Jillian Kimberlin is a member of Rutgers University Shockwave. This is her first review for The A Cappella Blog.
After watching the ICCA quarterfinal in Rochester in mid-march, I decided I had so much to say about a cappella and not enough people to listen. So, luckily, The A Cappella Blog was hosting that competition, so I spoke with Mike Chin and decided to review for ACB. So, I made the trek all the way from good old’ Rutgers University all the way to Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the Northeast semifinals. As I walked up to this magnificent building, I stopped to take in the beautiful structure with glass windows and a detailed, dome copper roof that met at the ground three times, which is called the Kresge Auditorium.
The lights dimmed in the audience and your attention was drawn this beautiful, wood panel stage. You were also drawn to this humongous organ to Stage Left, lights on the sidewalls, lower level and upper level seating, and free-hanging acoustic “clouds” from the ceiling that contained more speakers and lights. I walked in late, so I missed MIT’s Resonance’s opening song, but made it just in time to find the Jabberwocks starting the competition off right.
As the gentlemen of Brown University’s The Jabberwocks walked onto the stage, an image of Ithaca College’s all-male group, Ithacappella, ran through my mind. They both don the navy blue blazer and khaki look, with different colored ties. I soon had that image leave my mind as the Jabberwocks gave their first pitch. They started off the night by singing a hip-hop medley of “I’ve Got a Feeling” by Black Eyed Peas, “All the Above” by Maino featuring T-Pain, and “Beautiful” by Akon featuring Colby O’Donis and Kardinal Offishall, which definitely pleased the audience. It was a fun song with varied soloists, fun choreography, and some awesome Vocal Percussion. They then slowed it down into Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine,” which really captivated the audience. As they first started the song, I remembered hearing them sing this in the same competition two years ago with a soloist I could not forget, Teng Yang. I was interested to see if the new soloist could live up to Yang’s rendition, and was pleasantly surprised that he could. It was a beautiful and smooth solo, with a great arrangement and kick-ass VP that cannot be forgotten. Then came their final song, the popular hit, “Use Somebody” by Kings of Leon. I usually dislike when groups sing songs that are played way too much on the radio, but I thoroughly enjoyed this interpretation. The soloist was powerful and engaging and had an amazing tone to his voice. The arrangement was full with some great harmonies, but the VP was lacking a bit, especially after some great beat boxing in the first two songs.
All in all, The Jabberwocks were a perfect opener for the show. Their energy was great, and it looked like they were having a ball, even though it didn’t always show on their faces. Their set was fun and innovative and set the bar for the rest of the groups.
Next, The Nor’easters from Northeastern University joined the stage. This co-ed group was full of some sexy ladies looking classy in matching gray skirts, black tops, black stockings and heels and some (not-AS-sexy) men in black suits and gray ties. The group came out and started with “Stronger” by Britney Spears, which could always go one of two ways. In this case, I would say it wasn’t the best choice for a song. When singing Britney Spears, although she does lip-sync herself, you have to have some kind of pop and sass that was sort of lacking from this soloist. I’m also not a big fan of unnecessary choreography, which they definitely had throughout their entire set. Choreography can definitely help you in some cases, and can be a disadvantage in others. The greatest part of this song and their set in general, however, was that they were very energetic and looked like they were generally having a good time up there. There’s not much to say about their third song, “Show Me What I’m Looking For” by Carolina Liar. It sounded okay, but was a bit chaotic, vocally and visually. Not much to say about anything except the ending chords, which was probably the prettiest the sounded during the entire song. Their last song, “Crawl” by the well know Chris Brown, saved them a bit after a not-so-memorable start. They had a ton of fun, although their was a bit of a balance issue, and they finished with a nice ending to of the group bowing their heads while the soloist finished his last line.
The Nor’easters did not have the greatest arrangements and they didn’t have the greatest soloists to add, but they definitely had a lot of fun on stage with each other, and to me, in the end, that’s all that matters.
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