Postmodern Jukebox finds new home at Mirage on Las Vegas Strip

Las Vegas Review-Journal

6 years ago

The front man of Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox is shown in a promotional shot. PMJ opens April 12 at 1Oak Nightclub at the Mirage. (Dana Lynn Pleasant)

Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox is shown at Myron’s Cabaret Jazz in August 2017, where the band performed two shows for a PBS special. (Stacie Hess/PBS)

A promotional image of Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox, opening April 12 at 1Oak Nightclub at the Mirage. (Postmodern Jukebox)

A promotional image of Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox, opening April 12 at 1Oak Nightclub at the Mirage. (Dana Lynn Pleasant)

In November, Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox performed in its characteristically stylish manner during an extended engagement at the Mirage.

Great show, and a fine hotel. But the room wasn’t right.

It’s right now.

PMJ is returning to the Strip in a residency engagement — a real residency of multiple shows per week, over multiple weeks — at Mirage’s 1Oak Nightclub. Titled “Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox Hideaway” (an incidental nod to Human Nature) kicks off April 12 and runs 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. (Tickets start at $39.99, not including fees, onsale 10 a.m. Friday).

PMJ is at once an artistic and social-media force, generating 1.1 billion YouTube views with 3.8 million subscribers, and has drawn more than 1.9 million fans on Facebook. The big band re-imagines such contemporary songs as Meghan Trainor’s “All About the Bass,” Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy,” Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance,” Britney Spears’ “Oops! … I Did It Again,” and Paula Abdul’s “Straight Up.” The show’s pace is swift and even finds time to showcase tap dancers.

The band most recently kicked it up at Terry Fator Theater for eight nights in November. As I noted prophetically (or, luckily) after seeing that show, the 1,256-seat theater was not a good fit. The venue is a refined, proper theater that a couple characteristics that don’t match a PMJ show: It’s proper, and it’s a theater.

Comparatively, 1Oak is a chic club where the band can move and groove around the venue and not be pinned to the stage. And, importantly, at 400 seats, the band has far less ticket-selling pressure. Bradlee has said he wants a Vegas showcase for the band. He’s got it now, but with a ripple effect named Gossy.

Closing in on a decade of headlining Vegas at three venues, Matt Goss is moving his 1Oak hang to Sundays, beginning March 3, with announced dates through June 16 (though Goss has said he’ll be at the Mirage throughout 2019). Goss is also performing a special Valentine’s Day show at 8 p.m. Thursday at 1Oak (roses and champagne specials will be mixed with Goss’s killer showcase).

Playing off the success of the remarkable documentary “After The Screaming Stops,” Goss and his twin brother, Luke, have also announced more dates for Bros in the U.K. beginning with a July 5 show at 02 Academy Brixton in London. The brothers have also been recording at Studio at the Palms for a new release due this year, and Matt has been working on the score for the stage play “Upstairs Downstairs,” being developed for London’s West End. The show ran in Great Britain from 1971-75 and is the forerunner of the PBS series “Downton Abbey.”

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His PodKats podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts.Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.