I just got back from a concert by the a cappella vocal group “”Home Free” at the Sugar Loaf Performing Arts Center in Chester, NY.
This was such a fun time. I can’t recommend them highly enough. This a peppy group, with a lot of funny songs and extraordinary performers and performances.
Here are links to a some of their YouTube videos. These people really do sound just as good in person as in these videos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l3dsHCScxU (including Avi Kaplan of Pentatonix)
This group of five young men recently won a TV singing contest called “Sing Off” on NBC. They include a remarkable vocal percussionist, Adam Rupp, and a remarkable basso profundo, Tim Faust; along with superb tenors and a decent baritone. More about the group https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Free_(group)
This group features solos by all of their performers, so that you can really hear each intriguing voice.
The bass, who can also sing tenor, gets to be a lead quite often, which is not the traditional thing with vocal groups. Tim Faust was for me the big draw. He actually wrote or arranged several of the songs they perform.
Here’s an example of a wonderful song that Tim wrote
The solo by the vocal percussionist was probably the most exciting thing about this show. This one performer filled the theater for an extended solo which had us all on our feet twice.
They also told us that the two albums that they’ve issued with the current composition of the group have been in the billboard top 100 albums this year. I personally purchased “Crazy Life,” their debut album with the current group and love it.
I’m interested that I enjoy this group, because normally I don’t like country music. I think the difference is that they *are* a cappella, so there are no strummed guitars, which are normally present in country music. I generally can’t tolerate the sound of amplified strummed guitars. They aggravate my auditory sensitivities. So I’m pleased that this group has a different take on the genre.
I didn’t write down the set list. I was a bit surprised, because I had been watching YouTube videos of their previous tour, which was promoting the previous album, Crazy Life. This tour was promoting their current album, which is a Christmas album. I was a bit uncomfortable, because the friend I had brought with me is Jewish, but fortunately she liked the music anyway. Plus they only focused the first half on the Christmas album. They had some of the songs from the Crazy Life album in the second half.
I’m not quite sure that I like this style of singing for traditional carols like “Oh Holy Night,” but I’ll have to listen some more, because I do like the group.
Afterwards they did hang around to autograph albums, but I didn’t stay for that. Probably that was a mistake. It think this group is going to be big, I mean even bigger than they already are, but I just didn’t have the energy.
There was a great variety of ages in the audience and both female and male fans. The audience was almost exclusively white, with a few Asians, from what I could see.
The facility
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I had also never been to the Sugar Loaf Performing Arts Center before. It’s a really cool place, which has a sort of country/western theme, with the balcony looking vaguely reminiscent of a hay loft. Also, the parking is free, which you don’t see closer in to New York City. There were ample restrooms and a lovely entry and concession area.
I had two complaints about this facility, just for the record
1) they seemed to use real smoke rather than water vapor for effects during the show. This sometimes had my eyes burning and coughing. I can’t imagine what it must have been like for the singers.
2) the concession stand did not have coffee, which is not great for a place in an isolated rural area, where you have to drive home late at night through dark and rainy highways.
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