BYU Vocal Point 25th Anniversary Reunion - March 2016 | Provo, Utah

When Sarah and I left Utah last August, we knew we'd be back at some point within a year, but we weren't sure when. We tossed around ideas about a potential ski trip over Christmas break or Mardi Gras, and the Vocal Point guys told us about the upcoming 25th Anniversary Reunion shows in March. We didn't quite know what to think about it; we're only familiar with Vocal Point from about 2011-on. Next thing we knew, though, we'd decided to come to the reunion shows after all. :) Plane tickets were booked, concert tickets were bought, and we headed for Utah on March 3rd!

 

Here we are in the New Orleans airport--our traditional picture before flying out :)

Sarah and I can't help but take dozens of wing pictures when we fly. The view is so beautiful!

When we visited San Antonio a couple of years ago, we went to the Quarry Market shopping center. It was fun to see it from the air!

We stopped in San Antonio but didn't get off the plane. We had an empty plane to ourselves for a little while. :)

We landed in Salt Lake City around 10:15 that night--weary but so happy.

Scott and Ryceejo picked us up from the airport and we had the happiest ride down to Provo, an hour south of Salt Lake. Scott graduated from BYU last year; we miss hearing him in Vocal Point! He and Rycee are so dear to us and we loved getting to spend time with them!

It was so, so good to see Uncle Bob and Aunt Pam again (Bryce's aunt and uncle). They are the sweetest hosts. :)

Aunt Pam took us to see the new Provo City Temple on Friday morning! Since we're not LDS, an open house is the only chance we'll ever have to see the inside of a temple. It was beautiful--such rich, dark wood and elegant furnishings.

We picked up our rental car and drove over to the Covey Center for the Performing Arts.
We weren't sure if we'd be able to see any of the guys; they were busy in rehearsals all morning. We were so happy to walk in the lobby and see Bryce and Cody standing there. We hugged them tight (VP guys give the best hugs ever) and then got our tickets.
It was such fun to walk up to the counter and say, "Hi, we're here to pick up our tickets for the Vocal Point shows!"
"Which one?"
::grinning:: "All three!"
Then we headed out to get lunch.

This is my favorite view, driving up to Orem from Provo. (Sorry for the dirty windshield.)

We went to In-N-Out, of course. :)
Cody always teases us about our love for In-N-Out but um hello they're the best burgers ever and we don't have them in Mississippi!

We also went to Einstein Bros. Bagels that afternoon--again, because it's wonderful and we don't have it in Mississippi. :)

They added a 5:30pm matinee show only a few weeks ago, but since we'd already bought tickets for the other three shows, we didn't go to that one. We did sit in on soundcheck that afternoon, though. We were so glad we got to hear the group numbers with the alumni multiple times--we wouldn't have gotten enough of them otherwise! It was so fun to see again and meet people who we love so much.

Once the matinee show started, we went to get dinner at J Dawgs. We went there with some of the VP guys last March, and again in August, so of course we had to go back. Neither of us is much for hot dogs but J Dawgs is quite the exception.

The 8:00 show on Friday was incredible!

They hadn't sung Brightly Beams much before the Covey shows last year, but after a year of performing it live, it's gotten that much better. So, so beautiful.

We were so happy.

Kaylie and Callie came! We loved seeing them! They're two of the FVPFF (the Fabulous VP Fan Five).

It was wonderful to see Elisha again--we're just sad we didn't get to chat more! Oh, well, for that, there's Twitter. :)

It was a delight to see Sarnic again as well. She was a regular commenter on Totally Missing the Point back in the day and quietly fangirled right along with us seeing former Vocal Point members!

We enjoyed a quiet morning on Saturday, then had lunch with Callie, Kaylie, and Kaylie's mom, Jonae.

Then it was time for another Vocal Point show!

We happily found our front-and-center balcony seats and settled in for the matinee show.

We loved hearing new songs from this year's group!

Boy Band Medley was way too good, as usual.

(We always take pre-show or intermission selfies. #tradition)

At one point at intermission, we went and said hi to Tanner Nilsson, one of the VP members who performed on The Sing-Off in 2011. That group holds a special place in the hearts of many VP fans, and we were thrilled when Tanner told us that 8 out of 9 of those guys were there that day!

