On March 9, Acapalooza, an entirely a capella-based performance, was held in the Pause. It was a combination of all the wonderful a capella talent at St. Olaf. We had all the greats. Agnes A Capella, Curtain Call, Hill Harmonics, Ole Ave Vocal Jazz, The Limestones, and finally special guests, The Bonafide Four.
The show opened up with The Bonafide Four as the hosts of the event, bringing the laughs and the pipes to show that they knew what they were talking about when it came to a capella.
The Limestones then took the stage, and I don’t just mean they walked on that stage and stood there, no, they stole that stage, donning wigs and singing “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter before transitioning into a rendition of “Fat Bottomed Girls” that Freddie Mercury would have cheered for.
After the Limestones were done, they passed the stage off to Curtain Call, who put on their debut performance. After they sang “What Baking Can Do” from “Waitress,” and “For Good” from “Wicked,” they immediately won the hearts of the crowd. Both pieces were exceptional and showed the vast talent of the group.
After finishing the performance and bringing many tears to peoples eyes, they handed the stage back to Bonafide Four. They sang “Smile” barbershop quartet style which meshed perfectly with Curtain Call’s rendition of “For Good.” Then we got a break from the individual groups to have a large group number of “Money, Money, Money” by ABBA, which blended together the voices of the groups so beautifully.
After this, there was a short intermission, and then Hill Harmonics performed “Nobody’s Soldier” by Hozier, which was such a delight to hear. The bass of that song was stupendous, which I think is such an important part of that song, so I’m glad it was done well. Ole Ave then made some jokes about playing instruments and an unhappy The Bonafide Four dragged them off the stage, but still, Ole Ave persisted and performed “Misty” and showed off their wonderful vocal jazz skills. The harmonies that were created were so hypnotic I couldn’t keep my eyes off the stage.
Finally, Agnes Acapella performed their rendition of “Good Luck, Babe!” making Chappell Roan proud, before finishing out their performance with a mashup from “Pitch Perfect” that had me thinking I was watching the movie live.
All the performances were exceptional, but just as the crowd thought it was over the acapella groups surprised us with the iconic rip off from “Pitch Perfect!” All the acapella groups went into the middle of the crowd and started riffing off of each other in perfect stride, showing off their wonderful blending skills.
This night left me feeling euphoric and in awe of all the talent that this campus holds, so thank you to the singers for letting your voices be heard.
