And here we are at the end of the run. The previouslies remind us that All-Night Yahtzee (ANY), No Comment (NoCo), and Nor'Easters all are in the Wild Card round. And that the Nor'Easters lost long tome member Kevin.
In Florida, Andie talks with ANY about working on their Wild Card submission. While she explains to the camera that the wild card teams will each submit a video and the judges will choose first place, who will get to go to the ICCA finals in New York
A chyron pops up and because you know I love a chance to play a cappella group name bingo here are the other teams. In addition to the three we are following on the show, we have: State of Fifths, Vocal Point, Fundamentally Sound, The Beltones, The Charliechords, Semi-toned, Scattertones, Ten40 Acappella, Off the Beat, and The Accidentals.
Brian tells the group they have a few days to perfect and record their submission. Michael says getting to finals will validate their hard work. Andie says they have to work out their schedules and arrange a space and audio equipment.
In Boston, what looks like five of the Nor'Easters have gathered to discuss if they should go forward. Jessie says (and it's not entirely clear to me if she has a preference or is simply trying to present the option fairly) that they are emotionally drained and they could take a break to regroup. Sarah says it would be giving up. Sam feels that Kevin would have wanted them to do it. So, they vote to go forward in the wild card.
In Illinois, Micah is concerned that the classroom NoCo is using is too small and has terrible acoustics. As a note, all the groups are using a stationary camera, so yes, taking staging designed for a full stage to work in front of a stationary camera, is a challenge. I do not see anyone with a mike, so it looks like NoCo is just using the mike on the camera and hoping for the best. Lizzie tells us she will "literally cry" if they don't make it to finals.
In Boston, the Nor'Easters are filming in an auditorium, with a few members using mikes, and alumnus Ty running the camera and getting them rev'd up before they start. They decide to just run through the set and see what happens. Ty begins crying as they perform "Elastic Heart". As they finish they are all super emotional.
In Florida, ANY is down to the last day since getting all the stuff and people together took time (and, I imagine, since they've had less time than the other groups since their final) and the submission is now due in two hours. They are in what looks to be the same room they've been using for rehearsal, many of them using phones for mikes, although a few key members have mikes, and they have a mike set up near the recording equipment too. So, they run through one take and all feel it was okay. They go a second time and feel it was so much better…Except when Michael checks the audio file, it didn't record. They are now under an hour until it's due and no one feels comfortable trying again, they just want to get it in. Dani is bummed that instead of sending the best of several videos, they are stuck with the one they have. Andie says, it is what it is.
In Boston, Isaac reminds us the first place goes to the finals. Going to finals would be the "gold-plated cherry on top of a cake" but he also says, sometimes you don't need the extra calories. (I think that means it would be awesome.)
All three groups are gathered together, laptops out, to find out who won. Results go up at ten. (And I can only imagine some poor ICCA web person knows that if it goes up at 10:02 there will be mayhem. I also hoped they upped their server for this moment when all ten teams refresh all their devices at once.)
Micah from NoCo reminds us she is a senior. There are lots of nerves, refreshing, countdowns, and even one last "dice or die" cheer from ANY.
And we come back from commercial to see ANY refresh and all stare at the same laptop in silence. Michael says, wow, they (clearly not ANY from the relative silence) won by a lot. (According to the ICCA site, by the way, a lot is 67 points more than second place.)
NoCo has apparently designated one laptop person who sits on the desk in front and reads aloud the results. In third, Off the Beat. In second, Vocal Point. And in first, Nor'Easters.
Cut to Boston where there is screaming and cheering. Sam says this is the first time that the Nor'Easters have won the wild card. (Mind you, as will come up later, they have won ICCA's before, so…) Isaac says they will do this not only for but with Kevin.
In Florida, our last shot of ANY, they collectively agree that the Nor'Easters worked hard. Michael is still proud that they were top three for their region. Andie had so much fun.
In Illinois, our last shot of NoCo, Micah feels that this is bittersweet. Jessica says to the group that their ICCA run is over.
Back in Boston, the Nor'Easters, despite their group size had only two baritones, Kevin and Figgy, so now they are running through things with alumnus Shams because well, there's an obvious hole in their sound until they figure out who's going to fill in some of these spaces. I'm just going to make a blanket statement, that everyone is still very emotional, and the loss of Kevin clearly still looms large. Ty runs them through the choreo, cracking them up as he mentions (and this is where my lack of dancing terminology will become clear) that two of them are doing a bouncy lungey movement and making it look less dancey and more like they need to take a dump.
Jessie tells us they are party bussing it to New York to the Beacon Theater where ICCA finals are being held. Isaac is ready to tear the roof off of the theater. Two years ago, Isaac was in the audience watching ICCA finals, and he saw the Nor'Easters perform and decided he was going to transfer schools and become a Nor'Easter. And now he is, and he's their music director. He tells us ICCA finals have no cash prize, no recording contract, just an "amazing trophy" and knowing that you are the best of the best.
