Pentatonix in Paris: No band, no problem.
Pentatonix needs no introduction, but a quick one never hurts. The five-piece a cappella group from Arlington, TX shot to fame winning the third season of NBC's The Sing-Off in 2011, parlayed an unexpected label drop into a YouTube juggernaut (their Daft Punk medley alone sits close to 300 million views), and have since racked up three Grammy Awards, 10 million albums sold, a cameo in Pitch Perfect 2, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The current lineup, Scott Hoying, Mitch Grassi, Kirstin Maldonado, Kevin Olusola, and Matt Sallee, has been together long enough that their chemistry reads as something close to telepathy. After the Zénith in 2016 and the Salle Pleyel in 2023, this third Paris date (at the Zénith again) felt less like a visit and more like a homecoming.
The production philosophy is radical in its restraint: no band, no samples, no sound effects. Just five bodies and what comes out of them, framed by a genuinely beautiful light show that changes colour and mood without ever upstaging the voices. The crowd started seated and a little shy; by the halfway mark, most of the room was on its feet.
The setlist moved deftly between genres with medleys breaking up the flow and solo interludes giving each member their spotlight, none more jaw-dropping than Kevin Olusola simultaneously playing cello and beatboxing, a trick that somehow never gets old. White Winter Hymnal produced the evening's most inventive image: all five members drumming rhythms directly onto their own bodies, legs and chests substituting for a full percussion section. Creep, carried by Mitch Grassi's soaring falsetto, landed with full emotion. And when they launched into Stromae's Papaoutai (in French, for a Parisian audience that knows every syllable), the room responded with the kind of warmth you can't manufacture.
The encore sealed it. Hallelujah was rendered with a stillness and emotional precision that drew actual silence from the crowd between phrases. Then came Bohemian Rhapsody, a closing statement that doubles as a dare: try doing that with just your voice. They did. The standing ovation was unanimous, generous, and entirely deserved. A Pentatonix concert asks you to set aside your assumptions about what a show needs to be exciting, and rewards you handsomely for doing so. We’re already counting down the days until their 4th Paris visit.
Written by Marie Demeire.