Newton Hall filled with harmonious tunes, as Geneseo’s a cappella groups came together to perform for the “Fall 2013 A Cappella Concert” on Saturday Nov. 2. The night was off to a good start before the show even began, with a huge audience filing into the lecture hall. With such an overflow of people, some audience members sat in the aisles or placed couches in the back of the room.
This show was the first a cappella concert at Geneseo to have emcees. Seniors Phil Romano and Chris McLauchlin kept the audience laughing between performances with their comical banter. They left the event without a dull moment.
Southside Boys, Exit 8, Hips ‘n’ Harmony and Between the Lines each performed two sets during the concert.
Southside Boys was the first group up. The all-male group made the audience swoon with its sprightly dancing, animated expressions and great singing. One of the best songs they performed was “Iscariot.”
Exit 8 also performed two hit mashups, one of John Mayer’s “Waiting on the World to Change” and “Same Love” by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, the other mixing up “Radioactive” by Imagine Dragons. The most breathtaking part of their performance was senior Ben Durland performing his senior song, “Hold the Ones You Love Close” by The Apathy Eulogy.
Hips ‘n’ Harmony drove the crowd wild with its rendition of Queen’s “Somebody to Love.” The group’s all-female arrangement of Cher Lloyd’s “Want U Back” and Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” proved to be both empowering and hilarious, with comical sounds and other elements interspersed throughout the song.
One of the most popular songs of the night was Between the Lines’ rendition of “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder. This classic song closed out the night, and the room erupted into thunderous applause.
Throughout the concert, each group introduced its new members to the audience, who the audience received with excited shouts and applauses. Not only were new members a part of the fall concert, but so too were some alumni.
During Southside Boys’ first set, the group invited alumni sitting in the audience to help them perform their first song, “Good Old A Cappella.” All of the groups recognized former members who came to the show.
The concert should be deemed a success, with proud parents finding the best angle to film their talented children and students and Geneseo residents alike coming out to show their support for campus a cappella.