They introduce the groups and Isaac, Sam, and Jessie, give us some snippets about some of them. There are only eight groups in the finals, but still, get those a cappella bingo cards ready.
The University of Michigan G-Men (who are the Great Lakes winner). Jessie explains that they are an all male group and have a very masculine sound.
The University of Chicago Voices in Your Head (who we saw a bit of in the Midwest semifinals). Sam tells us their soloist is amazing and keeps winning soloist awards.
The Northeast champions the Vassar Devils. Isaac calls them the sleepers of the ICCAs given the Nor'Easters beat them at quarterfinals, but then lost to them at semifinals.
And bringing the I to the ICCAs are the King's College of London All the King's Men. Jessie explains they are the UK champs and are a little buttoned up. (Personal note, from my alma mater, came in third in the international division, go Accidentals!)
From University of Southern California, and familiar to "The Sing-Off" fans, the West champions, the SoCal VoCals. Isaac says they are the team to beat, since every time they are in the finals, they win. (Wikipedia does agree that they have an impressive win streak, having won three times, being one of two groups to win multiple times, and being the first team to win from the wild card round in 2012. )
Later we will also see snippets from the Mid-Atlantic champs University of Maryland (yay, local to me!) Faux Paz and South champs Baylor University's VirtuOSO. And of course, our wild card champs' the Nor'Easters.
Sam goes up this time to pick the order of performance and she picks eighth. Isaac says it means they are the last thing the judges see, but also means the judges will be able to compare them to all the other performances. Sam swears Kevin was there helping her pick the best number.
Courtney Jenson is our emcee for the night and introduces the judges, who Isaac tells us includes recording artists, a cappella people, music producers, and a Grammy winner. The judges are Ed Boyer, Lisa Forkish, Julia Hoffman, Bill Hare, and Abby James.
Isaac reminds us they are being judged on both their vocal and their visual performance.
This time the clips we see of the competitors are a little longer, although we only see pieces of one song, so it's still hard to have a sense of the whole performance, to say nothing of how it feels to be in the auditorium. Overall, all the groups seem very polished and no one that we see makes any obvious errors.
The G-Men sing "Fitzpleasure". Sam proclaims it the weirdest, coolest, most alien/martian sounding thing.
The SoCal VoCals sing "Bang Bang" which Jessie says is a standout arrangement. (I perhaps may be a little Bang Bang'd out. Though it seemed an energetic and clean performance.)
Voices in Your Head sing "Bang My Head". Sam tells us their soloist has amazing range.
The Vassar Devils sing "Time Machine" and this may just be my interest in this song, but it really seems a very fun rendition.
The University of Maryland Faux Paz sing "Came Into My Head" which seems fine but on my TV seems a little less something than some of the others. (Sorry guys, the you're still Mid-Atlantic Champions!)
VirtuOSO performs "Uptown Funk" which seems very clean.
All The King's Men does "Proud Mary" and well, it sounds suspiciously like what you might imagine when a bunch of buttoned up British men sing "Proud Mary", which is to say, it's good, but not really tearing off the roof.
Backstage, the Nor'Easters are getting ready to go on. Isaac says they will sing the music they put together with Kevin. Johanna gets a little teary as she says that Isaac watched them on this stage and now he has led them back to it. They begin chanting, "Hashtag fun!"
Emcee Courtney introduces them, mentioning that the Nor'Easters recently lost a member and they have saved a space on stage for him and would also like to dedicate tonight's performance to him.
Right as they get on stage, Jessie shakes out her hand.
We see them sing "You're Nobody Til Somebody Loves You" (YNTSLY) to the judges bopping their heads. Isaac and Sam both have solos, and Johanna is killing it with her solo in "Elastic Heart". We do not see the third song, but the two we do is more than we see of any other group, so it's not really a fair comparison, but the Nor'Easters performance it certainly is full of heart and energy. Everyone is emotional backstage. Amanda declares that she has "literally no feelings" because she just left them all on stage.
All the groups are back on the stage to see a special video from John Legend, who as you may know is a producer of "Sing It On". He tells them he was a member of the UPenn Counterparts and that no matter the results, the skills and friendships they've made will lift them up for the rest of their lives.
Isaac says that it shows, "with singing the sky's the limit".
The results are in. In third, G-Men. Isaac says he thought they would win. In second, Voices in Your Head. Sam feels they did better than Voices. And in first, SoCal VoCals. (Oh yeah, that Wikipedia entry tells me this is the first time a group has won ICCA's four times, so major congrats.)
Isaac says they were so close. Jessie says it is bittersweet, but she is relieved and proud. Isaac says this year could have broken them, but is has made them stronger.
