ICCA 2008 Mid-Atlantic Quarterfinals at Drexel University

Event:  International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella Mid-Atlantic Quarterfinal
Date:   March 1, 2008
Location: Philadelphia, PA
  Drexel University
  The Main Building
Official Results: See end of article

Mike C checking in here after one heck of a quarterfinal in Philadelphia last night. A quick note before the review—photos from the event are available now on our Photos page.

There were some odd circumstances leading up to the event. As is my wont, I pre-ordered tickets for the show. During the week, I received a phone call from someone at Ticket Alternative, the folks who were handling pre-sales, telling me about a change in venue for the event, and giving me a new location. Then the night before the show I received an e-mail from none other than ICCA Executive Director Amanda Grish, saying that there had been some confusion, but the show would be in the original location. From there, the actual show got off to a late start. Despite an advertised start time of 7:30 p.m., the doors the auditorium didn’t even open until well after 8:00.

The venue was pretty decent—just a basic mid-sized auditorium, with a nice big stage up front. Pretty good sound. An old-style, all wood stage. It was a good place for this kind of event because it didn’t seem like a formal concert hall, but at the same time, had the seating, and a formal enough stage to fit a meaningful competition.

Fortunately, the show itself redeemed the event quite nicely. Dave, from Drexel’s all-male 8 to the Bar had emcee duties for the night, and his group opened the night with “Good Old A Cappella.” Good, harmless tune. Nothing special, nothing bad. I kind of like the choice of attire, everyone in a different polo and jeans. Just enough to be uniform, collars so they don’t look like slobs, but casual enough so it doesn’t look like a costume. I wouldn’t have liked if they were competing, but as a host group, it worked.

The Melismatics, a mixed group out of Lehigh University were the first group competing. Sizeable group, and they were looking sharp in black bottoms, red and white dressy attire on top. I liked the look.

The group opened up with “I’ll Be There.” Strange choice for an opener—I would place it more as a mood altering middle song, or an emotional closer. Very good soloist here. Unfortunately, the male backing solo couldn’t quite match her.  The movement in the background was a little much, ranging from subtle and appropriate to full on dance movement that grew a bit distracting. It was theatrical enough, and there were enough group members to sort of make the song feel like a number out of a musical. My main gripe, here, though, was the overblown, comical moves the group threw in as the song moved on. This is a trend I’ve noticed as of late, where groups can’t just let a song be heartfelt, feeling the need to make it funny. If you want to be taken seriously, take yourself seriously first. Embrace the melodrama. The group went choral toward the end. Great blend at first, kind of fell apart on the second go-round.

Next came “Toxic,” with the intro from “Hit Me Baby One More Time.” I’m not sure what the point of that intro was, beyond making sure everyone knew it was a Britney Spears song. I’m not sure what value that would have either, but oh well. Adequate sound here—nothing too noteworthy, good or bad. The plentiful movement in the background was more appropriate here. The hand drives and whatnot looked pretty good, but the constant repetition throughout the song got a bit tiresome by the second chorus. The VP was a little overwhelming here, with not one, not two, but as many as three guys working the mic over the course of the song. The group collapsed together at the end, leading into the third, and final number.

The Melismatics closed their set with Mika’s “Happy Ending.” Interesting voice on the soloist here—kind of reminded me of the Five for Fighting guy. All in all, I liked him. The choreography got pretty elaborate here, which I’m OK with, given we were at the end of the sit, and it was time to let things loose. This movement would have been more effective had it not been overdone for the first two-thirds of the set. Nonetheless, it was well done, including an increasingly common turn and slide move, as well as clothesline-and duck move that I hadn’t seen anyone break out before. Group got the clap going at the end for a good finish.

Set Summary:
1. “I’ll Be There” by The Jackson Five
2. “Toxic” by Britney Spears
3. “Happy Ending” by Mika

The second group competing was the Westminster Choir College Deaftones. I was highly critical of this group’s set at the Mid-Atlantic semifinals last year, so I must admit that my expectations were not high coming in. The group came out dressed mostly in black with green highlights, including suspenders, ties, undershirts, belts and, for two guys, dyed green hair. It was more subtle than their attire from last year, and I think the look worked well.

First song was “Dark Blue” by Jack’s Mannequin. This song didn’t showcase the soloist’s vocal abilities enough. I didn’t really like his tone on the verses, where he was more less speaking quickly. When the guy got to belt on the choruses, though, he showed that he really had some chops. Sopranos were soaring on this one, for a really great sound. Not really movement here aside from the soloist and VP guy, but I was all right with it.

Second up was Charlotte Martin’s “Limits of Our Love.” Again, very little movement, as I was getting a little bored with the visual performance. A lot going on with the arrangement here, and again, it sounded pretty great. Beautiful blend, and the dueling soloists were top notch.

