On April 28, Acappology hosted their spring concert, Feelin’ Blue, in Stewart Theatre with guest group, Ladies in Red. Acappology is a student-run, co-ed a cappella group at NC State that was established in 1994.
The concert began with a video of the group doing their photo shoot for this concert season. The group came out in denim to fit their theme of “Feelin’ Blue.” After their first song, the group members began to introduce themselves by saying their names, majors, how long they’ve been in the group and how they “break the blues.” The group members listed ways that they keep from getting down, such as hanging out with their friends, eating and shopping.
Acappology stuck to a couple of their staples, including “Dime” and “Too Good at Goodbyes.” Eli Whitley, a second-year studying communication media and co-president of the group, said that “Too Good at Goodbyes” was bittersweet for him considering it will be his last time performing it.
“This is my first time singing two solos,” Whitley said. “[One of them] was ‘Too Good at Goodbyes,’ and that’s the last time that I’ll be performing it because I’ve been performing it since first semester freshman year. It’s time to give it a rest, but I had to let it ride one more time.”
Whitley’s other solo, “Japanese Denim,” was one of the featured new songs as well as “When the Party’s Over” and “Done for Me.” Anna James, a second-year studying communication, was in the audience and said she was excited for these new songs.
“I think the show was amazing,” James said. “They added a bunch of new songs that I had never heard before, and it was stunning. When Meagan [McNairy, a third-year studying business administration] sang ‘When the Party’s Over,’ that was new, that was awesome.”
Acappology then introduced their guest group, Ladies in Red, a student-run, all-female a cappella group at NC State. The group performed “Might Not Like Me” and “Fall in Line.” “Fall in Line” seems to be a favorite of this concert season, with Grains of Time’s guest group the Seabelles, Wolfgang A Cappella, and now Ladies and Red all performing this song.
The guest performance provided the transition to an intermission, where audience members had the chance to purchase raffle tickets for a T-shirt, a five-CD bundle or a chance to get a group member of their choice to perform their audition song.
After the intermission, two members were chosen to perform their audition songs. Austin Heyward, a first-year studying engineering, performed “Die a Happy Man,” and Will Skinner, a third-year studying marine science, performed “Yesterday.” Skinner said he wasn’t shocked to be picked to perform.
“I knew that I was going to get picked,” Skinner said. “My parents told me they were buying like 20 tickets, and I made peace with it and I was prepared.”
The group then presented the outgoing seniors with their senior superlatives. Margaret Mazgola, a fourth-year studying accounting and music director for the group, received the superlative “most likely to kill someone with their voice,” while Jacob Shoemaker, a fourth-year studying criminology and secretary for the group, received “walking piece of art.” Co-president and choreographer Erica Cullison, a second-year studying human biology and biochemistry, said that she will be sad to see the two go.
“It felt good, in a way, but it’s bittersweet,” Cullison said. “They have shaped how much Acappology has grown as a group, so to see them go, it’s going to be really weird not having them there.”
The group finished their performance with their alumni song, “Something to Talk About,” which is performed at every concert. They invited past members of the group up from the audience to join them. Five alumni joined the group to perform the song.
Overall, the group felt that the performance went well, with Cullison noting that she enjoyed performing.
“We obviously made mistakes, but it went better than I expected,” Cullison said. “I really liked the energy that we had, especially toward the second half. It was really fun getting to sing and perform, because that’s one of my favorite things to do.”
Editor’s note: Technician’s managing editor is a member of Acappology
Courtesy of Robert Davezac