The groups all sing "Sing a Song" together on stage as the credits roll.
And that's a wrap. That was fun, and I hope there are plans to do something like that again.
In Florida, Andie talks with ANY about working on their Wild Card submission. While she explains to the camera that the wild card teams will each submit a video and the judges will choose first place, who will get to go to the ICCA finals in New York
A chyron pops up and because you know I love a chance to play a cappella group name bingo here are the other teams. In addition to the three we are following on the show, we have: State of Fifths, Vocal Point, Fundamentally Sound, The Beltones, The Charliechords, Semi-toned, Scattertones, Ten40 Acappella, Off the Beat, and The Accidentals.
Brian tells the group they have a few days to perfect and record their submission. Michael says getting to finals will validate their hard work. Andie says they have to work out their schedules and arrange a space and audio equipment.
In Boston, what looks like five of the Nor'Easters have gathered to discuss if they should go forward. Jessie says (and it's not entirely clear to me if she has a preference or is simply trying to present the option fairly) that they are emotionally drained and they could take a break to regroup. Sarah says it would be giving up. Sam feels that Kevin would have wanted them to do it. So, they vote to go forward in the wild card.
In Illinois, Micah is concerned that the classroom NoCo is using is too small and has terrible acoustics. As a note, all the groups are using a stationary camera, so yes, taking staging designed for a full stage to work in front of a stationary camera, is a challenge. I do not see anyone with a mike, so it looks like NoCo is just using the mike on the camera and hoping for the best. Lizzie tells us she will "literally cry" if they don't make it to finals.
In Boston, the Nor'Easters are filming in an auditorium, with a few members using mikes, and alumnus Ty running the camera and getting them rev'd up before they start. They decide to just run through the set and see what happens. Ty begins crying as they perform "Elastic Heart". As they finish they are all super emotional.
In Florida, ANY is down to the last day since getting all the stuff and people together took time (and, I imagine, since they've had less time than the other groups since their final) and the submission is now due in two hours. They are in what looks to be the same room they've been using for rehearsal, many of them using phones for mikes, although a few key members have mikes, and they have a mike set up near the recording equipment too. So, they run through one take and all feel it was okay. They go a second time and feel it was so much better…Except when Michael checks the audio file, it didn't record. They are now under an hour until it's due and no one feels comfortable trying again, they just want to get it in. Dani is bummed that instead of sending the best of several videos, they are stuck with the one they have. Andie says, it is what it is.
In Boston, Isaac reminds us the first place goes to the finals. Going to finals would be the "gold-plated cherry on top of a cake" but he also says, sometimes you don't need the extra calories. (I think that means it would be awesome.)
All three groups are gathered together, laptops out, to find out who won. Results go up at ten. (And I can only imagine some poor ICCA web person knows that if it goes up at 10:02 there will be mayhem. I also hoped they upped their server for this moment when all ten teams refresh all their devices at once.)
Micah from NoCo reminds us she is a senior. There are lots of nerves, refreshing, countdowns, and even one last "dice or die" cheer from ANY.
And we come back from commercial to see ANY refresh and all stare at the same laptop in silence. Michael says, wow, they (clearly not ANY from the relative silence) won by a lot. (According to the ICCA site, by the way, a lot is 67 points more than second place.)
NoCo has apparently designated one laptop person who sits on the desk in front and reads aloud the results. In third, Off the Beat. In second, Vocal Point. And in first, Nor'Easters.
Cut to Boston where there is screaming and cheering. Sam says this is the first time that the Nor'Easters have won the wild card. (Mind you, as will come up later, they have won ICCA's before, so…) Isaac says they will do this not only for but with Kevin.
In Florida, our last shot of ANY, they collectively agree that the Nor'Easters worked hard. Michael is still proud that they were top three for their region. Andie had so much fun.
In Illinois, our last shot of NoCo, Micah feels that this is bittersweet. Jessica says to the group that their ICCA run is over.
Back in Boston, the Nor'Easters, despite their group size had only two baritones, Kevin and Figgy, so now they are running through things with alumnus Shams because well, there's an obvious hole in their sound until they figure out who's going to fill in some of these spaces. I'm just going to make a blanket statement, that everyone is still very emotional, and the loss of Kevin clearly still looms large. Ty runs them through the choreo, cracking them up as he mentions (and this is where my lack of dancing terminology will become clear) that two of them are doing a bouncy lungey movement and making it look less dancey and more like they need to take a dump.
Jessie tells us they are party bussing it to New York to the Beacon Theater where ICCA finals are being held. Isaac is ready to tear the roof off of the theater. Two years ago, Isaac was in the audience watching ICCA finals, and he saw the Nor'Easters perform and decided he was going to transfer schools and become a Nor'Easter. And now he is, and he's their music director. He tells us ICCA finals have no cash prize, no recording contract, just an "amazing trophy" and knowing that you are the best of the best.
