Cardiff University’s A Cappella Society Christmas Showcase

ACappella as a music genre has a stigma of being “cringe” among this generation, with many of us, myself included, looking back on our phases of watching Pitch Perfect and listening to artists like Pentatonix with a hilarious sense of shame. But to successfully pull off A Cappella performances like those takes a great deal of vocal talent, which CU’s A Cappella Society displayed in droves in last Christmas’ showcase.

The show opened with a bang, as the “A Cappellads” delivered a dy- namic, choreographed performance of Harry Styles’ “Cinema” and wonderfully smooth rendition of White Christmas. The first part of the show felt like a battle of the sexes, with the gentlemen making way for the allfemale “Decibelles”, who in classic ‘anything you can do I can do better’ fashion traded the boys’ flair in choreography for impeccable harmonies. Both sides had one of their members perform a solo act, and like pulling an ace out of their respective sleeves, both solos were the highlight of the night. Both singers poured their souls into their performances and stole the show. During the second solo act, the poor lad’s backing music cut out, but his improvisation was brilliant to deliver the rest of the song without it, and the performance was no worse for it. In fact the lack of backing music let his voice free and put his raw talent on full display.

Vox and Inner Voices, the society’s two mixed gender groups, had nervous faces dotted around their members at the start of their performances, but truthfully their acts had so much care and practice put into them that you’d wonder why they were ever nervous, they’re professionals not just university students with a hobby, no?

Inner Voices’ highlight of the night was a beautifully heartfelt rendition of “I Can’t Help Falling In Love” that at him. When I first heard The 1975’s music almost a decade ago, I fell headover-heels for that familiar Tumblr, outcast aesthetic – and the band has grown alongside me since, during my formative teenage years and approach to adulthood. As said by the band themselves, ‘They just keep getting better’.

I first saw the band live in 2019 – and once again a year later just before the beginning of the pandemic. As someone who obsesses over getting close to the stage (half fangirl, half short girl problems), I hailed the band for their stage presence, as even at the back of the arena, you were guaranteed to have an amazing time at their shows. As their online footprint has grown over the last few months, I wasn’t expecting to get anywhere near the stage, as I was attending with my mum the first night, and some laid-back friends the second. So, when I rocked up opposite the Admiral building half an hour before doors on the first night, I was shocked to find myself standing just one row back from the barrier upon admission into the CIA. could have swooned anyone into a lovestruck trance, and Vox’s use of polyphonic vocals next to fast paced choreography was a delight to both watch and hear.

(seriously, I saw dads there having the time of their life) and so it didn’t even matter.

There was talent, care, dedication and practice clearly rife throughout this showcase, the only time I was ever bored was when the two hosts were talking between the acts. To any of the A Cappella Society who manage to read this, best of luck at your competitions, and keep putting your hearts into this, you smashed it this time and you’ll keep smashing it.

Credit: Tegan Davies

Bonnie Kemplay supported the band both nights. A beautiful voice with so much potential, Cardiff International Arena did her dirty by keeping her microphone volume at a minimum, thus making it difficult to decipher any of her general chit-chat in-between songs. Luckily, night two was an improvement audio-wise, meaning the crowd was able to fully appreciate the talent of Kemplay and her band. Did her style particularly fit as an opening act? Not really, but The 1975 is a band that suits all walks of life

Despite keeping strictly to a similar structure throughout, the show was vastly different both nights – the first section of the show, aptly referred to as ‘Being Funny in a Foreign Language’, presented frontman Healy as a character of misery and macho-masculinity. Night one saw the band acknowledge the falsity of the show’s formulaic composition through a monologue about ‘methodacting’, whilst night two skipped this in favour of their hit song Sincerity is Scary (unfortunately, no treadmill this tour!). Attempts to repulse the audience included excessive chain smoking and binge drinking from Matty, an impressive number of push-ups, and a disturbing sequence involving raw meat – which I witnessed both nights and still did not fancy him any less.

The second half of the show, ‘At their very best’, had me out of breath and seriously considering my lifestyle choices – I have not got it in me to jump and dance around the way I did both nights, but the adrenaline boost I got from hearing fallingforyou and About You in the same

15-minute interval was like no other. I sang my heart out, receiving strange looks from others in the crowd. Sweat stuck my fringe to my forehead and my eyeliner ran in streams down my cheeks. I couldn’t have cared less. I was on top of the world.

Any downsides? The merchandise. Incredibly overpriced, with maybe two decent designs available. The rest appeared to have been curated on Paint, or something that you’d see being sold outside. But hey, they’d be laughing if they read this. The queues for merchandise were hectic – I stood in line for a shirt for a friend for about half an hour. Obviously, they made a heck of a lot of money off of merchandise that I found distasteful, so the joke’s on me!

People always have a lot to say about the band – as mocked in the video for their hit single The Sound. To some, they are a group of wasted, talentless stoners. Well, call them what you want, but definitely not talentless. The four years I’ve been seeing them live for has once again proved their mantra referenced in the first paragraph. The music, the lyrics, the stage presence, the vocals! Everything about the band reminds you