The Colby Echo

Issue date: 10/19/07 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Media Credit: Rob Kievit The Blue Lights heating up the Opera House at last week's concert.

The torrential downpours and hours of driving that faced many parents and alumni as they returned to the hill on Friday, Oct. 12 for Family Homecoming Weekend may have dampened some spirits. Perhaps tensions were high due to stressful driving conditions, bad traffic or, in the case of a certain staff writer's parents, lost directions and flight itineraries. How fortunate, then, that the soothing sounds of Colby's six a cappella groups could be heard not once, but twice that evening at the Waterville Opera House in downtown Waterville. As usual, both the 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. shows were nearly full to capacity as a cappella fans and their families filled the Opera House.

At the 6 p.m. show, Colby's self-proclaimed oldest a cappella group, the Colby 8, began the evening with an upbeat number that introduced the voice talents of some of the group's new underclassmen and followed that with a medley of Beatles songs. "It was really impressive," commented one of the parents in the audience. "Beatles songs are notoriously hard to harmonize." As the first performers of the night, the Colby 8's ten members had warmed up the crowd and after their two songs, cleared the stage for Colby's three all-female groups, beginning with the Colbyettes.

Featuring some more recognizable songs, the Colbyettes serenaded the audience with their rendition of the Red Hot Chili Pepper's "Fortune Faded" followed by Tracy Chapman's "Change," sung by Maya Klauber '08.

Next in the string of female vocalists was the group EVE (Ethnic Vocal Ensemble), which had seemingly doubled in size since its performance at the first-year a cappella sampler in the chapel. With all of the new voices, EVE seemed to be a stronger presence during this performance than it has at performances in the past and it will be interesting to see how this group, which has remained fairly small for the last few semesters, will evolve with the new membership.

Rounding out the lineup of female groups were the Sirens. "I thought the Sirens were probably the best group vocally," commented one student in attendance. "And the costumes were really funny." True to form, the Sirens entered the stage in completely ridiculous outfits and even went so far as to make a costume change after their first song, "More Than Words," to include various blue accessories to better reflect their second song, "Blues Round." While the audience certainly enjoyed, which certainly showed off the creativity of this particular group, such over-the-top outfits may have in fact taken some of the attention away from the singers who put on some of the best performances of the night.

The performance wrapped up with the Megalomaniacs, featuring the solo talents of Kelsey Gibbs '10 and Melyn Heckelman '08, and the Blue Lights, who closed with a unique rendition of "End of the Road." With uncharacteristic punctuality for a Colby performance, the event wrapped up right on time, allowing the attendees to spill out into the rain to determine which downtown restaurant had the shortest wait for a dinner table.

A cappella seems to be a style of performance closely tied with New England colleges, as is certainly the case at Colby. This traditional event has always been popular and will be in the future as well. What changes are the groups themselves and with the addition of new first-years' voices, this performance shows that the future a cappella events this year should not be missed.

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