The 2011 ICCA Finals

On Saturday, April 16, 2011, Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center in New York City played host to the ICCA Finals. The event featured seven competing groups. Before we get to the review, a quick summary:

The Competitors:
The Vanderbilt University Melodores (ICCA Wild Card Champions)
Berklee College of Music Pitch Slapped (ICCA Northeast Champions)
The SUNY Buffalo Buffalo Chips (ICCA Mid-Atlantic Champions)
The Florida State University Acabelles (ICCA South Champions)
The WashingtonUniversity of St. Louis Stereotypes (ICCA Midwest Champions)
Cambridge University Cadenza (ICCA United Kingdom Champions)
Brigham Young University Vocal Point (ICCA West Champions)

Guest Groups:
Northern Highlands High School Highland Voices
Wilsonville High School Soul’d Out
Douglas MacArthur High School PFC
Vocaldente

Highland Voices, the second runners up from the ICHSA Finals, opened the night with a jazzy performance of “Spiderman.” The mixed group looked slick in their red and black formal wear, and performed the song well, include a nice siren effect on the opening, a very nicely layered solo effect on the finish. The group incorporated some fun movement as well including some snaps, lean, and, of course, the obligatory web-slinging motions. This was a lot of fun.

Soul’d Out, another mixed group, came out next to reprise their performance of Muse’s “Knights of Cydonia.” First of all, the group looked fantastic in well-coordinated electric blue and black threads. Secondly, I positively love that we have here a high school a cappella group covering Muse. Just a few short years ago, it was really cutting edge for college groups to cover bands like this, and it’s sensational that the younger crowd is taking these sorts of chances at this stage of their development. Big, full sound from the group, and some neat visuals with waving arms and dramatic posturing—this group just sounded incredibly big time for a high school group. We got an impressive guitar solo in which the guy executing it went so far as to hold the mic like it was his fingerboard; from there, a girl took the mic from him for more of a brass solo. It was a little silly, but as well executed as you could ask for if they weren’t going to clip the instrumental opening of the song any further. The sound on this grew more complex as the song went on, which was neat to hear, and the culmination in a duel male solo worked very well.

All in all, I do agree with the decision that went into effect last year, to separate the ICHSA and ICCA Finals, if just for the sheer length of the show. With that said, I really applaud the tradition that’s taking shape of giving the best high school groups the opportunity to show their stuff in front of the collegiate finals crowd the next night. It’s a nice tip of the hat to the high school groups, and an opportunity for them to still perform in Lincoln Center, without overwhelming the audience with too many performances.

Vanderbilt’s Melodores opened the competition portion of the evening The all-male group took the stage in black blazers and yellow tops, and kicked off with Ludacris and Chris Brown’s “How Low.”The guys began in choral poses, with one group member standing before them to conduct. They dropped all pretenses soon enough, though, launching into an up-tempo rap driven number, highlighted by three separate soloists who demonstrated skill in rapping, in addition to a high-pitched guy who offered up a “chipmunk” hook to the song that was funny, and used just sparingly enough not to get annoying. My only complaint with the rap was that the first guy on it moved the mic away from his mouth at a few inopportune moments, and consequently, we lost his sound. It’s a pretty minor quibble, though, because the guys succeeded in doing what 99 percent of collegiate a cappella groups fail to do when they rap—they made it fun without being funny, a spectacle without being self-conscious. The visual display of a few featured guys’ dancing masterfully on stage only added to the cool factor of this performance. The trio of dancers at the end didn’t appear to be singing as they moved, so I question the musicality of this, but for entertainment value, the group succeeded in throttling the audience. So many times this year, guys have turned to covering Lady Gaga in order to stand out, and be fun and topical. With this opener, The Melodores made a case for the value of actual originality, gusto, and energy. Do something that only your group could do, capitalize on the talent at hand, and make a statement with your opener. After this song, I don’t think anyone in Alice Tully was prepared to laugh off the Wild Card champions.

