(Fair warning, y'all: there are over 100 pictures in this post. After all, we went to three concerts! So go grab some snacks and your favorite soda and be prepared to settle down for a while. :))
As some of you reading this may know, my sister Sarah and I started watching BYU Vocal Point's videos on YouTube about a year ago and, last summer, became pretty big fans of theirs. You can read more about how that happened and listen to some of their music here and here.
As some of you reading this may know, my sister Sarah and I started watching BYU Vocal Point's videos on YouTube about a year ago and, last summer, became pretty big fans of theirs. You can read more about how that happened and listen to some of their music here and here.
The 2014-15 group, left to right:
Kyle Lemperle, Jordan Hale, Parker O'Very, Adam Heimbigner, Devin Flake, Bryce Romney, Andy Nielsen, Cody Phillips, and Scott Shattuck
So, of course, since we'd become such fans of Vocal Point, we started following some of the guys on Twitter.
In late September, I tweeted them the link to a .gif I'd made of a funny moment during their Memorial Day concert earlier that year...and this happened:
@rebekahhope_ this is honestly so funny! We are dying laughing! Thanks for making it!
— BYU Vocal Point (@BYUVocalPoint) September 28, 2014
@rebekahhope_ it may or may not be run by the second tallest member of the group. ;)
— BYU Vocal Point (@BYUVocalPoint) September 30, 2014
— Bryce Romney (@bryceromney) September 30, 2014
Next thing I knew, "BYU Vocal Point followed you" popped up in my Twitter notifications. Bryce followed me on his own personal account a couple days later.
About a month later, this happened:
@rebekahhope_ @fan_vp REBEKAH you should start it up again! It went inactive as soon as I joined.
— Bryce Romney (@bryceromney) November 3, 2014
@bryceromney @fan_vp BRYCE ROMNEY YOU JUST MADE MY DAY. I was actually hoping I could do it anonymously. :) What should we call it?!?!?
— Rebekah Hope (@rebekahhope_) November 3, 2014
Sarah and I thought about it for a couple days, and eventually decided that we didn't have time to run a fan blog similar to Totally Missing the Point. But we liked using Twitter, and came to the conclusion that a fan account would be a fun idea. It was. Still is. It's still going strong, over 6 months later...with 528 followers! (You guys, you VP fans, if you're reading this...you're the best. We love ya.)
Fast forward to mid-December: we started seriously considering flying out to Utah for Vocal Point's upcoming concerts at the Covey Center for the Arts in Provo in March.
(Say what?!)
It was Bryce's idea. We sent him an email and told him how glad we were that people could take videos at their concerts (sadly, such is not the case any longer, but for the longest time, they could). If we couldn't watch videos on YouTube, we'd be in a fix. We'd have to break the bank and fly to Provo.
Bryce's reply?
"I still think y'all should fly to Provo!"
By late January, we'd booked plane tickets. And bought tickets to all 3 concerts. It was all so surreal and crazy and wonderful.
(Say what?!)
It was Bryce's idea. We sent him an email and told him how glad we were that people could take videos at their concerts (sadly, such is not the case any longer, but for the longest time, they could). If we couldn't watch videos on YouTube, we'd be in a fix. We'd have to break the bank and fly to Provo.
Bryce's reply?
"I still think y'all should fly to Provo!"
By late January, we'd booked plane tickets. And bought tickets to all 3 concerts. It was all so surreal and crazy and wonderful.
And so...on Thursday, March 5th, 2015...we flew to Salt Lake City, Utah. We came home to Mississippi the following Monday morning. It was a whirlwind weekend, full of more fun and memories than we could possibly count. We knew it was going to be good before we left, but we never dreamed just how incredible it would be. I'll tell you more about our trip itself in a blog post coming up! But, for now, I'm going to attempt to make you feel like you were at the concerts we went to.
Here we go.
Friday night, March 6th:
We came up with a plan for where to sit for each of the concerts:
Friday night - front left
Saturday afternoon - balcony, front and center
Saturday night - front right
They opened with Eye 2 Eye from The Goofy Movie.
It's high-energy, which is great, but what makes it even more fun is that all of the guys have solos on it,
so the audience can scream for their favorites when they hear them. :)
After that they sang Happy.
(No pictures from that song on Friday night, so just take my word for it.)
Jordan took the lead on Andy Grammer's "Fine By Me". It was great!
It was so much fun sitting across the aisle from his wife, Zoë, and hearing her reaction to him singing. :)
At some point after this Scott told a dad joke (y'know, the really lame/corny jokes dads tell?)
and somebody else declared that Scott was the "dad joke generator".
LOL.