The Deaftones closed their set with Maroon 5’s “Makes Me Wonder.” All at once, the group sprung to life with one of the most visually entertaining numbers of the night. The men and women of the group paired off, fighting through most of their dance movement. It was cute stuff, appropriate to the song, and the lack of movement prior to this number made what they did hear look really impressive. In my mind, this is exactly the crescendo of movement that the Melismatics could have benefited from, if they’d toned things down for their first two songs. The sound didn’t suffer from the movement either, making this a really good song as a whole. Good solo here. Very good set on the whole.

Set Summary:
1. “Dark Blue” by Jack’s Mannequin
2. “Limits ” by Charlotte Martin
3. “Makes Me Wonder” by Maroon 5

Third group of the night was Rutgers University’s all-female group, Shockwave. Nice duds for the group, all in black with sparkling silver bands at their waists. Good, professional look. I have to say that from the moment this group took the stage, they had this attitude about them, like they owned the place. I mean that in a very positive way—I’ve seen very few all-female groups carry that kind of confidence into competition. I suppose it fits, given just two years ago this ensemble went all the way to the ICCA Finals.

On a note unrelated to the performance, the intro the emcee read for this group was certainly memorable. The women apparently wrote their intro as a Mad-Lib, which I think is a pretty neat idea. The emcee took this as an opportunity to indicate it was a group of promiscuous strippers. It was sort of funny, but not at all appropriate for the heavily family-oriented audience, and I can imagine the group themselves may have been offended as the intro went on and on in this direction. A rare misstep for an otherwise solid host.

Shockwave opened wit Hoobastank’s “Crawling In the Dark.” The soloist was good, but a little breathy for my taste. Decent musically, and the girls were certainly selling every movement full-tilt. May have been a little over-choreographed, but I was actually OK with it.

Next up was Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me.” The group opted to do the opening of this song chorally. It worked to a point, but this section seemed to go on a bit too long before handing it off to the soloist. Just seemed like an odd transition to me. The soloist herself was quite good. In terms of visual presentation, the girls held hands throughout it. I appreciate the effort to do something interesting without incorporating movement, but I’m not sure this gesture really worked for me.

The third and final song of Shockwave’s set was “Survivor.” The confidence was still very high for this one, to the point where it turned to ruthless aggression. Unfortunately, I don’t really mean this in a good way, as the musicality seemed to fall by the wayside, and the soloists were basically yelling at the crowd. Very good choreography here, and I like the idea of this piece, trying to go ultra-intense, holding nothing back on their last song. It just didn’t sound that good, though, bringing the set to a disappointing close.

Set Summary:
1. “Crawling in the Dark” by Hoobastank
2. “I Can’t Make You Love Me” by Bonnie Raitt
3. “Survivor” by Destiny’s Child

Intermission time. BOCA CD went on, as I ran outside the feed my parking meter.

Back from intermission, the second half of the show started with the Carnegie Mellon Originals. They were a bunch of young looking guys, and I’ll be darned if there wasn’t an army of them—sixteen by my count. Decent enough choice of attire—white shirts, blue ties, blue jeans.

The guys started with “Jukebox Hero” by Foreigner. Good, fun song, though I would have liked to have seen them take it as a little more serious, rocking song. I liked the soloist, but the voice he used seemed a little put on, and seemed to breakdown some as the song wore on. I also would have preferred him without the sunglasses, but whatever. Lot of movement, lot of energy, good way to open the set.

Second song was “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.” Really different song choice. I wasn’t sure what to make of it at first, but in the end, I think it worked well. Out of this world bass sound. Very dramatic, very serious, very well executed, and it helped the group really stand apart from other groups in this show.

Speaking of standing out, this element of the set continued into “Run, Freedom, Run” from Urinetown. The soloist started by taking a swig from his water bottle, then tossing off to the side of the stage. I thought this was kind of unprofessional, before realizing it was part of the character he was getting into. Absolutely sensational charisma and presence from this dude, working the stage, and great theatrical movement from the guys behind him. I really dug this, specifically in the way it the choreography built, ending with the guys forming some sort of make shift boat, with a guy hanging off the back, pumping his legs in a running motion. Really entertaining, and a perfect ending to a solid set.

Set Summary:
1. “Jukebox Hero” by Foreigner
2. “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”
3. “Run, Freedom, Run” from Urinetown

Our penultimate group was Syracuse University’s all-female Mandarins. I’ve been accused of ‘flying my Syracuse colors too high’ in these reviews before, and I can’t deny being a fan of The Mandarins. I always liked a cappella. But were it not for my girlfriend being a part of this group years ago, and introducing me to the ICCAs through them, I probably never would have pursued my interest in a cappella beyond catching whatever shows my alma mater hosted. All of that being said, I’ll admit that I wanted to like this set. I’ll also say that, after following the group for a few years, I have better sense of their history than I do for most groups.

The Mandarins took the stage dressed in black with silver highlights. Sharp look all around. I have to say that it’s been quite sometime since I’ve seen this group look this confident. There were no visible jitters, and they were right down to business on stage.

The first song was Sonya Kitchell’s “Let Me Go.” Very solid, understated solo. I dig a really good solo, where it doesn’t feel as though the soloist is really ‘performing’ if that makes sense. Good sound all around, and nice level of subtle movement, that was just enough to keep it interesting, but not be awkward or overblown.

