Editor’s note: This article was initially published in The Daily Gazette, Swarthmore’s online, daily newspaper founded in Fall 1996. As of Fall 2018, the DG has merged with The Phoenix. See the about page to read more about the DG.
This past Saturday Swarthmore’s “most fun and most female” a capella group performed their fall concert in the Lang Concert Hall. Dressed in their signature purple shirts and bluejeans they gave a very engaging and accomplished performance.
I was especially glad that they brought Leather by Tori Amos back into their repertory, as I hadn’t heard them sing it before. New member Alicia DeWitt ’11 gave a very strong performance in the solo role. The most exciting, engaging, and slightly disturbingly funny song of the evening was Goodbye Earl by the Dixie Chicks with Laura Wolk ’09 and Jean Strout ’10 singing solos. The song was a perfect vehicle for Grapevine’s powerful and arresting singing.
Guest a capella group Penn Six performed three songs in the middle of Grapevine’s set. The large, all-male group from UPenn filled the state in outrageous costumes ranging from a very tight Spiderman outfit, a chicken suit, and bumble bee dress. They certainly brought a lot of energy to their performance which the audience responded to with loud applause. However, they could do nothing but improve after their opening comedy act featuring alternately shocking offensive and maddeningly inane puns on college names. The audience was left laughing nervously and casting confused looks throughout the concert hall.
But the evening was rightly dominated by Grapevine and at the end of the evening the energetic applause was more then earned. I look forward to seeing them again at Jamboree.