The MIT Logarhythms "took the a cappella cake" in a victory over a cappella groups from Harvard, Tufts and Brandeis at a sold-out concert, "All A Cappella LIVE at the Majestic." The Logs ruled thanks to audience votes.
The afternoon event was broadcast live on WERS radio from the Cutler Majestic Theater in Boston on Sunday, March 11.
The show featured live sets from four area a cappella acts--Brandeis Voicemale, Harvard Lowkeys, MIT Logarhythms and Tufts Beelzebubs--which gave vocals-only renditions of classic and contemporary pop hits, often with accompanying hand motions and dance moves.
The Logarhythms, an all-male 16-piece group wearing jeans, caps and colorful ties, performed their "extensive vocal harmonies with such attitude, humor and charisma that the audience and the judges were floored," wrote Jon Meyer for WERS.
"I have never heard Van Halen converted into a cappella. The feat frankly appears impossible. But the Logs defied expectations, bringing fist-pumping to their a cappella rendition of 'Jump' complete with the soloist's dead-on 'regular guy'-styled impression of David Lee Roth. They also performed Jet's 'Are You Gonna Be My Girl' as a duet, with choreography that ranged from hand movements to dance to slapstick to running around the entire theater searching for the song's titular 'Girl.' When the Logs closed with the Gorillaz' 'Feel Good Inc.,' it was the first standing ovation of the show," Meyer wrote.
The eight-piece, all-male Brandeis Voicemale opened its set with an energetic medley moving with ease from "Can't Stop Loving You" (Phil Collins) to "Here It Goes Again" (OK Go). The co-ed, 16-piece Harvard Lowkeys offered "California Dreamin'" (The Mamas and the Papas), Shawn Colvin's "Sunny Came Home" and Robyn's "Show Me Love."
The Tufts Beelzebubs closed the afternoon show with two vocal percussionists, multiple soloists and a strip tease; they got the day's second standing ovation.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on March 21, 2007 (download PDF).