Following the first song, one of the dancers remained up front, only to be thrown to the ground by another group member. Again, not very musical, but a really grabbing way to introduce the group’s second selection, a medley of Nina Simone’s “Strange Fruit” and Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come.” Nice bass solo, nice dynamics from the group. As much as I liked the solo, I didn’t agree with the decision for the group to fall out altogether on occasion so the soloist sang alone. He was good, but not enough of a true spotlight performer (at least at the Finals level) to give him so much room to operate in isolation. I really liked the combination of these two songs—one that identifies the oppression of a time, the other a message song that points us forward. It’s an emotionally provocative, socially conscious, and thought provoking pick. With the transition to “Change” came a sensational backing solo and simply fantastic harmonies, giving the chipmunk guy another moment to shine just subtly enough to remind us all that he was there without going over the top.

I keep mentioning the chipmunk guy because the group took the foundation it had so firmly established and built upon that foundation one spectacle of a tower for their finale, Muse’s “Supermassive Black Hole.” In the first two songs, The Melodores let us know the chipmunk guy was there, hinting at the unique talent they had at their disposal. In this song, they gave him plenty of space to operate with some of the most insane guitar solos you’ll hear in a cappella and an awe-inspiring solo. This is a very rough approximation, but I would sort of liken this guy’s unique tone and ability to hit the high notes to Frankie Valli. Aside from the soloist, the group offered up another exceptional visual presentation, not only incorporating a lot of movement, but making sure it all corresponded perfectly to moments in the music, and that they all sold it full-tilt. This is the difference between run of the mill collegiate a cappella choreography and deserving entries into the ICCA Finals—it’s all about conviction. Nice lift on the soloist at the end, to provide a memorable visual with which to leave the stage.

Just last year, Varsity Vocals instituted the National Wild Card round to the ICCA tournament, through which groups that placed at their semifinals but weren’t yet moving on had a second chance to advance to Finals. The Melodores put on a textbook example of why this is a sound practice, and why such groups should have an additional opportunity to move on to the big stage in New York. Though they pulled the undesirable short straw of having to open the show, The Melodores proved themselves early on as more than worthy of this show.

The second group to compete was Berklee College of Music Pitch Slapped. This mixed group was making its second consecutive appearance at the ICCA Finals, and was coming off the notoriety of having appeared on the 2010 edition of NBC’s The Sing-Off. To say that they came in with lofty expectations would be something of an understatement. The group took the stage in sharp black, white, and grey threads. They opened with Bruno Mars’s “The Other Side.” One of the things that you can’t help but love about this group is how full they sounded. Very strong female solo here, outstanding percussion. The choreography was good, though I’d argue it verged on excessive. Some might question this claim, given that I praised most of what The Melodores did for visual presentation, but the thing is, choreography needs to complement the music—in the case of The Melodores, the movement was sensational enough to bolster the whole performance; in the case of other great visual performances, the incorporation is so seamless and subtle that you don’t notice it at first, but ultimately do need to acknowledge that it enhanced your enjoyment of the performance. In this case, the movement wasn’t bad by any stretch, but also wasn’t quite good enough to entirely justify itself. That’s a lot of verbiage for a relatively minor quibble. Anyway, nice rap breakdown, and an excellent incorporation of a second soloist late in the song. Good call on trimming the instrumental bit at the end of the song, and leaving in the repetition of the “it’s better if you don’t understand” lyrics to help keep the crowd engaged. Nice fade out effect at the finish to round out a strong opener.

Pitch Slapped followed with Kelly Clarkson’s “Because of You.” Excellent bass sound in the background of this one, and I really liked the effect of the background repetition of certain lyrics. The solo here was very strong, and I liked the decision to go raw instead of overly precise, and to vary up the dynamics enough to build to some really big moments late in the song. This is a case where I think the group actually should have given her more time to sing without accompaniment—the few moments we did get were good enough to justify a few more. Most groups sound a little silly covering an artist like Clarkson, but the ladies of Pitch Slapped can definitely hold their own on the lead vocals. The leans, reaches, and rearrangements made for a nice, understated visual presentation, that fit the music nicely. Strong middle song.