Also, they started counting up all the awkward moments and I think they got up to #6...
Then they sang Set Fire to the Rain.
Again, no pictures, so you'll just have to take my word for it.
(Scott arranged it, and he nails the solo every. single. time.)
After three songs and a talkie, it was time for some audience participation.
You'll hear about Adam's questions to fans in a bit, but here's what's going on in these pictures:
Cody asked an audience member to guess which member of Vocal Point was in which baby picture.
Go ahead, see if you can guess!
Yep, that's Jordan on the left and Bryce in the middle.
Devin is pretending to be holding the bear (Kyle), but it was actually Kyle who was holding the bear in the picture. :)
Everybody's Got Somebody But Me.
We don't often get to hear Andy sing solos, since he's the bass, which is exactly why he sang the lead on this song! We all loved it.
Adam is drawing a heart in the air behind Andy.
BAM. HUMAN PINWHEEL.
(Those of you who read Totally Missing the Point way back when remember that the human pinwheel was Troi and Crusher's faaaavorite choreography.)
This human pinwheel features a very frustrated Andy Nielsen.
Frankie Valli Medley - always a crowd favorite.
Notice that Bryce's lady is Sweet Brown.
Also notice the caption:
"Miss a Vocal Point Show?
Ain't nobody got time for that."
Before they sang Brightly Beams (also known as Let the Lower Lights Be Burning - such a beautiful old hymn!), Cody told the audience a story.
One night in the winter time, he came home late after studying and found that a woman had gotten her car high-centered in the parking lot of his apartment complex. He didn't have any tools to help her, but he texted his friend Jamison, who is "a whiz with cars". Jamison had all the right tools and was able to get the lady un-stuck. Cody went back inside, feeling bad about the fact that he wasn't able to help her, but then he realized that if he hadn't showed up when he did, and hadn't texted Jamison, the lady would still be stuck. He used this story to illustrate how each of us has a unique light to shine in people's lives, and we never know how big of a difference we can make - even if it's something seemingly insignificant like texting a friend.
After such a beautifully solemn moment, it was time to pick up the pace a bit.
Vocal Point sang another audience favorite: Brave by Sara Barreilles.
The whole crowd joined in!
Andy stole the show with his bass solo.
#allaboutthatbass
Adam talked about how McKay, their director, was in a legit boy band when he was younger.
They also showed an absolutely hilarious and awesome video of them interviewing people at a local mall about boy bands.
(Mad props to Cody for filming and editing it!)
And boom.
The Boy Band Medley.
It includes parts of the following songs:
I Want You Back - N*SYNC
Larger Than Life - Backstreet Boys
I Want It That Way - Backstreet Boys
(God Must Have Spent) A Little More Time on You - N*SYNC
Tearin' Up My Heart - N*SYNC
It's Gonna Be Me - N*SYNC
Bye, Bye, Bye - N*SYNC
You have Bryce Romney to thank for the choreography on this one, folks.
Vocal Point had released the music video for their cover of OneRepublic's "I Lived" earlier that week, so the audience got to watch it on the big screen.
And then Parker killed it on Spider-Man.
I mean KILLED IT.
Seriously.
Bryce and Scott had this dance thing going on that still doesn't quite make sense but whatever.
Speaking of killing it on solos:
we LOVED Devin's rendition of Some Kind of Wonderful!!
(We sat behind his wife, Heather, during the Saturday night show...now THAT was fun.)
He's got soul, y'all.
TOBY!!!
Okay, I have to tell the story behind this one.
Jordan started telling the audience that he and his wife recently welcomed a new addition to their family.
"He's adorable, and we love that. He keeps us up at night, but that's okay. He drools, but that's okay..."
And then, up on the screen, pops a picture of Toby...the dog.
Jordan went on to say that no matter whether he's had a good day or a terrible day, Toby is always there to greet him when he comes home.
Toby is always excited and happy to see him.
Jordan then said that we all have people in our lives that make a place "home" for us by always being there for us,
always listening, always being glad to see us.
He asked the audience to think of the "Tobys" in their lives...which was the perfect introduction to the next song:
Home For Me.
It was written by McKay Crockett and Keith Evans, both former members of Vocal Point,
and the current directors of Vocal Point and Noteworthy, respectively.
It's such a beautiful song and Bryce always does a wonderful job on the lead.
Before they sang the next song, Parker and Devin told the audience that one of Vocal Point's recordings
was included on the 2015 BOCA (Best Of College Acappella) album!
As Adam said, by way of introduction, "And now...in the original German...Eine Kleine Nachtmuzik, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart."
You should probably watch this video first, from one of their Covey shows in December.
