Pentatonix: The World Tour Review

Pentatonix performed at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion as part of their The World Tour on Thursday, September 7th, 2023. The crowd waited in great anticipation for the performances to come.

How’s everybody doing in Texas tonight? [crowd cheers] I’m Lauren Alaina, and thank you so much! I’ll be opening up the show! Who’s excited to see Pentatonix? [crowd cheers] Let’s go!

Lauren Alaina

Starting the night off was the performance of Lauren Alaina, opening with the song “A Walk In The Bar.” Alaina is an American country singer and songwriter who gained fame as the runner-up on the tenth season of American Idol in 2011. Following her success on American Idol, she embarked on a successful career in country music. She is known for her powerful vocals and relatable, heartfelt lyrics, making her a prominent figure in contemporary country music.

Alaina continues her performance by performing from her album Road Less Traveled,  EP Unlocked, and singles “Ladies In The 90s,” “ONE BEER” and “What Ifs.” Her standout songs were “Smaller The Town” and “Road Less Traveled.” She interacted excellently with the crowd, especially waving at little kids and other fans standing up. Her interactions with her touring band were heartwarming as they were joking around and messing around on stage. 

During her second to last song, “Thicc As Thieves,” one of the younger fans wanted her shirt signed, and Alaina signed it for her during the performance. She began her last song, “Road Less Traveled,” by teaching the crowd to sing part of the chorus and getting them on their feet. In the middle of the song, she expressed her sentiments to the crowd, her background, and how the song came to fruition.

Thank you guys so much for letting me be a part of the show!  I got second place on American Idol when I was 16 years old. The people who cheered me on, thank you so much! You changed my life! But I was really young, and there are a lot of people who have a lot to say about me. I don’t know if y’all know this or not. Not everybody’s very nice, especially on Facebook. People have got to calm down on Facebook. Why is everybody on Facebook so much? Do you all understand it? I don’t get it. 

Hey, I let those people dictate how I felt about myself for years, and I woke up one day and realized I don’t really care what people on Facebook have to say about me. They’re probably not coming to my show, so I don’t think  I’m ever going to meet them. I wrote this song about what non-Karen’s had to say about me, and those people gave me my very first number-one song on Country radio, so if you’re here tonight and you’re struggling, and you don’t feel good about yourself, I want you to hear me you are perfect just the way you are and nobody else can tell you how to feel about yourself.

If you ever get down, you take this song, and you sing it as loud as you can and think about the people on Facebook. They do not matter. Before I get out of here, I got one more thing. I want you to pull your phones out and turn your flashlight on and, put your hands up in the air, and wave them side to side.

Lauren Alaina

With this, Alaina ended her performance with a venue full of moving flashing lights and thanked the crowd as she exited the stage. The crowd waited in great anticipation for the next performance, which would be the main artist of the night, Pentatonix.

Please welcome 3-time Grammy award-winning global group Pentatonix!

Intro to Pentatonix

The crowd cheered as Pentatonix began their highly anticipated performance with a video on screen showcasing their career and achievements. Before the announcer introduced us to the band, the members took the stage as a countdown played behind them to announce the beginning of their performance. They started with the amazing performance of “Radioactive,” with isolated parts highlighting some members, which set the tone for the night. 

Pentatonix, often abbreviated as PTX, is a highly acclaimed acappella group known for their stunning vocal harmonies and innovative covers of popular songs. The group was formed in 2011 and gained widespread recognition through their YouTube channel, where they posted acappella covers of hit songs. Pentatonix comprises members Scott Hoying, Mitch Grassi, Kirstin Maldonado, Kevin Olusola, and Matt Sallee (who joined in 2017). They’ve won several Grammy Awards and released numerous albums, including covers and original music. Pentatonix has played a pivotal role in bringing acappella music into the mainstream and remains a beloved act in the music industry.

The group had amazing chemistry during the show, and each member had moments to shine within their vast discography. It is amazing to see acapella live compared to a recording and the effort each member is shown in each song. Between songs, a group member would expand on the song’s meaning, how they became a group, and their personal lives. After the song “The Sound of Silence,” one of the members, Maldonado, expanded on the meaning of the next song.

Thank you! What’s up!? Thank you guys so much for coming out, and we are so amazingly glad we are in Texas! We love you so much. We love hometown shows and home-state shows, and this next song is an original song we released in 2021. It is about having someone that you know always has your back.

That you can come to no matter the situation no matter if you have a bad day or feeling down on yourself. This person is your safe place, and they center you and ground you, and they support you. You can bring them anything, and that’s the type of person that I hope to always be for my daughter, and I was so lucky to have in my life. My mom, my family, my friends, those people are so important, you know? 

So if you know this next song, please sing the lyrics with us, and if you don’t, I ask that you listen to them and know that even on the worst day when you’re feeling super down on yourself, you are not alone and there are people out there that love and support you. We love and support you! This song is called “Love Me When I Don’t,” and here we go!

Kirstin Maldonado of Pentatonix

After the song, Haying explained more about their first album and its impact on their lives. In moments like these, artists showcase how much their music means to them by explaining their point of view to the crowd. It shows how much they care about the music they create.

That was from our album called The Lucky Ones any of y’all know The Lucky Ones? [crowd cheers] It’s our original album, and it’s what we are good at. So that album is such a landmark moment in our career and our lives. We’ve been a band for 12 years now, which is wild to say out loud. In around year 7 or 8 with The Lucky Ones, 

I think it was the first time that we really got vulnerable and talked about our journey thus far and our insecurities and overcoming our insecurities, falling out of love, and falling in love. All these really personal things it was such a therapeutically beautiful artistic experience. 

So, this album means a lot to us. There were so many songs we wanted to do from it, and in true Pentatonix fashion, we will do a medley of the album, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam! If you love the album, great news you’re gonna get all of it! And if you’ve never heard it great news, you’re about to hear all of it!

Scott Haying of Pentatonix

The way Pentatonix included the crowd in singing along was amazing to see. They would have us sing part of the chorus and the background chord, and at one point in the show, Hoying would split the crowd in three left, middle, and right, to sing one of the three parts of a chord.

Standout moments of the night: Lauren Alaina returned onstage to perform Dolly Parton’s part in “Jolene” with Pentatonix. Haying had his moment when he rehearsed a TikTok video with the crowd singing “Hallelujah.” Olusola also had his moment by beatboxing and playing cello, which Haying explained is how they were introduced to them. Sallee joined him in his second song on the cello, playing the drums. 

They continued playing an extraordinary amount of discography from their albums PTX, Vol. 1, PTX, Pentatonix (Deluxe Version), The Lucky Ones (Deluxe), That’s Christmas To Me (Deluxe Edition), A Pentatonix Christmas Deluxe, Evergreen, PTX Vol. IV – Classics and singles “Shallow,” “I Rise,”  and “The Sound of Silence.” They also sang medleys covering popular songs of many different decades.

They ended the night with “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which, while a difficult song to perform, they did amazing doing it purely acapella. They left the stage, thanking the crowd and saying they would see them next time and for everyone to have a good night.

Overall, it was an amazing night full of music and harmony. As previously mentioned, seeing an acapella group live is amazing, and it is no wonder Pentatonix has been recognized time and time again. All the performers did amazing, and I hope to see them back soon! If you want to see more live coverage, check out our live coverage page for the latest coverage of concerts!