Pitch Slapped closed on The Doobie Brothers’ “Takin’ It to the Streets.” They started out with the bulk of the group forming a triangular cluster at one corner of the stage, with the soloist standing on his own at the opposite side. Cool visual, though it was very reminiscent of what The SoCal VoCals brought to Finals last year. Nice build on this song, starting relatively soft, and building on both sound and attitude as the song progressed. Solid solo. The group got to moving about, and eventually settled on a wall of sound which looked great, but sounded oddly quieter than I would have expected. Nice double-clap clap-along to bring the crowd into it late in the song. All in all, this was a fantastic choice for a closing song, and the group sounded great, but I do have to say that there was a certain it factor missing from the performance. I really wanted for this to be a bit more free-wheeling—for the soloist to rip a little more, and for the group to break loose and dance in a less structured way. To me, this is what separates great from profound; what makes a live show worth checking out over a recording. Had the group cranked up the energy on this finale, I probably would have predicted them as the night’s winners at that very point. As it stood, I felt myself torn early on between the vigor, risk-taking, and power of The Melodores, versus the more technically tight sound of Pitch Slapped.

The third group up was The Buffalo Chips. For the first time since we started this blog, I have had the chance to see a group compete at every step along the way of the ICCA tournament, from their quarterfinal, to their semifinal, to the Finals. Neat to see it through, and it was good to hear The Chips earnestly up their game with every outing. The guys wore blue shirts, white ties, and black vests and slacks. They showed some good energy, running onto the stage. The Chips opened with “Grenade” by Bruno Mars. Very nice build on the intro, complete with a pounding bass sound leading into the start of the solo. The soloist sounded very smooth, but at the same time brought a keen intensity to the part that I really liked. I really liked just about everything about this performance until the guys got to the first chorus and started in on a side to side step-touch move that looked like something out of Oklahoma. This is a real shame because the driving power of the song sounded phenomenal, and facially, the guys were all showing the right level of gravity. But when they started to move like this, it’s not just that it didn’t fit the music, but that it actually looked comical, and really distracted from what should have been a high power moment for the group. On top of that, the movement at this juncture just looked painfully rehearsed. This is a tricky line to walk, because a group should undergo some hardcore preparation for a competition like this, but you want to be so well-prepared that it looks effortless. These guys looked like they were trying hard, and that’s one of those relatively intangible factors that separates sets that dominate at quarterfinals from those that rise to the top by the time they reach Finals. Fortunately, the sound remained solid throughout, culminating in a nice choral sound from the group toward the end, and fine echo effect to wrap it all up.

The guys followed up with Coldplay’s “Lovers in Japan.” Great, complex sound from the group on this song, which remains one of the coolest arrangements I’ve heard in 2011. The solo was good, but not quite as powerful, textured, or distinctive as you hope to hear from soloists performing at this level. I also didn’t appreciate the decision for him to join in with the rest of the group on various syllables when he didn’t have lyrics to sing. When your soloist is standing up front, he is his own entity—he’s like the lead singer of a band. You don’t expect for your lead singer to whip out an instrument during the instrumental part—unless he’s going to rock the holy heck out of some sort of instrumental solo. Soloists shouldn’t be joining the group in sound or background choreography unless they’re going to go so far as to recede all the way back into the rest of the group—it just looks awkward. Anyway, nice backing harmonies behind the solo later on to take the middle song home.

The Chips closed with “Breakeven” by The Script. I loved the tone on this solo and all of the theatrics that came with it, including shakes of the head and arching the mic upward to all but pray. The guy hit just the right mood on this, though I really wish he would have let loose and gotten louder on the biggest parts of the song. Good, reasonably complex sound from the group in general. Nice percussion. The visual presentation was the weakest part of this one, as again, the guys insisted on sidesteps, kicks, and bobs that added nothing and really took away from the emotional impact of the music that they were delivering so well.

