Rockapella Concert - Lancaster Center for the Performing Arts, Lancaster, CA - October 26, 2001

Waiting for 4 months to see the boys again in concert was not an easy thing to do. The last time I saw them was at Hofstra University in June for Camp Heartland. You can imagine the excitement that I felt to see these 5 very talented men once more. My cousins and I arrived at the Lancaster Performing Arts Centre a tad bit late, and walked in at the end of the 3rd song, "So Much Better." After a brief intro by Elliott, they went right into "No Doubt At All," the new tune El wrote, which I (and my cousins) absolutely adore! I love jazz music and I love how El sings those jazz tunes, his voice is so perfect for them, so mellow. Great arrangement and I love the exchange between El's scatting and Jeff's "drumming" towards the middle of the song. The song is adorable! They segued right into "Dancing in the Streets" complete with Kevin's own brand of "shake-down" much to the delight of the audience. After the song, Barry takes center-stage and does his "manly/wimpy" speech, and goes right into "16 Tons." During the song, the audience started to clap along as the guys were singing, but at one point, the audience went off-beat with their clapping, almost throwing off the guys and causing Elliott to laugh! Barry started snapping on beat, but he still couldn't get the audience to clap along on beat, which caused one of the guys to say, "they are determined, aren't they?" which I thought was very amusing. "Use Me" was up next. Again, this song always puts a smile on my face. It's got a great fast R&B feel to it, and the fact the Jeff is drumming and singing at the same time makes it even more fun to watch. Oh, and I love the BGV's - "usein-me-ga-git-gotcha-ooh-ahh-usein-me" - now, that's clever. Scott also gets a chance to "set-off" his vocal pyrotechnics during this song (even more so than in other songs), which is why this song is one of my absolute favorites in their repertoire. Before singing "A Change in My Life," Kevin took a moment to talk about how it was great to be in Lancaster, and to be back in Southern California once again. He mentioned that Bear was from Los Angeles and being back "home" makes Bear happy. (LOL) The guys went right into "Dance With Me" a '70's song, I believe, which Scott arranged. This is starting to become my new favorite Rockapella tune. It's so beautifully arranged, the harmonies are very tight and you can dance to it! J This song brings back childhood memories for me. I remember my uncle playing this record when I was a little kid. After a 10-minute intermission, the boys were back on stage again, doing "Love Potion #9." Then, El stepped up and introduced Rockapella's "greatest hit" which is, of course, Folger's "Rockin' Morning." They also did "Holiday Wake-Up" complete with the bells, much to the audience's delight. Elliott also mentioned that the Christmas Folger's commercial will be aired again this season. Yay! "Don't Do It" was next, followed by "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress." After the song, Kevin commented that Scott didn't smack his bottom like he usually does and that he misses it. (Uh, okay Kev…LOL) Then Kevin walked off-stage and into the audience to look for his "Pretty Woman." Sandy was the PW of the night and she did a fabulous job. They followed PW with "Don't Tell Me You Do" which was a total surprise to me! It is my favorite Rockapella song of all-time and I was absolutely thrilled when I heard the first chord of song - I let out a shriek which startled Mr. Leonard, almost causing him to lose his concentration (my apologies to Scott and the guys, LOL). This song is what got me hooked to Rockapella. I will never get tired of hearing this song. They should put it back on their repertoire, permanently! After Scott's "girly man" bit, Bear took center-stage again to sing, "Big, Bad John, a new Bear song, which was also arranged by Scott. ;-) This song is very enjoyable. I love Scott's facial expressions! And I love the arrangement, you couldn't tell that it was originally a country tune. Jeff had some kick-butt moments in this song as well. WITWICS followed which "rocked da house" and Jeff's VP solo -whoa! It clocked in just a little under 3 minutes. They ended the show after 2 sets of encores. They sang the Star Spangled Banner of course, and during the song, the American flag was lowered behind them. That was a very moving moment. The show was great, it was definitely worth my 4-month wait. Thank you guys again for a wonderful weekend! Come back soon!