Stuff
DrumLine Live Holiday Spectacular – November 19th – AT&T Performing Arts Center – Dallas, TX
The “” takes you on an unforgettable musical journey through the most beloved chart-topping holiday classics. Imagine the festive sounds of holiday cheer combining Gospel, Jazz, Soul, Motown rhythms, and The Nutcracker Suite mixed with a hip-hop beat and the driving force of a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) marching band. You have to see the “DRUMLine Live Holiday Spectacular” to experience the magic and musicianship!
DRUMLine Live’s dazzling vocalists and talented musicians, coupled with energetic choreography, spectacular lighting, and beautiful holiday costumes, make this Holiday Spectacular one of the coolest, most exciting, and dynamic shows EVER!!
Wait until you see our show-stopping unique version of “The Little Drummer Boy,” highlighted by the creative sights and sounds of the HBCU drumline. From the modern sounds of Mariah Carey’s #1 holiday hit, “All I want for Christmas Is You,” Ariana Grande’s, “Santa Tell Me,” and Justin Bieber’s, “Mistletoe” to the classic favorites, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Santa Clause is Coming to Town,” and “Jingle Bells,” this rockin’ Holiday Spectacular will have audiences around the globe dancing in the aisles.
Our incredible musicianship and talented performers will fill you with holiday cheer from the first tap of the drum to the very last song of the show!
The “DRUMLine Live Holiday Spectacular” comes direct from Producer, Don P. Roberts and the extraordinary musical team behind 20th Century Fox’s hit movie, “Drumline,” and VH1’s, “Drumline: A New Beat,” DRUMLine Live’s soulful renditions of your favorite holiday songs are guaranteed to fill your heart with joy.
It’s the perfect treat. So grab your mistletoe and bring your entire family to this amazing and fun-filled experience that will have you singing the entire holiday season!
Hanson Wintry Mix Tour – December 9th – House of Blues – Dallas, TX
We end the year the way we began, with a unique show from Brothers Hanson. All their shows are pretty unique but they are really great about producing one of a kind events & tours to make each time they come through town, special & memorable. The show at the beginning of this year for example was with a string quartet, others have featured mutli-night sets of hits & covers etc. One thing that has eluded however all these years is hearing their beloved Christmas songs live.
In 1998 their label quickly released Snowed In following the ruanway success of their debut LP Middle of Nowhere just six months earlier, just in time for the hoildays. What should have been a quickly assembled sham designed to capitalize on the mania surrounding them at the time for a quick cash grab, the brothers dialed into something that for some has become an essential part of their holidays since and true Christmas classic. In a word, it’s a freaking masterpiece.
The album features a mix of traditional Christmas carols, unexpected (to me) covers of Christmas themed rockers & soul tunes & Hanson’s own compositions (which are actually my favorite). I didn’t really hear the record until the following Christmas in 1998, my younger sister who was 13 at the time, naturally took a great interest at the height of their popularity when they were selling out arenas & stadiums & we saw their victory lap earlier that year, dubbed The Albertane Tour. It’s one of our greatest memories and thus started a tradition of seeing every tour and proud to say that here we are 21 years later, I’m still taking my sister to see Hanson every year.
But what we’ve always talked about is “How great would it be if they were to FINALLY tour in December and do those Christmas songs?!?!”.
It’s never happened until now – Not wanting to be seen as a novelty, these guys could have coasted as simply a Christmas act for the rest of their careers if they wanted, that’s just how good that record is (their version of the Silent Night medley is the freaking moon landing).
So last year, after 20+ long years they finally released a follow up to Snowed In, cleverly titled Finally It’s Christmas.
Being a cold Monday night the crowd wasn’t as jam-packed or as a bit over the top as they have been in the past, both of which I was grateful for.
I’m not one to look at setists online before a show, that’s a cardinal sin in my world but I was anticipating they’d open with Finally It’s Christmas, it just felt right, especially the opening line of “Everyone’s been waiting for the chance to say, FINALLY It’s Christmas!” which also feels like a tongue-in-cheek response to what is probably their most asked question of the past 20 years “When are you gonna play Christmas songs?!”.
Drinks in hand, we were ready & sure enough, they started with Finally! – Throwing our arms in the air to be able to say that WITH THEM makes this one of the best Christmas’ ever. All was right with the world.
While Zach seemed quite subdued and obviously still recovering from a recent accident (up until recently he was still only singing, so if we was gonna be playing drums tonight was a bit of a question, the show still had soaring moments throughout as well as new music and the promise of more to come.
Wheras they didn’t attempt Silent Night (or my other fave from Snowed In, the original tune, Everybody Knows the Claus) they did the Johnny Moore cover that opens the record and an acapella of White Christmas that closes it. Finally it’s Christmas, feels like we’ve waiting a long time & it was well worth the wait.
Setlist:
Finally It’s Christmas
Don’t Ever Change
Rock ‘n’ Roll Razorblade
Thinking ‘Bout Somethin’
Lost Without Each Other
Little Saint Nick (The Beach Boys cover)
This Time Around
Serious Woman
Crazy Beautiful (Taylor’s Solo)
White Christmas (Irving Berlin cover)
Merry Christmas, Baby (Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers cover)
Run Rudolph Run (Chuck Berry cover)
Winter Wonderland (Richard Himber & His Orchestra cover)
A Wonderful Christmas Time (Paul Macartney cover)
What Christmas Means to Me (Stevie Wonder cover)
Get the Girl Back
MMMBop
Annalie
Where’s the Love
I Was Born
A Minute Without You
Encore:
Make It Out Alive
If Only