All in all, I think The Chips really have grown into their role as one of the preeminent groups from the east coast. They are, for the most part, delivering tough arrangements, powerful solos, and strong musicality all around. The biggest thing I would like to see these guys do, and, indeed, the step I think they need to take if they’re going to earn placement at the Finals in years to come, is to think more about how they can build moments. One of way of doing this is dynamics, particularly on the solos. Both the first and last soloists had the chops to be worth considering for outstanding soloist honors, but neither ever arrived at the kind of moment that’s going to have people talking long after the show. Similarly, when it comes to movement, if the guys toned down the choreography and focused on just one or two big, relevant moves per song, it would go a long way to helping the viewing audience reconcile the great music they’re hearing with group of performers they’re watching on stage. This is probably the best I’ve seen The Chips, and I hope it’s just one more step in the group evolving all the more.

The fourth group to compete was The Florida State University AcaBelles. They stood tall as the only all-female group of the night. The women took the stage wearing black tops, blue jeans, and pink feather earrings. They snapped on the lead-in to Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” en route to Tevin Campbell’s “Stand Out.” The soloist started in the back of the group cluster for this one, then came out guns-ablaze, with a big, confident sound. The group soon transitioned to Tevin Campbell’s “Eye to Eye.” The choreography grew a little excessive and overly literal here, but to the group’s credit, they executed it, looked like they were having fun, and sold every move full-tilt. This part culminated in groups of two girls dancing their way through the middle of the rest of the group. It was cute and fun, if a little sloppy. I always have mixed feelings on movement like this. In front of a home crowd, there’s no question it will bring the house down. At the ICCA Finals, you run the risk of looking more like girls at a sleepover than world class performers. Moments later, the group transitioned to Shontelle’s “Impossible.” Strong solo here that built really well over the course of the song. Very nice harmonies from the group.

The group didn’t break between songs, but I will offer up a paragraph break to mark the apotheosis of this set. Following a nice duel solo to finish “Impossible,” The ‘Belles launched into Katy Perry’s “Firework.” “Firework” is one of my guilty pleasure radio favorites of this past winter, and is also, of course, one of the most oft-covered songs of this ICCA season. A lot of groups have executed this song well, but they’ve almost all fallen into exactly the same trap with the soloist (and to a lesser extent, the group behind her) trying to sing like Katy Perry. Perry’s style works for radio play, in which production effects can build the drama for you. In a cappella, though, if you start yell-singing like Perry does on the first chorus, you just don’t have anywhere left to build to as the song rolls along. The AcaBelles made all of the right decisions with this arrangement and the execution thereof, starting out soft and slow, getting bigger in the chorus, then pushing the pedal to the floor for an up-tempo, perc-driven second verse. They slowed things back down at points and used dynamics to their advantage, doing what every group should have been trying to do all along with this song, which is to build moments. For the first time this year, the “boom, boom, boom” really popped for me. A lot of the weight of this song fell on the shoulders of the soloist, who pulled it off masterfully. I would have been satisfied with this as a closer on its own merits, but then the group took a step back and mashed up “Born This Way” into “Firework” on the finish for, bar none, one of the coolest and cleverest moments in collegiate a cappella this year. The set, in general was good, but it was this finale that had me ready to say, yes, The AcaBelles are definitely a Finals level group.

The AcaBelles put forth a really unique and memorable set. The decision not to break between songs afforded them the extra time to weave in four-to-five different selections without dragging, and helped to retain the audience’s interest. Furthermore, it was a real testament to the energy of the group to go as long as they did without a real break in the music. I do worry, though, that this set construction didn’t give the crowd time to recover from each song, or really connect on an emotional level with each song that followed. Were the group to polish up the pieces of this, and find a way to give the audience a breather between songs while maintaining the flow of this set style, I think The AcaBelles could really be on to something.

