Branson, Fully Loaded

Ok. The sales ladies at the hotel have wonderful hearts and wanted to take care of Katie and I while we are here.  So they've been getting us free tickets for shows in the evenings. 

Wednesday night we saw SIX, an acapella group made up of 6 (out of 10) brothers. They were actually really talented.  One guy did all the percussion, another did all the bass and they performed a number of different genres/covers including The Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra, Tom Jones, etc.  Plus they did a comedy routine, in which at one point they were serenading an elderly lady and one of the guys asked her if a sweaty bald man had ever sang to her before.  She cracked up and her husband (who was bald and sweaty) pointed to himself.  You just can't make this stuff up, folks.  We were definitely the only 20 something women there (well, the youngest there by at least 40 years, but that's Branson) but it was still incredibly entertaining.  Of course it reminded me of Andy Bernard on the Office...and what did they sing?  Oh yes, Rockin Robin. :-)

Tonight we went to the "sensational" 12 Irish Tenors.  A grand example of the fact that more is not always better....

First, they introduced themselves and only about half of them are from Ireland...the rest are posers from America (but there's no diversity so they can make sure they all still look Irish...but to the trained eye, we can see those with bad teeth, we know the real ones!).  Then, imagine that you're at a karaoke bar and the vocalists are wonderful, but the track of the song is so loud you can barely hear the voices??  Well that was the 12 Irish Tenors.  Not only were they singing "solos" in 4 person unison, but the cheesily-cut instrumental track was so unnecessarily loud that it ruined whatever tone the singers actually had.  Now, I don't mean to be mean, but most of them seemed to be Broadway rejects.  2 of the guys: Jonatan (actually pronounced like that cause he was authentic) and this little guy who we couldn't remember his name: now THEY could SING! They had them doing the actual opera pieces with backup from the other 10.  That was impressive and chills rolled down the spine as they hit those Pavarotti-esque notes.  If they would've kept the whole set to things that Josh Groban would sing, that would've been alright too.  They did a wonderful "You Raise Me Up." But then...ugh...they have to butcher the Beatles.  Just leave them alone, kids.  Or leave them to the Beatles impersonation group down the Strip...haha.  They completely ruined "Twist and Shout" AND "Hey Jude." Just uncalled for.  To make matters crazier, there was a high school choir from MN on tour who treated these guys like they were Justin Timberlake or something...screaming and fainting and carrying on.  It was entertaining...but...really?  It made Minnesotans look like they don't get out much.  

So far, Branson, we're 1 for 1.  Bring it on.