My family and I went to see The Bobs last night. They performed at the Alberta Rose Theatre, a small and intimate venue in northeast Portland, for the second time in less than a year. This was one of their final performances with current member Amy Bob Engelhardt who is going off to college, so she shared the stage with the vocalist coming into the group, Angie Bob Doctor. (Yes, this is a naming convention.)
The Bobs are the all-time greatest a capella group ever. Yes, I've seen all three seasons of The Sing-Off, been to live performances of The Blenders, etc, etc. Those folks are all really good, but The Bobs are better.
Technically, their performances are awesome; the more you know about vocal music, the more you will appreciate the difficuly level of the pieces they are taking on. Their cover tunes are hugely fun. More than half their material is original, though, and this is where they leave their competitors behind. These are strange songs, but for the most part they really work: hilarious and incisive.
The show we saw was the "Post-Holiday" show, so it had a lot of Christmas music in it. Bob's-style Christmas music, such as Christmas in Jail and Too Many Santas. We even got to hear the world premiere of a new Bob's tune, which was pretty fun.
More people need to see The Bobs. You need to see The Bobs. See The Bobs. (B)