Intermission time. Good luck getting into the bathroom at a SOLD OUT Alice Tully Hall.

Back from intermission, the ICHSA champions, Douglas McArthur High School PFC got a chance to perform “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus. Great song choice—it would be a little too melodramatic for a serious college group, but I think the tone is just right for a high school crew. The co-ed group wore black and white, and looked great. What can I say about this one? Scintillating solo. Wonderful harmonies from the group. Incredible tenors who powered their way through the bridge. Quite frankly, it’s borderline criminal that these young men and women are this good at their age, because this song would not have been out of place competing at the collegiate finals. Scheduling issues have kept me from attending the ICHSA Finals the last two years, but by the time this song was done, I had made up my mind to do anything I can to make the show in 2012.

The fifth group to compete was The Washington University of St. Louis Stereotypes. I first saw this all-male squad at the Midwest semifinals in 2010. This is a group that defies a lot of the stereotypes of all-male a cappella. They aren’t goofy for goofy’s sake. They aren’t the sort of juggernaut the depends on 12 minutes of fortissimo to make itself heard. What they are is a group of guys who shake any remnant of the jitters from themselves before they take the stage, and perform with a greater sense of sustained energy than any other college group singing today. For the Finals, The Stereotypes wore black collar shirts and black slacks, a variety of solid-colored ties, and white belts, for a distinctive look. They opened their set with Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out for a Hero.” The biggest story of this song was the complexity of the arrangement and the pace at which the group executed it, holding nothing back. One of the reasons this song worked so well, particularly as an opener, was that despite the quick tempo and big sound, the group nonetheless managed to build to big moments. Aurally, there was a nice range in dynamics. From a visual perspective, the choreography all felt purposeful and organic to the movement of the song—in other words, none of the staging seemed contrived, which was remarkable considering moments like the one at which the soloist ran up and leapt over a crouching groupmate. Strong solo. Strong perc. The Stereotypes didn’t have the sort of overwhelming sound as some of the other top groups of the night, but they delivered sufficiently when it came to attitude and energy to more than compensate. Excellent opener.

The Stereotypes carried on with Keen’s “Somewhere Only We Know.” Nice, clean sound on the solo for this one. This song was good musically, but just not quite as noteworthy as the song before it. That’s OK because the group and audience could both use a bit of a breather after the vigor of that opener, but at the same time, I would have liked to have heard the group go for something a little more distinctive and impactful on its middle song. Nonetheless, the group again achieved some really cool visual moments, particularly when the guys crouched, stooped and stood to form a makeshift staircase of humanity behind the soloist. The other great thing about watching this set was looking at the facial expressions of everyone on stage. Too often, background singers don’t sell the emotion of a song, but on this one, each and every one of the guys looked as pained, desperate, and ultimately invested as the soloist. Nice big crescendo to tie this one together at the end.

The Stereotypes wrapped up with “If You’re Out There” by John Legend. Very nice visual presentation again, without a ton of choreography per se, but a wealth of formations on stage that were interesting to look at and helped keep the live audience engaged. Very good percussion. This one had a relatively simple arrangement, and the group faded into the background. There was no question that this song was intended to operate as a vehicle for the soloist, and fortunately this soloist was more than up to the task. What can I say? His voice was at once rich and soulful, but simultaneously smooth. And when the song got big, boy did this guy rise to the occasion, belting his heart out and leading the charge of the soaring vocals from his groupmates. At the risk of devolving to the status of fanboy, I have to say that by the end of this song, the guys had arrived at the sort of moment that makes you proud to be an a cappella fan—proud to be a part of this community. It’s the kind of moment that transcends competition, and goes beyond song selection, choreography, and any technical discussion of musicality. The guys achieved an instant of true brilliance. Long story short, they made all the right calls on how to make an impression with their closer.