Otherwise none of this is going to make sense.
Scott is already laughing.
Oh goodness.
Bryce just looks so dang pleased with himself.
(Andy's face.)
They showed the audience the hilarious and awesome video they shot with Stuart Edge last year for Valentine's Day:
It seemed like a lot of the audience members hadn't seen the video before (or maybe it had been a while since they saw it).
Everybody laughed the whole way through it.
Bryce announced the winners of the Twitter and Instagram contests (people had posted pictures throughout the concert, so they chose some favorites and gave those people free CDs). He also picked a few questions people had tweeted at the guys to ask them.
No matter what time of year a Vocal Point concert is, they always sing The 12 Days of Christmas.
It's the same arrangement Straight No Chaser made famous, but with a few Vocal Point twists.
As with Eine Kleine Nachtmuzik, you should probably watch this video first:
Can we just take a few moments to appreciate THE FACES in this picture?
Okay. There you go. Same picture, zoomed in.
Dance break on "Once There Was a Snowman"
Cody putting his mad skills learned in his 3 years with the BYU International Folk Dance Ensemble to good use on the Africa dance break...
And Bryce getting his phone out so he can put video on Snapchat.
Duh.
Just chaos, in general.
Kyle gave a wonderful talkie before I Need Thee Every Hour.
He told the audience the story of when he was 9 years old (I think - correct me if I'm wrong, Kyle!) and had appendicitis. He tried to act like he wasn't hurting and he was going to be okay, but they had no choice but to do surgery. He said the thing he remembered the most was that his dad never left him.
He reminded us that no matter what we go through, we're never alone.
Scott always does such a beautiful job with the solo on this one.
The guys put their mics down on the stage and sang Nearer, My God, to Thee - even without mics, their voices still filled the auditorium.
It was beautiful.
No Vocal Point show is complete without the most ridiculously awesome beat box solo from Adam.
It's one of those things that you HAVE to hear in person at least once in your life.
Videos simply do not do Adam justice. You can't feel the vibrations in the whole room just watching a video on YouTube.
(Don't ask me why PENGUINS came down from the ceiling. I HAVE NO IDEA.)
They closed out the show with Rhythm of the Night.
I totally had a Jake Hunsaker "being a human is hard" moment (sorry for all of you who haven't read Totally Missing the Point and have no clue what I'm talking about - but if you've read it, you know exactly what I mean). Somehow clapping and step-touches at the same time were hard to do.
No clue why.
Anyways, Vocal Point had the whole crowd on their feet dancing and singing along.
They waved goodbye, but not for long...
NEWSIES.
It was the perfect encore.
Bryce killin' it on Carrying the Banner.
Can we just take a minute to notice how everybody's arms are in different positions?
They ran off the stage and back up the aisles to the lobby so everybody could meet them.
And, of course, they sang the Vocal Point Happy Birthday song to a few people.
Those pretty girls on the right are Janae and Jess from Noteworthy! We loved getting to meet and chat with them.
McDictator told everybody that they needed to leave soon.
Are you kidding? Leave a Vocal Point meet-and-greet? No way we were going to do that.
The two of us hung around until the very end and had the best time finding familiar faces from social media.
We had a blast talking to people.
Okay. One concert down.
Two to go.
You ready?
The Saturday afternoon concert started off right: when we walked into the Covey Center, we heard former Vocal Point member
and The Voice contestant Ryan Innes' recording of Georgia on My Mind playing. (It's SO good.)
The Covey Center is small enough that we still felt like we were pretty close to the stage.
Eye 2 Eye starts out with this unbelievably awesome stomping/clapping routine.
It was done on Pitch Perfect 2, but Vocal Point had already had that idea.
:)
Happy.
Bryce and Andy's talkie about posting stuff on social media for the contest later on.
Remember how I said earlier that Adam asked an audience member a question?
Well, Adam started talking about "High School Musical, the musical for high schools."
He told this girl that someone in Vocal Point played Troy Boulton in High School Musical, the musical for high schools, when they were in high school.
(Adam - would you please comment and tell us just exactly how you described HSM? Because I can't remember. It was so funny.)
Anyways, they tried to guess who, and then Adam said, "Would the real Troy Boulton please step forward?"
Jordan, Parker, and Kyle had all played that role. :)
This time, an audience member got 1 out of 3 for the baby pictures.
Bryce, of course.
I'm not sure if this was planned or not - Jordan's sister Eliza got to come up on stage for Everybody's Got Somebody But Me!
"I'm a good slow dancer, but you'd never know"
The Human Pinwheel, featuring an apparently very surprised Kyle Lemperle.