Next up was Madonna’s “Take A Bow.” Decent soloist, and I liked that the group rearranged their configuration on stage, making it interesting to look at it without even having to move, until they spread out toward the end. Decent soloist here, but I really liked the backing solo, and I feel like her performance is what elevated this song from just OK to actively good.

Last up was “Love You I Do,” from Dream Girls. Good soloist. Song seemed a little high for her, which is a shame, because I know how well she can rip through a song that’s fully in her range. Still, a solid outing for her. Good sound, and a lot of fun movement here. Like the Deaftones and Originals before them, this was a great demonstration of the value of saving your full-blown choreography until the end, and making it mean so much more. None of these groups I’m lauding had to expend half the physical energy of the Melismatics or Shockwave on the whole, but looked fantastic for their closers.

Set Summary:
1. “Let Me Go” by Sonya Kitchell
2. “Take a Bow” by Madonna
3. “Love You I Do” from Dream Girls

The final competing group was The Echoes out of Lehigh University. Black outfits with light blue highlights. Decent look for this young looking all-female group.

The Echoes opened with Robyn’s “Do You Know What It Takes.” Hot solo here. I wasn’t too impressed with anything else here, but soloist had some real power and charisma. I could have done with less choreography—they sort of half-sold a box step midway through, exemplifying the sort of movement I usually don’t like out of all-female groups.

The Echoes started their next song with some “mmm bop” syllables, which got me a little nervous. They transitioned into the melody soon enough, though, and it was Sufjan Stevens’s “Chicago.” Some good slide movement in the background, decent soloist. It’s a bit awkward, because I saw Michigan’s Dicks and Janes perform this same song last weekend, and do a better job with it all around. Nonetheless, the Echoes ran into the same central problem as the other group, in that it’s just a fairly long song without a lot of variation going on throughout, making the whole thing kind of dull. Not bad, but not something I would bring to competition.

Last up was Ace of Base’s “It’s a Beautiful Life.” Sugary sweet soloist, who I liked at first, but sort of wore on me at the end. A lot of energy in the movement, but it was nothing groundbreaking. All in all, this song was good, light-hearted fun, but really nothing memorable to close out a middle of the road set.

Set summary:
1. “Do You Know What It Takes” by Robyn
2. “Chicago” by Sufjan Stevens
3. “It’s a Beautiful Life” by Ace of Base

As the judges headed off to deliberate, 8 to the Bar was back. They went through a decent range of songs, “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” “Wordplay,” “Drive,” “Chariot” and others. A high light came in Billy Pilgrim’s “Insomniac” with an out of this world solo. The guys brought some alumni on stage for a couple songs too, which was fun. All in all, decent, harmless stuff from the guys.

The judges made it back in pretty quick time, which was surprising, given how close I thought the show was. To be honest, I don’t think any of these groups would have really seemed out of place in a semifinal, which is rare. It seemed to me that The Deaftones, The Originals and The Mandarins would be in a really tight race for first place, and it was disappointing that at least one of these groups wasn’t going to get to move on. In the end, trying to put my biases aside, I ranked The Deaftones first, Mandarins second, Originals a close third. I pegged The Echoes’ first soloist for the Outstanding Soloist award and The Originals for Outstanding Choreography for their last song. You can see all of my picks at the end of this article.

In reality, the results played out quite differently, but I can’t say I was altogether surprised, again, given the tight nature of the competition. Shockwave got the Outstanding Choreography award for their whole set, and The Mandarins took home Outstanding Solo honors for “Love You I Do.” There ended up being a tie for third between Shockwave and The Deaftones. The Originals finished second, and The Mandarins won it, sending these two groups to the semifinals at Rutgers on April 5. The group closed the show with “Lovefool” by The Cardigans.

In a nice side story, I was chatting with some Mandarins after the show, and they mentioned that the current seniors were freshmen the last time the group went on to the semifinals—kind of a neat circularity to that.

All in all, quite a quarterfinal. Once again, remember that you can check out a selection of photos from this show on our Photos page.

ACB Picks:
Placement:
1. The Westminster Choir College Deaftones
2. The Syracuse University Mandarins
3. The Carnegie Mellon University Originals
4. The Lehigh University Melismatics
5. Rutgers University Shockwave
6. The Lehigh University Echoes

Oustanding Soloist:
1. The Echoes for “Do You Know What It Takes”
2. The Originals for “Run, Freedom, Run”
3a. The Melismatics for “I’ll Be There”
3b. The Manarins for “Let Me Go”

Outstanding Choreography:
1. The Originals for “Run, Freedom, Run”
2. The Melismatics for “Happy Ending”
3. The Deaftones for “Makes Me Wonder”

ICCA Official Results:

Overall Placement:
1. The Syracuse University Mandarins
2. The Carnegie Mellon University Originals
3a. The Westminster Choir College Deaftones
3b. Rutgers University Shockwave

Outstanding Choreography: Shockwave for the full set
Outstanding Soloist: The Mandarins for “Love You I Do”