The sixth group out of the gate was Cambridge University Cadenza. The mixed group looked sharp in black professional attire. It’s always interesting to hear what a European group will bring to the table at a show like this. Although YouTube has made the aca-universe a much smaller place, there still tend to remain real differences in the way in which groups from abroad present themselves. Cadenza opened with Michael Jackson’s ”Thriller.” Cool animal sounds on the opening, but when it became apparent which song this would be, I had mixed feelings. On one hand, this song is always fun, and tends to produce some really entertaining moments. On the other hand, BYU Vocal Point more or less owned this piece in the mid-2000s. The Amherst Zumbyes appropriated it for themselves in the 2007 Finals. From there, though the song has never had the ubiquity of songs from the Lady Gaga, Imogen Heap, or Coldplay catalogs, it has become played in its own right, and you really need to do something sensational with it if you’re going to shine at the ICCA Finals. Nice smooth solo on this one. The guy hit the high notes well and had a few really funny moments on his delivery. Unfortunately, that’s just about all the song really had going for it. The group sound—though it was well in tune—just across thin and simple. The group broke out the Thriller dance toward the end for a fun little moment, but as much as anything, it just sort of underscored how uneven and uneventful the rest of the performance was. Don’t get me wrong, because this wasn’t unpleasant to watch or listen to; it just wasn’t developed enough to really fit in with the level at which other groups performed up to this point.

Cadenza followed with Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt,” sung more in the style of the Johnny Cash cover. After the relatively conventional opener, I was glad to see the group experiment with something different here. They stood in an arc, then the first soloist turned out to face out at the crowd. Then two other women joined her. Then two guys. Then they went back to three. It was a cool effect, but I just kept hoping it would build somewhere where the group, apparently, wasn’t prepared to go. There are a few key moment when the tempo of this song can build, like when the lyrics say “but I remember everything” or “I am still right here.” I’m not asking for a direct copy of the original, but an a cappella cover of a slow song generally shouldn’t be less dramatic, or less engaging than the original. Nice moment when a bass soloist stepped out and channeled Cash for a few bars, and another nice moment to follow when the group shifted around and transitioned to a full choral sound. Unfortunately, the blend was a little off on it. There were a few beautiful voices that emerged from the fray, but each individual one really stuck out. As Lauren Barreiro pointed out in a recent post over at Acalosophy, you don’t want to force great singers to fudge their tone to all sound the same, but you do need to think about what you’re going to do to make sure those independent talents complement each other so you don’t end up with a cacophonous mess. Great idea for a song here, with some cool elements of execution, but it just didn’t come together enough to work fully for me.

The group wrapped up its set with “Holding Out for a Hero” by Bonnie Tyler. It’s really unfortunate for Cadenza that The Stereotypes picked the same song, because using an explosive tempo on it as a launching point for the Stereotype set only served to underscore the slower, simpler sound of what Cadenza put into play. The good news is that Cadenza’s soloist was fantastic—a young woman with a sultry voice who hooked the audience with great tone and stage presence from the first verse. The visual presentation here reminded me a lot of “Thriller” in that Cadenza arrived at a handful of entertaining moments, but the build never really seemed to have a coherent direction. It was fun to see the guys rein in their steeds, and it was cute for one of the guys to cast off his outer layers of clothing and reveal a Superman shirt at the end, only to lift the soloist for the final bars. These are the kinds of winks to the audience that can work when you develop a consistent narrative tone in your set, or at least that song, but the humorous bits seems strangely at odds with the more serious tone the group projected otherwise.

I often have the sense that a group like Cadenza has the most to gain from performing in a competition like this. They’re a collection of talented singers who stayed in tune and showed flashes of real ingenuity. But hopefully, after facing competition at this level, they walked away with some clear ideas of how the group can still develop and reach new heights. This group has a strong foundation, and if they can get a little more bold, creative, and conscious of the meaning behind what they’re doing, I expect they’ll only get better with time.

