November 10, 2011
Out Of The Blue, all male student a capella group, delivered a lovely launch of their tenth studio album, Rush, available to buy online here. The songs tend to be chart stuff spanning the last 40 years, mainly high energy pop/rock with the occasional soulful slow-and-loads-of-harmonies number thrown in.
Last year’s group (who recorded the album) presented the bulk of the evening, with a few songs from the current line up at the end. The evening also featured a nice long gap to buy a copy of the CD and a speciality Out Of The Blue ice cream, created by G&D’s. I’m struggling to think of a more intelligent way of putting this, but it was just … lovely. Out Of The Blue are, even by the standards of professional musicians, technically excellent, in terms of arrangement, vocal performance and choreography. Everything is utterly slick. But the best thing about the act is their likeability and how much they obviously love performing.
The goodwill in the room was overwhelming. Watching the faces of their (mainly young, mainly female) fans is a treat in itself. People genuinely love them. Myself, I’m normally quite sulky, and I went in a bad mood, but halfway through the first song I started smiling. I just couldn’t help it. They’re so fun.
Out Of The Blue deliver pure, solid entertainment. They’re not interested in you thinking they’re cool, or particularly clever. All they’re interested in is that you have a good time. My normal taste in music tends towards moody indie, which is great for listening to while I’m staring out of windows frowning, but there is a place for this kind of showmanship too. It sounds annoying written down, I grant you. Super popular boys from Oxford Uni do jovial a capella. I rolled my eyes too. But seriously, it’s joyful. They have absolutely nailed the mix of gently taking the piss out of themselves and performing with utter conviction, and it works perfectly. Just watch this Youtube video of them, and I dare you not to smile.
Catch Out Of The Blue's next performance at the Oxford Union, Wednesday 30th of November at 7.30pm.
Last year’s group (who recorded the album) presented the bulk of the evening, with a few songs from the current line up at the end. The evening also featured a nice long gap to buy a copy of the CD and a speciality Out Of The Blue ice cream, created by G&D’s. I’m struggling to think of a more intelligent way of putting this, but it was just … lovely. Out Of The Blue are, even by the standards of professional musicians, technically excellent, in terms of arrangement, vocal performance and choreography. Everything is utterly slick. But the best thing about the act is their likeability and how much they obviously love performing.
The goodwill in the room was overwhelming. Watching the faces of their (mainly young, mainly female) fans is a treat in itself. People genuinely love them. Myself, I’m normally quite sulky, and I went in a bad mood, but halfway through the first song I started smiling. I just couldn’t help it. They’re so fun.
Out Of The Blue deliver pure, solid entertainment. They’re not interested in you thinking they’re cool, or particularly clever. All they’re interested in is that you have a good time. My normal taste in music tends towards moody indie, which is great for listening to while I’m staring out of windows frowning, but there is a place for this kind of showmanship too. It sounds annoying written down, I grant you. Super popular boys from Oxford Uni do jovial a capella. I rolled my eyes too. But seriously, it’s joyful. They have absolutely nailed the mix of gently taking the piss out of themselves and performing with utter conviction, and it works perfectly. Just watch this Youtube video of them, and I dare you not to smile.
Catch Out Of The Blue's next performance at the Oxford Union, Wednesday 30th of November at 7.30pm.