The selfie Andy had taken with Eliza at the beginning was suddenly - voila! - up on the screen.
Jordan tells the audience to "give it up for the Vocal Point Band!" on the Frankie Valli medley.
SCOTT. YOU HAD ONE JOB.
The pictures were all mixed up.
Cody has a picture of Parker's wife, Dani...Bryce has Scott's wife, Ryceejo...thankfully Devin still has his wife, Heather...
Parker looks somewhat mad/confused that he has Zooey Deschanel...
(This means Andy had Sweet Brown.)
When we got settled into our seats before the concert started, we looked down and freaked out when we realized who was sitting in the audience:
Keith Evans and his beautiful bride, Adrianne, and Tanner Nilsson and James Stevens.
(!!!!!!!)
Keith and Tanner were in VP when they competed on The Sing-Off in 2011, and James was their director at that time (and for several years prior).
McKay came to say hi.
Eine Kleine Nachtmuzik.
Faces, y'all. Faces.
Kyle's majestic leap.
12 Days of Christmas. Here we go again.
Scott steals the show with his super-high note.
Let's call this one Parker Nails a Bell Kick.
Also, notice Bryce with his phone. Snapchat.
Parker Leaps.
Kyle's talkie.
Apparently I took very few pictures after this point in the concert.
The funniest thing happened during Adam's beatbox solo, though:
Scott walked on stage and sat down on one of the stools at the back of the stage...with a box of Cheez-Its.
And just sat there.
Eating Cheez-Its.
After a couple minutes, he left.
The best part?
Adam had no clue.
Having seen countless videos on YouTube of Vocal Point performing in the Covey Center, it was wonderful to be there in person.
We went to J Dawgs in Provo for a quick supper with some of the guys, and before we knew it, it was time for the last show.
The Saturday night performance is always the best, they told us, and this one was no exception.
The Real Troy Boulton.
The Human Pinwheel, featuring an apparently very surprised Kyle Lemperle...again.
Also, that's his cousin in the middle. :)
Scott and Cody sounded like trumpets.
Thank heavens. Scott got the pictures in order.
Eine Kleine Nachtmuzik...one last time.
Stop being such a diva, Bryce.
Actually, don't stop.
Cody and Bryce are cellists.
Scott is not very happy about this.
Oh, now it's Cody's turn to be a diva.
Adam is still confused, and Devin and Scott almost drop Parker.
What a night.
While we were eating dinner, we decided to be our usual demanding selves and ask Bryce for a shoutout.
After all, we'd traveled 1,800 miles to Provo for the weekend.
He gave us one. :)
During the Twitter Q&A, he asked the guys a question we'd tweeted on the fan account - a typically-cheesy VP Fans trivia question:
Who has the most siblings?
(We can't remember the answer. We forgot to write it down. Of course.)
Right after Bryce asked our question, he said,
"By the way, shoutout to our friends Sarah and Rebekah who flew from Mississippi to be here this weekend!"
The audience cheered.
They made us feel so special. :)
It was more than worth all the time and money we'd spent and all the sleep we lost to be there in person.
Saturday night's performance of 12 Days was, by far, the best.
Despite Being an Engineering Major, Andy Forgets How to Count.
Don't ask me to explain the expression on Andy's face here...
Kyle Raises a Clinched Fist in Victory.
"Rise and shout, the Cougars are out!"
"GO COUGS."
This is where it got really funny.
Right after Scott tried to steal the show with his high note/scream, Kyle said something to him that made all of them crack up laughing.
I think it may have been, "Wanna know how I got these scars?", but I'm not sure.
(Kyle - if you remember, please tell us in the comments.)
It struck all of them so funny that they couldn't stop laughing.
Of course, neither could we.
The guys and the audience barely got it together again.
Then we all LOST IT.
Absolutely lost it.
These pictures still make me laugh so hard.
Now you know what VP was referring to in this tweet:
Update: Adam is doing his beatbox solo and were backstage still laughing backstage at that 12 days of Christmas fiasco...
— BYU Vocal Point (@BYUVocalPoint) March 8, 2015
Parker Nails Another Bell Kick.
BERNIE IN THE COVEY CENTER WHAT.
(A reference to this tweet.)
Adam kills it every time.
I don't have pictures from the rest of the concert because I was busy just...enjoying it.
*whispers* also, I was shooting video.
(Here's the link. You're welcome.)
Oh, Vocal Point. Thanks a million times a thousand and ten.
We had the time of our lives at all three concerts.
We love you guys to pieces.
Thank you for everything.
Now, dear reader, give yourself a round of applause because
YOU GOT TO THE END OF THIS POST.
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