Vocal Six in Oss
December 6th 2007 - De Lievekamp, Oss
Pictures in this report by Ron Rutten.
"At 20.15 you enter the theater and there you will meet one or more talented artists. Who dares a Blind Date in De Lievekamp in Oss?" Well... Oss is not next door for us, but we got a tip to be there tonight, with the assurance we wouldn't be disappointed. The audience didn't have a clue what or who they could expect, so I was very curious how people would react. On the other hand, it must be pretty hard for an artist or group to perform for an audience that didn't chose to see you.
I'll be fair, we knew who was performing tonight. We wouldn't drive 140 km, would we? Although... ;) Anyway, when the curtains open the audience faces six men on a row. Grey suits with white and red shirts and ties, black, shiny shoes and six microphones. Without an introduction they start to sing about Las Vegas. It's "a Swedish song in English about an American city", we are told afterwards. "We are Vocal Six, Sweden's most ... ehm... mature boy band". Of course, when you hear "Sweden", many people think about Abba. Vocal Six presents Dancing Queen in a classical way with a silly dance and it makes many people laugh. Still, the audience is careful and it seems a lot of people need some time to get used to what they're being served.
Then we are told there's a competition within Vocal Six about who is most like Tom Jones. During the Tom Jones Contest, a medley full of Tom Jones songs, the singers sing a lead voice one by one. When the first solo starts (It's not unusual), some people in the audience scream and Vocal Six stops singing. Robban: "Hey, you've been to concerts before! Let's do that again, but you don't scream before my solo begins, okay?" They start over again and now everybody screams as Robban starts to sing. After Sex Bomb, Delilah, What's new Pussycat and Green Green Grass Of Home they conclude this medley with Kiss. A great song with a good and very funny presentation. They are rewarded with a big applause.
The self written Second to none and the Swedish traditional song that follows it are beautiful to hear, but both miss a good presentation or choreography. But the harmony is beautiful and I enjoy both songs. After that, we are told the Christmas decorations in Sweden start to appear in September. In the Netherlands Vocal Six hasn't seen much Christmas decorations yet. But it's December, so a medley with Christmas songs will do now. With Jingle Bells, Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer and We wish you a merry Christmas Vocal Six succeeds to give me the Christmas feeling! A great arrangement with some difficult final chords.
The next song is Lady Madonna from the Beatles. "We like to sing about women. And now we like to sing more about thé woman. Robert, our Mr. Love, will sing about thé woman in the next song, a song from Ray Charles. You know him, don't you?" The audience agrees, some people scream. Hallelujah, I love her so is a great, jazzy song. Next, Vocal Six brings us a tune from the plains, accompanied by guitar. "It's a bit weird, because normally we sing a cappella, which means without... ehm... guitar". The audience laughs. "After this next song you deserve a break". More laughter. Then the singers put on six cowboy heads and during Seven Bridges Road they even perform a little line dance.
After the break Vocal Six starts with September (Earth, Wind & Fire). We are being thanked for staying and Pelle excuses himself for not learning Dutch. "Dankjewel! it's all I know. Our next song is Music, music, music and it's about music." Pelle tells us this is a special song for them, because some years ago they sang this song on a party and one of them had his fly open. Ever since, they sing this song with open flies, "it's to learn ourselves a lesson", and at the end of the song all six flies should be closed again. "Please don't look at... ehm... just listen to our song!" They unzip the flies of their trousers, start singing and one by one they find a way to close their fly without putting too much attention on it. It's very funny, stupid at the same time, but we laugh a lot.
"Let's go to California! We could run into the Beach Boys, they might be surfing..." is the introduction to Good Vibrations, which is for me the highlight of the evening. I love the song, because it's such a happy song. Then Peder learns us a little bit about the history of Vocal Six. "We actually started singing together in a choir at High School, which is now... two years ago. [laughter] Ok, actually it's twenty years ago... I've always been the bass singer - I'm born that way." And with a very, very deep "hallo mother" he demonstrates how he spoke to his mother as a four-year-old boy. During the next song, we should pay attention to the two tenors of the group. In High School, their voices were high enough to sing Barbara Ann, another song from the Beach Boys. But now, Niclas and Staffan have to work a little harder to catch the high tones. At the end, when the song raises a tone, they look at each other and both give an angry look at the other four singers, who are clearly amusing themselves.
"After singing in the choir at High School, we formed two quartets. Those two quartets were merged together later, and then there was this sextet. I don't know how that math works, but here we are." He doesn't mention the two quartets had two mutual members, but the clever visitors should be able to work it out. With Jingle Bells Rock Vocal Six brings us in a Christmas mood again. Then we have to sing along with Reet Petite because "Niclas needs all the help he can get". The finest girl you ever wanna meet is sitting in the first row and Niclas sings this song for her. The song changes into a very funny conversation between Niclas and the other five singers.
Next, Vocal Six wants us to sing along the "Ouga Chaka ouga" during Hooked on a feeling, but that is a little too much for this audience and most people prefer to listen. The Wannabee Gees, a medley with Night Fever, How Deep is your Love and Stayin' Alive is the final song tonight and it's a hit. Rewarded with a big applause and standing ovations, Vocal Six disappears backstage. But they return for two extra songs. We are asked if we want a bass solo. We would love to! During Goodnight Sweetheart Peders solo is the "du du du di dum" between the lines. I love this song and for me it's a perfect song to end a show with. Every time we say goodbye also fits as a goodbye-song, but it's being accompanied by piano and there's a trumpet solo in the song. Although it's a beautiful song, I think it's a bit weird to end an a cappella show with a song which is not a cappella.
Conclusion: Vocal Six has guts! To perform for an audience which didn't chose to see you is hard, but Vocal Six succeeds in getting the people excited. It's been a good idea to sing many well-known songs though. The six singers are enjoying to be on stage and they succeed to make direct contact with the audience, which makes the show personal and easy going. The only marginal note I can make, is the presentation (and choreography) between and during the songs, which is sometimes a bit too reserved. Still, I can highly recommend this group to everybody who loves a cappella. They'll be in the Netherlands in December '08 again!