Maccabeats bust it out at Shriver

On Friday, March 11, single Jewish girls and their mothers went crazy in the Baltimore and Hopkins community when a group of singing Jewish boys came to campus to perform. Yes, that’s right, the a capella heartthrobs, The Maccabeats, were here.

The all-male Yeshiva University singing sensation filed into the somewhat empty Shriver Hall after a Hopkins Hillel-sponsored dinner, which was comprised of a fair share of Manischevitz grape juice, egg challah and kibitzing, to listen to their two opening acts, Ketzev and The Vocal Chords.

Ketzev, a Hopkins A Cappella group that sings Jewish, Israeli and American songs, delivered a somewhat deadened performance, but gained some steam during their rendition of the Three Doors Down song “Kryptonite.”

The Vocal Chords, another Hopkins group, were livelier, but their heavy-handed beatboxer was disconcertingly loud in their cover of Marc Broussard’s, “The Wanderer.”

Finally, The Maccabeats came on stage, or at least, six of them did. The eight other members were not able to attend the Hopkins show, which sadly made for a less full sound.

The group opened with a rendition of “Al Hanissim,” a prayer — they later explained — read during two Jewish holidays, Purim and Hanukkah.

After their introductory ballad and hearty applause, one of the lead vocalists explained the absence of electronic equipment on stage.

“Because it’s Shabbat, you’ll notice we’re not using pitch pipes, and we’re also not using mics,” he said. “So, if we’re out of tune or bad, it’s okay because you won’t hear us.”

In the midst of some laughter, one girl in the audience nearly swooned.

“Lecha Dodi” was the next song on the set list, sung to the tune of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.”

It was poppier than the original, but maintained all the sweet sadness Cohen instilled in the tune he released in 1984.

After their performance, the Maccabeats explained, “This is what we’re all about: the synthesis of the old and the traditional.”

The group introduced the next song by saying, “We try not to do stuff that is boring. If a song is used in Glee, then it’s not so boring, so you can use it.”

They then proceeded to sing Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing,” which was, quite frankly, rather boring.

Aside from a comical stint in which the beatboxer got on his knees to sing the guitar solo, not much was added to the song, which at this point has been covered far too many times.

Even a cappella audiences, who look for recognizable pop songs, would cringe at another

cover of the hair metal group’s one-hit wonder.

After artfully singing Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida,” the group talked about the best part of being in The Maccabeats: “Travel . . . going to LA, Atlanta, Cleveland, South Africa, London. But also places like this. I mean, The Social Network was filmed here!”

After some whoots and whistles from the audience, they continued, “but the coolest place we went was Israel, performing in Jerusalem.”

They then proceeded to sing their homage to their homeland, a song called “Come Back.” Imbued with lyrics about Zionism, the Klezmer-sounding song had a powerful message and a sweet melody.

The Maccabeats’s two last songs were their biggest hits: “One Day,” a Matisyahu cover, and the song that put them on the map as YouTube superstars, “Candelight,” a parody of Tai Cruz’s “Dynamite.”

Both performances were excellent, and “One Day” even rivaled the command and dynamism of Matisyahu, a tough feat in itself.

As they proceeded to leave the stage, The Maccabeats advertised their latest song and YouTube video, “The Purim Song,” based on Pink’s “Raise Your Glass.”

But the Shriver audience wouldn’t let them exit without a performance of the song, which the Maccabeats reluctantly agreed to do after mentioning that it would be their first time singing the tune in front of a live audience.

The song was both funny and grounded in religious text with lyrics like, “Get your costumes on . . . Drown out Haman.”

Overall, the small audience that did attend The Maccabeats had an enormously fun time. Renee Kraiem, a freshman, said after the performance, “They were awesome!”

This seemed to be the general reaction amongst the female crowd. Emily Faxon, a sophomore, remarked, “They were really good. I really liked the guy in the yarmulke.”

The Maccabeats were all wearing yarmulkes, so that’s got to be a good thing.