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Acapocalypse – An A Cappella Competition

The world is ending. The apocalypse is fast-approaching. Society is crescendoing to new heights of distress. What do you do? Well, one of PLNU’s a cappella groups would say sing.

Pointless, an all-male a cappella group from PLNU, held their 7th annual concert on Oct. 29 at 6 p.m. in Crill Hall. The title of the concert was “Acapocalypse.” Six a cappella teams performed that evening, including Key of Sea, the PLNU’s women’s a cappella group, as well as groups from SDSU, including Daughters of Triton, Preposterone, co-ed a cappella group Sound Wave and female a cappella group Sirens of State.

A lively and enthusiastic audience of about 200 people attended Acapocalypse. Admission was five dollars at the door, and Pointless donated all proceeds to the Key of Sea in recognition of their fifth anniversary as an official a cappella group.

The show began with a prayer, then Pointless sang the national anthem. Each group took the stage with valor and confidence. Some of the groups took a light-hearted and goofy approach to their performance by singing and dancing to Disney songs and scooting around on Heelys onstage. Others chose to sing songs with a slower beat and meaningful lyrics that emotionally moved the audience.

Between each group, the masters of the ceremony entertained the crowd with interesting facts about the next a cappella group set to perform and told endearing jokes the kept the audience in a light-hearted mood.

A show like this takes many hours of behind-the-scenes work and dedication in order to ensure everything is finely tuned for the day of the performance.

“It takes a lot of prep time and coordination about what groups can come, sound check times and reserving enough rooms for each group,” said President of Pointless Billy Hoffman. “Just your average behind the scenes work. Hours of rehearsals and lots of time spent writing out a script… things along those lines.”

There was a post-intermission beatboxing contest where each a cappella group had one representative who had twenty seconds to beatbox. The audience voted for their favorite beatboxer by giving a loud applause. The contestants were then narrowed down to the final three and had 45 seconds to prove their vocal drumming skills. The winner received an “official” Pointless necktie. The end of the world didn’t look so bad that night sitting among a lively, singing crowd in the seats of Crill Hall.

Pointless will be holding another a cappella concert in the spring of 2018. You can follow them on Instagram @pointlessacappella and Key of Sea @keyofsea_acappella.

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Corinne Hauck

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