The seventh and final competing group was Brigham Young University Vocal Point. I have to say that this was one of the sets I was most excited to see as Vocal Point was arguably the most reputable college group I had not yet heard live up to that point. The guys came out in their traditional blue shirts, yellow ties and khakis, with the additional accessory of blue fedoras. They put on the hats with styles before catapulting into a killer stereo sound for the opening bars of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.” Though this selection is far less played than “Thriller,” I would still caution most groups against performing it. First of all, what soloist is actually going to live up to Michael Jackson’s vocals? Secondly, the choreography expectations for old school Michael Jackson are just off the charts. What can I say? This group defied all of that logic with a slick solo and absolutely insane choreography. Sure, the choreography wasn’t particularly creative, but anyone who can get of nine guys to flat out execute those MJ moves so seamlessly is a real master of the form. And that’s not even mentioning the fact that the group sustained it’s killer sound throughout the performance. When I hear voices like this on a recording, I grow wary of over-production. Catching the act live, I couldn’t help but sit in awe of what these guys pulled off.

Vocal Point followed with Michael Buble’s “Meglio Stasera.” The bass sound on this one was simply awesome, and it was easy to get transfixed on that fact, rather than noticing just how much else was going on on stage to develop the remarkably complex sound of this song. Killer percussion again, and a truly fantastic solo. Perhaps the coolest moment of all for this song came when the group’s drummer got some big time back up in the form of vocal maracas and wood blocks. Holy vocal percussion, Batman! More than an a cappella performance, the layered quality and entertainment of this song made me feel as though I underwent a full-fledged a cappella experience. Excellent second song.

The group followed with a hymn called “Infant Holy, Infant Lowly.” Unreal bass sound yet again. Strong solo again, and I really liked this emotional step back, and the decision to go relatively simple on this one. The only seam that became apparent here was that the rest of the group seemed to slack off a little—they created some pretty harmonies behind the solo, but both looked and sounded less present than they had earlier in the set. Very clean cut off late in the song, followed by the entire group coming back with power, showing off their dynamic range and getting reinvested in the performance. Strong finish to a very good song that wasn’t quite up to the level of the pieces that preceded it.

“Beat It” had felt a bit clipped to me, which led me to think Vocal Point might go for four songs. Sure enough, the guys zoot suited up and launched into a barn burner of a closer with Louis Prima’s “Jump Jive an’ Wail.” The guys put some real showman ship on display here, complete with the soloist breaking off to introduce the trumpet solo, and to invite the audience to give him a hand afterwards. Cool, classy touch. A lot of really fun choreography here, beyond the relatively obvious swing moves—I think my favorite moment came when the group crouched and ascended an imaginary hill on the “Jack and Jill went up the hill” line. Awesome solo, perc, and group sound. Like the first two songs, I was simply amazed with these guys’ ability to move and still maintain such extraordinary sound. It’s the kind of act which, were people to watch it on TV, they would have to think the performers were lip-synching. Stellar, fun closer to the set which ended near-perfectly with everyone but the soloist dropping to the ground.

For the most part, I loved what Vocal Point brought to the stage. They were fun and entertaining, while remaining a real treat to listen to. In ranging from Michael Jackson to the Latin groove of the Buble song, to a hymn, to swing, the guys demonstrated a full range of abilities, which is ideal for the competition setting. I do need to point out one important knock against this performance though. True, I had only seen these guys on YouTube prior to this set, but they’ve recorded some of my favorite YouTube clips of all time (fun fact: their version of “Thriller” was featured in the very first edition of Tuesday Tubin’ on this site, back in January 2008). The thing is, when Vocal Point took the stage tonight, it was as though they were stepping right out of 2006, wearing the very same clothes, and including some very similar performance choices (the insanely choreographed Michael Jackson number, the hymn). As great as they are (and I don’t use the word great lightly), I really would have liked to have seen this group do something more original with their time on stage.

