Out Of The Blue could well be classed as Fringe veterans, returning year after year over the past decade for an afternoon of singing, dancing and suggestive hip-wiggling to guaranteed crowd-pleasers.
The group of twelve gives each member a chance to shine; the boys aren’t afraid to have fun with their dance moves.
This all-male a cappella group has become more than just a band of talented students from Oxford, releasing Youtube videos for their tracks that have reached hundreds of thousands – and in some cases, millions – of views and shares online. Featuring slick choreography and new arrangements of pop classics, this set should be a rocking hour of entertainment – but just misses the mark.
Covering a wide range from easy listening to pop mashups, the group of twelve gives each member a chance to shine; the boys aren’t afraid to have fun with their dance moves, abandoning their shiny black shoes this year in order to really strut their stuff, and during some particularly lively songs the freestyle backing dancers are often in danger of stealing the show. This may have been because of a slight lack of energy during some numbers; whilst the show opened with a bang, featuring their latest hit single Lady Marmalade, the rest of the set struggled to build on this momentum.
There was a marked difference between some of the well-executed choreography in established routines and the slightly repetitive motions in the ‘newer’ songs - I use the term ‘newer’ very loosely as most of these tracks were released before Out Of The Blue began their journey to the Fringe in 2004.
I suspect that their original setlist has changed very little, and it would be great to see more of the mashup style that was hinted at in their homage to Shakira. Most importantly, however, whether taking centre stage or playing a supporting role it is clear that everyone onstage was enjoying themselves, which is a joy to see and has an infectious effect on the atmosphere.