They introduce the groups and Isaac, Sam, and Jessie, give us some snippets about some of them. There are only eight groups in the finals, but still, get those a cappella bingo cards ready.
The University of Michigan G-Men (who are the Great Lakes winner). Jessie explains that they are an all male group and have a very masculine sound.
The University of Chicago Voices in Your Head (who we saw a bit of in the Midwest semifinals). Sam tells us their soloist is amazing and keeps winning soloist awards.
The Northeast champions the Vassar Devils. Isaac calls them the sleepers of the ICCAs given the Nor'Easters beat them at quarterfinals, but then lost to them at semifinals.
And bringing the I to the ICCAs are the King's College of London All the King's Men. Jessie explains they are the UK champs and are a little buttoned up. (Personal note, from my alma mater, came in third in the international division, go Accidentals!)
From University of Southern California, and familiar to "The Sing-Off" fans, the West champions, the SoCal VoCals. Isaac says they are the team to beat, since every time they are in the finals, they win. (Wikipedia does agree that they have an impressive win streak, having won three times, being one of two groups to win multiple times, and being the first team to win from the wild card round in 2012. )
Later we will also see snippets from the Mid-Atlantic champs University of Maryland (yay, local to me!) Faux Paz and South champs Baylor University's VirtuOSO. And of course, our wild card champs' the Nor'Easters.
Sam goes up this time to pick the order of performance and she picks eighth. Isaac says it means they are the last thing the judges see, but also means the judges will be able to compare them to all the other performances. Sam swears Kevin was there helping her pick the best number.
Courtney Jenson is our emcee for the night and introduces the judges, who Isaac tells us includes recording artists, a cappella people, music producers, and a Grammy winner. The judges are Ed Boyer, Lisa Forkish, Julia Hoffman, Bill Hare, and Abby James.
Isaac reminds us they are being judged on both their vocal and their visual performance.
This time the clips we see of the competitors are a little longer, although we only see pieces of one song, so it's still hard to have a sense of the whole performance, to say nothing of how it feels to be in the auditorium. Overall, all the groups seem very polished and no one that we see makes any obvious errors.
The G-Men sing "Fitzpleasure". Sam proclaims it the weirdest, coolest, most alien/martian sounding thing.
The SoCal VoCals sing "Bang Bang" which Jessie says is a standout arrangement. (I perhaps may be a little Bang Bang'd out. Though it seemed an energetic and clean performance.)
Voices in Your Head sing "Bang My Head". Sam tells us their soloist has amazing range.
The Vassar Devils sing "Time Machine" and this may just be my interest in this song, but it really seems a very fun rendition.
The University of Maryland Faux Paz sing "Came Into My Head" which seems fine but on my TV seems a little less something than some of the others. (Sorry guys, the you're still Mid-Atlantic Champions!)
VirtuOSO performs "Uptown Funk" which seems very clean.
All The King's Men does "Proud Mary" and well, it sounds suspiciously like what you might imagine when a bunch of buttoned up British men sing "Proud Mary", which is to say, it's good, but not really tearing off the roof.
Backstage, the Nor'Easters are getting ready to go on. Isaac says they will sing the music they put together with Kevin. Johanna gets a little teary as she says that Isaac watched them on this stage and now he has led them back to it. They begin chanting, "Hashtag fun!"
Emcee Courtney introduces them, mentioning that the Nor'Easters recently lost a member and they have saved a space on stage for him and would also like to dedicate tonight's performance to him.
Right as they get on stage, Jessie shakes out her hand.
We see them sing "You're Nobody Til Somebody Loves You" (YNTSLY) to the judges bopping their heads. Isaac and Sam both have solos, and Johanna is killing it with her solo in "Elastic Heart". We do not see the third song, but the two we do is more than we see of any other group, so it's not really a fair comparison, but the Nor'Easters performance it certainly is full of heart and energy. Everyone is emotional backstage. Amanda declares that she has "literally no feelings" because she just left them all on stage.
All the groups are back on the stage to see a special video from John Legend, who as you may know is a producer of "Sing It On". He tells them he was a member of the UPenn Counterparts and that no matter the results, the skills and friendships they've made will lift them up for the rest of their lives.
Isaac says that it shows, "with singing the sky's the limit".
The results are in. In third, G-Men. Isaac says he thought they would win. In second, Voices in Your Head. Sam feels they did better than Voices. And in first, SoCal VoCals. (Oh yeah, that Wikipedia entry tells me this is the first time a group has won ICCA's four times, so major congrats.)
Isaac says they were so close. Jessie says it is bittersweet, but she is relieved and proud. Isaac says this year could have broken them, but is has made them stronger.
The groups all sing "Sing a Song" together on stage as the credits roll.
And that's a wrap. That was fun, and I hope there are plans to do something like that again.
