert-attending belt.

Also, it gave me the chance to find out the answer: it was c) Put your hands in the air and wave them around like you just don't care.