Five-man German professional group Vocaldente took the stage to entertain the audience while the judges deliberated. These guys were really excellent, singing a set that included “Faith,” “Let’s Misbehave,” “Teenage Dirtbag,” “Footloose,” and “Thank God I’m A Country Boy.” Is it just me or did the guy on the left side look exactly like Draco Malfoy? Anyway, fantastic set from these guys.

In my estimation, this was one of the most closely-contested competitions I’ve seen—let alone at The Finals level. Ultimately, I found myself trying to choose my winner out of a selection of four groups. In The Melodores, we saw originality, raw talent, and unparalleled bravado. Despite going first, who could forget their rap skills, their dancing, the visuals leading into “Strange Fruit,” or the sheer havoc wrought by the chipmunk guy? Then you have Pitch Slapped—powerful, engaging, and above all, probably the most consistently musically sound group of the night. Then there are The Stereotypes, who, based on sheer effort alone seemed like the group that just wanted to win this competition the most, and executed the sox off an insane arrangement of “Holding Out for a Hero” before arriving at the musical moment of the night on “If You’re Out There.” And then you have Vocal Point, the ICCA Finals elder statesmen who combined musicality with energy and showmanship for a darn near professional quality set.

So who wins? In the end, I had to go with Vocal Point, the group that brought together the most elements of a championship set, and struck the most comprehensive balance between musicality and entertainment. I had The Melodores second for centering on originality, power, and spirit. From there I had Pitch Slapped and The Stereotypes in a dead heat for third—a pair of groups that performed amazingly well—Pitch Slapped nailing most every note, The Stereotypes commandeering my ears, creating audio-visual spectacles at every turn. This is a rare case when I was happy not to be a judge, because I didn’t have to make a decision. I put them down for a tie at third.

In reality, Pitch Slapped walked away with top honors. Though I didn’t agree with this call, I also can’t really argue against it—they were probably the best pure musicians, and top of that, the structure of ICCA Finals scoring (the cumulative effect of objective and subjective scores, dropping high and low scores, etc.) makes it a numbers game that can be tough to predict, especially when the groups were as competitive as they were tonight. Pitch Slapped closed out the night by singing The Beatles’ “Got To Get You Into My Life.”

In the end this was a truly fantastic night of a cappella. My congratulations go out to each and every one of the night’s competitors, and also to the entire Varsity Vocals production team for putting together what was quite possible the greatest year of scholastic a cappella competition to date. Furthermore, some thanks and nice-to-meet-yous to all of the ACB readers and other members of the a cappella community we got to see this weekend. For anyone reading this who has never made it to an ICCA Finals show before, I wholeheartedly recommend you check it out in the years to come—this is a show you don’t want to miss.

ACB Picks for the Night

Overall Placement:
1. Vocal Point
2. The Melodores
3. TIE: Pitch Slapped and The Stereotypes

Best Soloist: The Stereotypes for “If You’re Out There”
Honorable Mention: Vocal Point for “Meglio Stasera,” The Melodores for “Super Massive Blackhole,” and Pitch Slapped for “Because of You”

Best Vocal Percussion: Vocal Point for “Meglio Stasera”
Honorable Mention: The Stereotypes for “If You’re Out There” and The Buffalo Chips for the full set

Best Choreography: Vocal Point for the full set
Honorable Mention: The Melodores for “How Low” and The Stereotypes for “Holding Out for a Hero”

Best Arrangement: The Stereotypes for “Holding Out for a Hero”
Honorable Mention:The AcaBelles for “Firework”

ICCA Official Results

Overall Placement:
1. Pitch Slapped
2. Vocal Point
3. The Melodores

Outstanding Soloist: Vocal Point for “Meglio Stasera”

Outstanding Vocal Percussion: Vocal Point

Outstanding Choreography: The Melodores

Outstanding Arrangement: The Stereotypes for "Holding Out for a Hero"