Acappellapalooza

With all of the a cappella groups on campus, it might be hard to keep them straight. Thank goodness they put on an annual spring concert featuring all of the groups so you can get a preview of each group in one convenient location.

This year’s Acappellapalooza was held on Saturday, March 15th in the Villanova Room. The room was packed, all seats were taken, and there was barely enough room to stand in the back—Villanova is serious about their a cappella groups! The seats were filled with family and friends of the singers. I stood in the back next to a devoted a cappella fan and a tipsy Irishwoman who constantly shouted praise to her friends singing on stage.

First up, the seniors from all of the groups came together to sing one of my all-time favorite songs, “Snakes on a Plane” by Cobra Starship. A certain DJ refuses to play that song for me when I request it, but the seniors know what’s hot!

After adjusting some issues with the mics and the lights, the Haveners took the stage with “crushcrushcrush” by Paramore, “Love Song” by Sara Bareilles, and a medley of Disney songs.

Next, the Villanova Spires stole the show with their matching Nova jumpsuits and aviators. This all male group covered “What I’ve Done” by Linkin Park, “Every Other Time” by LFO, and “Low” by FloRida. During their last song, a few parents appeared a bit nervous when the Spires began stripping their jumpsuits and were joined by members of the Villanova Dance Team, but everyone loved the Spires’ take on the song. The boys even changed some words to give shout outs to Jay Wright, the Oreo, and said “had but one desire, to get with every Spire.”

The Sirens had a tough act to follow, but they delivered a fun performance as well. They started out with Fall Out Boy’s “Sophomore Slump” and Sugarland’s “Baby Girl. For their last piece, several of the girls put on blonde wigs for Hannah Montana’s “See You Again.”

Acappellapalooza is such a big show that they even have half-time entertainment which consisted of beatboxing exercises featuring participants from each group.

Vocal Minority was up next, the second all male group of the night. This group interacted with the crowd very well, and covered songs like, “Feel It (In the Air Tonight)” by Naturally Seven, “You and I Both” by Jason Mraz, and “Running Away” by Hoobastank. The gentlemen had a small delay with getting started for their last song, but they turned it around and sounded great!

The last all female group, Nothing But Treble, was up next. This group’s performance had special meaning because the founding members of the group will be graduating this year. They covered some great songs—“Amsterdam” by Guster, “Beat It!” by Michael Jackson, and “Somebody to Love” by Queen.

The final group to perform was the Supernovas, the only co-ed a cappella group at Villanova. They covered a classic song, “Eleanor Rigby” by The Beatles, and two newer songs, “Wine Red” by The Hush Sound and “Thanks for the Memories” by Fall Out Boy. This group gave a great performance and entertained the crowd by adding humor to their songs.

The night concluded with another song from the seniors, “Dig” by Incubus and many hugs to celebrate a great, end of the year performance. Senior concert-goer, Jenny Murphy-Lubowicz said, “I loved the Spires' jumpsuits. When they perform, they always come up with something crazy & entertaining!” Senior Supernova, Pam Natale remarked, “Each group prepared and worked hard for this performance, and it definitely showed. This was hands down the best show we've had since I've been at nova!”

If you missed acappellapalooza this year, you must make sure to catch it next year. It is definitely a fun, change of pace to the typical weekend at Nova. You can also catch the groups singing a couple of times before the end of the year. My advice for next year’s Acappellapalooza: set up more chairs for the huge crowd, think about hiring tech crew to pump up the volume, don’t have it on St. Patrick’s Day Weekend, and sing more songs!


-Abbey