We just had another spectacular acappella concert at Roxy & Dukes in Dunellen NJ on January 22, 2017. Two great Philly groups, A Perfect Blend and Mid Life Crisis. This was a rare Sunday afternoon event. After this one we return to Sunday evenings.
Mid Life Crisis started things off. The group is packed with talented voices but usually sings to music tracks. We last heard them at the 2016 Philly Doo Wop Festival when they were forced to sing a couple songs acappella after their track player began skipping (a common risk with tracks). [Another common risk of using tracks is sounding like Mariah Carey on New Years Eve – just kidding. We don’t want to upset our track using friends.] Anyway, Mid Life Crisis finished the Philly Doo Wop Fest in fine form, using just their voices and it gave us an opportunity to book them as an acappella group.
So it came to be that Mid Life Crisis made their debut as an acappella group at Roxy & Dukes and they were most impressive! They had the place rocking with the Chris Kenner song, “I Like It Like That,” changing the words slightly at the end to “… the name of the place is Roxy & Dukes.” Mid Life Crisis was equally proficient at both ballads (“Looking For An Echo,” “Gee Whiz,” “Only Make Believe,” “The Worst That Could Happen”) and up tempo songs (“Da Doo Ron Ron, “Let’s Go, Let’s Go, Let’s Go,” “Kansas City”). The up tempo sings gave Bobby Burgese a chance to do some animated scat singing. We loved the group’s renditions of the Duprees’ “Take Me As I Am” and their encore, “Your Promise To Be Mine”.
Many thanks to Mid Life Crisis – Bobby Burgese, Sue Descano, Frank Morelli, Fred DiSalvio and John Paloney for believing in our quest to help preserve acappella singing. We’d love to have them back for one of our evening shows.
The second half of the concert was all A Perfect Blend. And what can we say about this great acappella group that hasn’t been said before? Every time we see them they blow us away with their soulful harmony. Members include: Gibson “T” Trowery (group founder and leader), Kristina I. Trowery, Gary Williams and Cheryl and Andy Petruzelli. Kristina started the set with a powerful “Who’s Lovin’ You”. Gibson delivered both the up tempo “Drip Drop” and the ballad, “Never Let Me Go” with equally powerful emotion. Cheryl sang a great rendition of Roxy & the Daychords’ “I’m So In Love” (appropriate for Roxy & Dukes). We really enjoyed Andy’s rendition of Tommy McLain’s “I Need you So”. [We had the good fortune of meeting and talking to Tommy McLain at the 2016 JazzFest in New Orleans.] Of course there were many more highlights – “Yes I’m Ready,” “Mio Amore,” Gee Whiz” Our thanks to A Perfect Blend for another great night.
Check out the photo gallery below. Click on any photo to enlarge and use the arrow keys to see the rest. And scroll down to see videos of the event. Enjoy!
