BackSync Direction Brothers: A Review

Mountain View High School has been presenting unique, themed concerts– lovingly deemed “Mega Concerts”– every February for many years. Previously, the purpose of the Mega Concert was to help the students raise money for their choir tour, which generally would occur in April; however, with the restrictions of Covid-19, all overnight school travel events have been cancelled. But this did not stop the choir program from putting on a show; although the only certainty in planning was uncertainty, they pushed forward with their plans for a concert. And, thank goodness for us, the show did indeed go on. On February 10-12, Mountain View High School presented their first boy band themed concert that Brett Taylor, the performing arts and choir director, entitled “The BackSync Direction Brothers.” It was cleverly advertised as though the choir program was hosting this band for a one-time event, although the created band was simply the choir program itself.

The BackSync Direction Brothers concert featured all of the different performing choirs at Mountain View (Chamber Choir, ACapella, Con Brio, Man Choir, and Motive ACapella,) selling out all of its 3 performances with the limited audience capacity. Student singers favored the audience with pieces from classic boy bands like One Direction, the Jonas Brothers, Boyz II Men, *NSYNC, The Beach Boys, and more. Every piece was complete with costuming, hair, makeup, and student-designed choreography. Another unique part of the mega concerts comes in the form of emcees and specialty numbers, which both must be auditioned for in the weeks prior to the performance. The student emcees for this concert— Jackson Harding, Milo Valentine, and Raef Macy— kept audiences engaged and laughing during transition periods between choirs and specialty numbers. Even aside from the emcees, however, the mega concerts are virtually student run, as the choir director is also performing as the drummer on stage alongside the other musical guests that are brought in. The fact that this show runs at all is amazing— but the fact that it runs as well as it does and continually impacts audiences the way that it has is nothing short of a miracle, especially in a time like this.

The 2021 Mega Concert was a smashing success to both the performers and the audience members. It truly gave them a memory that, as Motive Acapella sang on the program, made it “hard to say goodbye.”