If you’ve ever heard someone sing while under the influence, you know how awful and off-tone it can be. But what happens when a choir of 1500 pub-crawlers come together to perform their cover of Backstreet Boys’ 1999 hit single “I Want it That Way”? Check out this video to find out.
Tell me why
The video opens with a shot of a sign telling us that we’re peeking in on Brisbane, Australia’s Tivoli pub. The video then cuts to a spinning record, then an establishing shot that shows us a small handful of the large 1500 deep choir gathered for the upcoming performance.
The title card cuts in and we see the band strumming the melody of Backstreet Boys’ “I Want it That Way”, while a woman on-stage motions to the crowd to sing the lyrics.
The woman conducts this most unusual choir as she motions to sections of the crowd, guiding them through this classic 1999 hit.
The first thing you’ll notice about this performance is how melodic everything is. The singers in the Pub Choir are a mix of genders and ages with 21 year old drinkers joining elderly drinkers in singing this charts topping hit from the last ear of the 20th century.
The camera cuts to various angles of the crowd, showing smiling faces as men and women clap, sing, and boogie along to the feel-good song.
Am I, your fire?
As the song returns to the famous chorus, the camera cuts to more and more of the singers as they clap and dance along to the melody. You can feel the energy in the air as every man and woman in the crowd is all smiles and bounce with every moment of music.
Whenever the band is on camera, you can see a combination of absolute focus from the instrumentalists and skillful crowd appeal from the conductor. The woman wastes no opportunity to encourage the crowd to cheer and dance along with the music.
Her encouragement keeps the choir going from the first notes to the last falling moments of the melody. It’s simply a beautiful and timeless moment that has to be seen to be believed.
The Pub Choir
The most incredible part of the pub choir is how they take such a large pool of strangers and pubcrawlers and give them only 90 minutes to learn a song. Considering how long it takes a major record label to record one hit single, this feels like one of those incredible magic moments that you can only find on the internet.
But as it turns out, Pub Choir is an actual organization in Australia. The organization has a goal of proving that anyone can sing, by providing quick lessons, good beer, and a crowd of strangers who are ready for the performance of their lives. As they say on their website:
“Why should being average at something stop you from doing it!?”
While it’s left up to debate if any of the singers in this video are top 40 charts toppers on their own, but it can’t be denied that this version of “I Want it That Way” is a work of art.
Would you join Pub Choir if you had a chance?
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