Had the fire marshals been at Acapocalypse, the acapella concert hosted by the Mental Notes on Saturday Feb. 12, they might have had a small fit.
The Schafler Auditorium in Bloomberg was jam-packed, with the audience filling every single seat, sitting in the aisles, and even standing on tip-toes in the back.
All this helped to generate the mood of excitement and anticipation felt before the concert had even started. And the reason for this excitement? The King’s Men were coming!
All the King’s Men, that is; the all-male acapella choir from King’s College in London on their 2011 USA tour were the main event at this concert, and despite the fact that they definitely said “John Hopkins” at first (don’t worry, the audience immediately set them right), they lived up to the obvious anticipation surrounding their arrival.
The night started off with the Mental Notes doing what they do best: cracking jokes and making light-hearted jabs.
This time, their jokes were aimed, obviously, at the British. They mocked everything stereotypical about Britain, from their accents to their notoriously awful dental care to the difference between teatime and dinner.
After they had their fun, they introduced the first three Hopkins acapella groups who were to perform that night: the Vocal Chords, the Octopodes and the AllNighters.
They performed a variety of songs, from Pink’s “Misery” to The Script’s “Break Even.”
The audience especially lauded the Octopodes; their rendition of “Break Even” got applause and cheers in the middle of the song.
For the most part, their harmonies blended together well, although sometimes the harmony overpowered the melodic line, making it a bit difficult to hear the melody over all the background in the quiet parts of the piece.
Then, the hosts of the evening, the Mental Notes, performed two pieces: “Holding Out for a Hero” by Bonnie Tyler and the song for wich they are famous on campus, “Enormous Penis.”
They got a lot of laughs especially in their second song, when, other than just the hilarity of the lyrics themselves, the choir moved into an actual shape of a penis.
Although the Mental Notes have performed this song in shows in the past, it never gets old.
They perform it so well, and sing about the topic so casually, as if anyone could go around singing it nonchalantly as he walked down the street.
After their two songs came the main event of the evening: All the Kings Men.
They began, as mentioned, by calling the school “John Hopkins,” as well as mentioning the American fascination with British accents (which . . . is probably true), but the evening quickly shaped up as they began their first song, “I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’.”
Not only were they singers, but also dancers, and they infected the audience with their energy as they bounced around on the stage.
Right after this song by the Scissor Sisters, they proved that they could do soft and crooning as well as loud and fun.
They performed “I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith. This was one of the best performances of the evening.
It was gentle and passionate, and contrasted with all the other more upbeat pieces that had been done that evening — an unexpected tender moment in the course of the performance.
Everyone knew the next song they performed — “Play that Funky Music” by Wild Cherry. This song got one of the loudest cheers of the entire evening, because the soloist performing this song was so good and so suave that he got the audience to clap along with the rhythm of the song.
Unfortunately, that made it a bit hard to hear the melody at times, but this song is so well-known that the audience didn’t seem to be thrown by the lack of audible music.
The next set of songs — a medley — was introduced as a group of five British singers to whom the speaker listened every evening when he was young.
The audience was thrown for a loop, trying to figure out which British group had five singers. They cheered when the familiar notes of the Spice Girls echoed through the auditorium.
A medley of four or five famous pieces by the Spice Girls were performed, one segueing smoothly into the next.
Although these were guys singing songs meant for girls, little difference was heard because they were so obviously practiced that the switch in key was the last thing on everyone’s mind. Their second to last song was a tribute to America; they sang a medley of American songs from “American Life” by Madonna to “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor.
At the end of this medley, they sang a few seconds where the refrains of all the songs were sung together, creating a giant mash-up of American songs and a grand finale.
The audience gave All the King’s Men a standing ovation after this song, thinking that it would be the end of the concert. This British acapella group, however, surprised everyone by doing one last song – “Let’s Get it On” by Marvin Gaye, to more cheers and applause.
Overall, they were very well received by everyone in the audience as evidenced by the crowds at the event and the volume of the cheers.
For more acapella singing, the ICCA South Quarterfinals, the regional acapella competition, takes place next weekend in the Shriver auditorium; come out to support the Vocal Chords, the Octopodes, and the AllNighters.
The Mental Notes will be performing comic acts in between sets. This event is $10 for Hopkins students and begins at 8 p.m.
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