Here's the situation. It's friday morning, 5am.
I wake to begin my day after only having around 4 hours sleep. I feel groggy and can feel a headache beginning and it's at this point I seriously consider crawling back under the duvet and saying 'not today world'.
Instead, I grit my teeth and push on.
Fast forward to around 8pm on saturday night and all of that melts away as I feel the most alive I have felt in months. Between those two points in time I traveled for 15+ hours, drank 10 cups of coffee and only cursed british transport systems 3 times.
What was this in favour of you ask? One band: Pentatonix.
See, Pentatonix are simply outstanding. A five piece a capella group that in the last twelve months won a grammy, had one of only four platinum selling albums worldwide and feature in the hit film Pitch Perfect 2. Not bad for band that whenever mentioned I usually get a confused 'who are they?' in response.
Having seen them perform last year at O2 shepherds bush in London I was adamant about seeing them again this year. Last year was the first European tour for Pentatonix and my first a capella concert. If I thought last year was amazing-which it truly was- then this year was somehow, even better.
Without a doubt I can say that the on my way home tour concert was the best gig I have ever, ever been to. The atmosphere, enthusiasm of the crowd and the feeling of unity between Pentatonix and the fans was incredible. From waiting in line with the lovely Olivia, whom I agreed to meet and attend the gig with via tumblr, and Thomas who we met in the line it was a fantastic evening from start to finish. It amazed me how well Olivia, Thomas and I all got on considering a) this was the first time we had ever met and b) the only thing we had in common was our love of Pentatonix which we didn't discuss in the entire 2 hours we queued outside.
From the moment the lights dimmed and the Pentatonix logo took place to the first perfect note that rang out onto the excited crowd I kissed goodbye to my hearing. Seriously. The next hour and a half was the loudest concert I have attended including festivals. The atmosphere in standing was intense. The joy we were all feeling was multiplying every time we screamed, clapped or stamped our feet. Pentatonix were clearly feeding off of our energy too and this only encouraged us further. To see evidence of the madness, here is a video of Kevin beat boxing along to the crowd chanting!
Somehow, every song sounded better live than it did on the album which is a real testament to their talent. I could gush about Scott's riffs, Mitch's flawless high notes, Kirstie's belting, Avi's insane bass or Kevin's incredibly complex beat boxing but this post would be far longer than it already is and I have already gushed enough over on my twitter.
To sum up, if you have ever seen one of their covers on youtube, are a casual fan or a die hard pentaholic like myself, just go to a concert. Trust me. Go and see them before they sky rocket to further fame and success. You won't regret it.
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(These are the only photographs I took all evening and are low quality due to being taken on an iphone 4s but I was having far too much of a good time to remember to capture the evening. The bottom image is from the ptxoffical instagram.)
