Amid last Saturday's tailgates, sporting events and dance parties, the Brovertones hosted Fall Fling, a night of spirited singing and smooth poetry.
The annual Homecoming a cappella concert is hosted by a different student group each year. This year's performance also featured the Soul Scribes and the Zumbyes, an a capella group from Amherst.
The Brovertones opened the show in Spaulding auditorium with a video parodying the audition process of their newest singers. The audience erupted in raucous laughter, which set the tone of an evening filled with humor and great music, tempered with more serious notes from the Soul Scribes.
The Brovertones then transitioned into a soulful rendition of "Beggin'," by Madcon featuring soloists Jordan Hall '16 and Luke Naman '15. Their setlist ranged from current hits, like Mumford and Son's "Little Lion Man," to rock classics, like Van Morrison's "Moondance," closing with '80s pop hit "Come on Eileen." Other soloists included Colin Walmsley '15, Noah Samotin '17, Chris Yih '17, Hall, Thomas Pears '15, and Bobby Esnard '14, the group's director.
Fall Fling was the Brovertones' first campus show this fall outside of the a cappella showcase over orientation.
"Fall Fling is an exciting opportunity to showcase the group's talent," Esnard said. "We've been working very hard to put together a program that is fun and engaging for everyone."
The Soul Scribes added variety to the showcase with engaging spoken word performances. Anna Winham '14, president of the Soul Scribes, said the group hoped to enhance Fall Fling by changing the pace and tone of the show.
"A lot of the songs are fun, high energy, feel-good, active," she said. "Not that our poems aren't those things sometimes, but I think we brought a little bit serious tone to the showcase, interspersed throughout music that brought the fun back."
The Zumbyes also performed with the quirky enthusiasm characteristic of college a cappella. Their poppy sounds, on numbers like Shaggy's "Angel," elicited quite a few squeals of glee from the audience.
"The Zumbyes added a nice mix to the concert," Sarah Lee '17 said. "It was cool to see an a capella group from outside of Dartmouth"
The 20 members of the Brovertones has big plans for the coming year.
"We will be working on refining our sound, expanding our repertoire and recording our next studio album," Esnard said. "The Brovertones will also be visiting a number of colleges and alumni clubs over our tour this winter break."
The poets of the Soul Scribes who performed at Fall Fling included Winham, Elise Wien '17, Josh Elwood '16 and Sadia Hassan '13. Their poems ranged in topic from the hypocrisy of "those who preach peace and tolerance, yet smoke weed, in part of an international system of violence and exploitation," to explorations into the art of poetry and the challenges that come with being unique in such a field.
Overall, Fall Fling was certainly a crowd-pleasing event.
"I like the variety of performances," Maya Raghavan '17 said. "Each song sounded different and the soul scribes added a different dimension to the a capella show. There was a good mix of humor and seriousness."
