Disappointed Postmodern Jukebox fan :(
by Not what it used to be on 12/05/2025O2 Guildhall Southampton - SouthamptonRating: 2 out of 5I used to love Postmodern Jukebox. My mum and I even planned weekend trips to Dublin and Vienna to see them back in 2016 and '17. Both shows were just as lively and energetic as their online videos and you could tell every performer adored the vintage style and was having a blast turning big modern hits into swing-jazz gold. But it seems a lot has changed since then. At the show we just saw in Southampton, most of the songs were ones we didn't recognise, and nearly all of them were really slow and dull. Not at all the high-energy party vibe we remembered. The only two songs we did know were more like filler than showstoppers. With thousands of great hits they could rework, it was baffling why they chose the ones they did. They even opened with We Are the Champions-and barely changed it from the original? Just... why? So strange. The guy with the washboard was brilliant, but in previous shows that would've been a fun bonus, not the highlight. And the tap dancer, who used to pop on stage for a number or two to great effect, was instead given full songs on her own… all slow, and mostly invisible because the venue doesn't have tiered seating. It just didn't work. What was especially strange was the MC hyping up the crowd at the start, telling us to get ready to party, practising woos and cheers, only for the entire setlist to be not party at all. A lot of the music wasn't even Jazz-Swing or even vintage anymore-at one point, there was a full song that was literally just an electric guitar solo?!! We honestly left with an hour to go, completely gutted. It didn't feel like the love for the music or the concept was there anymore. We actually wondered if Scott Bradlee is still involved, because this just felt like a really poorly done PMJ. They had such a fantastic and unique thing going. Why change it?
