Naturally Spectacular

How fitting is it that on a day that brought us this de- wigged picture of the creator of the original wall of sound-

Image from The Telegraph

– I discover creators of a brand new wall of sound who are all a lot easier on the eyes….

I must have been asleep for the past 10 years because I’ve NEVER heard of Naturally 7. EVER.

I was at work around 4.30 this afternoon wrapping things up when I got a call from my mate H asking if I wanted to go to a concert this evening. My first thought was “damn, I wanted to re- pot my lettuces” (more on that tomorrow) but so as not to admit to being the the fogey that I am undeniably turning into, I said “Sure”. So come 5pm I dashed home, got changed and off we went.

I had no idea who we were going to see and H only had a vague idea of what we were going to hear. Apparently she saw a poster today and thought it sounded interesting ( read: she saw a pic of seven fit men and had to be where they are). H said something about a cappella but I didn’t know what else to expect. A cappella my eye, it was pure vocal gymnastics and was nothing short of spectacular- and even that is an understatement.

The “wall of sound”  they create is done by each member recording and looping sounds as they make them using a food pedal, and layering them over each other, resulting in a rich sonar tapestry that is interwoven and spliced in perfect harmony.

They rnb’d, gospelled, beatboxed and motowned away two hours with the use of no instruments at all although I kept scanning the stage thinking that at some point they must have sneaked an instrument onto the stage because the sounds they generated with their voices were simply amazing. They even did an “electric guitar” version of God Save the Queen which had me roaring, not with royalist pride, but with pure amazement that someone could manipulate their vocal chords in such a manner to create these sounds. They took on Beatles classics, Simon and Garfunkel, Genesis- and they didn’t just sing and perform “vocal play”, they entertained, talked to the audience and got us to join in. I must also add that they mimed all the actions of them “playing” on their specific instruments and their formation on the stage was exactly as it would be if they were playing actual instruments. That added another dimension to the entire performance and gave the ultimate air guitar experience even more depth.

Naturally 7 did a meet and greet in the Town Hall foyer, signing autographs  and taking pictures, but I was too much of a big chicken to get a proper photo of them so all I got was this..

There are a couple of dates left on their UK tour so if you get a chance to go and see them, cancel all other plans for the evening and make sure you go because its an absolute treat.

I left the venue high on happiness and glad I’d gone along. It was so much more fun than lettuce.

The only bum note- literally, was that someone kept FARTING throughout the performance. You know the silent deadly ones that make you want to up and run? It was horrid. Someone really needs to invent some kind of fart catcher that you can poot into to trap the gas then release it later when you are out in the open. You have nappies for babies so they can do their business and you dispose of it later and there needs to be a similar facility for wind. We can send people to the moon, correct impaired vision with lasers but we can’t catch a fart. Someone needs to get on that, pronto.