After Hours, one of the two co-ed acappella groups on campus, performed its fall show this past Friday. Themed around the year 3000, the group came for its first half dressed in futuristic attire and opened with the Jonas Brothers’ song, “The Year 3000.” This combo captivated the audience from the very beginning and brought everyone on board for a futuristic night of fun and falsettos.
I thought some songs were better than others. In saying this, I did have quite a few favorites. “Bottom of the River” and “Omen” were tied as my favorites. I listen to a decent amount of acapella and I wanted to capture these performances so I could listen to them over and over afterwards. “Bottom of the River,” originally by Delta Ray, blew me away. Each girl of the group took a little solo and killed it. Each part was basically designed for the specific singer who took it and I actually got goosebumps. Even the formation the group assumed for the song, gals in front and guys in a line in the back, felt really powerful to me and I couldn’t stop smiling. As for “Omen,” when viewing the program I wasn’t entirely sure of the song or what to expect, but as it began I recognized it and my jaw dropped. The soloist, senior Joshua Pachter, completely took the song to a new level to the point where I really would have been okay if the show ended there.
Though I thought those were two of the best, I thought that “Weight in Gold” and “That’s What I Like,” both soloed by junior Aslan Bakri, were a blast to watch. The choreography was creative and exciting and offered a whole alternate layer to each of the performances. “Sorry Not Sorry” was a huge feat to take and Maddy Gartenberg did a fantastic job at tackling it head on. Both newbie solo songs were amazing to listen to and definitely offer insight into the talent they had taken into their After Hours family. I especially loved freshmen Erin Toohey and Grace Conheady as a pair; their harmonized, blended voices fit well together, taking the song higher up on the list of my more favored performances. Lastly, their performance of “Stay” was extremely refreshing. To hear it sung with male voices and senior Abigail Garcia, whose voice fit the song well, created a whole new version of the song.
Indulgence Dance Crew was a phenomenal guest during this song filled show. The music choices were enthralling, the choreography absolutely kickass, and each and every person in the group left everything on stage and I was not expecting to be a in love with it as I was. Afterward all I could think was, “That’s it? Do they have their own show? I’d be 100 percent down with going to their show,” which to me was a great thing to get out of their short snippet.