Which, of course, meant that we HAD to find Ben Murphy. We've wanted to meet the tall Australian with the marvelous baritone voice ever since we became fans of Vocal Point. He sang the solos on Infant Holy, Infant Lowly and I Stand All Amazed--both personal favorites for us.

So we freaked out when we saw Ben across the way and were so happy to meet him.

One particularly special moment in the Saturday matinee show was Home For Me. VP's director, McKay, and another (ridiculously talented) alumni, Keith, wrote Home For Me especially for Vocal Point. Bryce normally sings the solo on it, but this time, he called McKay up and asked (rather, told) him to sing the solo himself. :)

VP hugs are great but a VP group hug is even better. :)

The guys are genuinely so sweet and kind to everyone who comes through the signing line.

Another oh-so-happy moment: The Sing-Off group reunited, probably for the first time since they had last performed!
L to R: James Stevens, their director at the time; Tanner Nilsson, Jake Hunsaker, Michael Christiansen, Tyler Sterling, McKay Crockett (now their director), Ross Welch, and Robert Seely.
(Or...if you've ever read Totally Missing the Point...that would be...
Honey Badger, Creepy Jake, Mikey, Tyler the Tank Engine, McButters, Rossface, and Bobert.
Just HAD to put that in there.)
Ben sadly wasn't there for this picture, but he came back for the show that night.

And then their families got in the picture...

...it really was.

The guys stood there in this group hug for the longest time. SO HAPPY. And THEN they sang Footloose. Of course.
They kinda forgot some of the words but Ross killed it anyways.

Next thing we knew, another former VP member challenged the current group to top The Sing-Off Group's performance.
Singing As Long As You Love Me/Drag Me Down (which they recently recorded, and shot a music video for) sounded like a great idea...until they forgot some of the words, too...mostly because they'd, um, never performed it live? Oops. LOL. It was great though. :))

Another group of alumni from about 1995 sang Circle of Life, too, which was absolutely wonderful.
(Not sure if they remembered the words, but it seemed to be a common--and hilarious--problem that night.)

We'd actually never gotten all 5 of the FVPFF *and* Sarah and me together before, so it was a momentous occasion indeed.
L to R, minus the VP guys and us: Madi, Dia, Kaylie, Kayla, and Callie.
We love them. :)
(Also notice Kaylie and Kyle's inability to take a normal picture. We all have that one friend...)

Aaaand here's all of us.
L to R: Bryce Romney, Matt Newman, Cody Phillips, Devin Flake, Rebekah, Jordan Hale, Kyle Lemperle, Logan Shelton, Spencer Myler, Sarah, and Carl Prince.

Logan, Spencer, and Carl are the new members of Vocal Point for the 2015-16 year, and Matt just started performing with them as their beat boxer in January!

We went to Cafe Rio for dinner because it's SO GOOD.

I love this epic selfie of all of us. :) Yay for finally being together!

We headed back to the Covey Center for the final--and, I must say, best--show of the whole weekend.

The current group plus over 60 alumni performed Pentatonix's "Sing" and absolutely killed it.

(Choreo on If I Lose Myself is awesome, guys.)

We heard one of the groups at ReMix sing this last August, so it was fun when Vocal Point decided to start singing it themselves.

The pictures moment on Frankie Valli Medley is always hilarious, but seeing Matt with a hamburger really had us in stitches.

We got to sit together. :)

Eye 2 Eye is always so great.

Devin slays Some Kind of Wonderful every single time.

Here is Dave Boyce, one of the founders of Vocal Point. We loved meeting him and the other founder, Bob Ahlander!
(We'd really like to collab with them on some VPFans stuff soon... :))

One of the other really special moments from the reunion weekend: the kids of the alumni members sang Brave! So awesome!

Just proof that Bryce did sing the solo on Home For Me on Saturday night. :) We loved the slideshow in the background of VP family and friends!

Towards the end of each concert, the alumni came on stage once more to sing Nearer My God to Thee. What an honor it was to hear James Stevens (the arranger and soloist on the original recording) sing the solo, along with Scott and Logan.

We did get a picture with Ben Murphy and Robert Seely after the show. :)

This isn't my poster, but I had to get a picture of it. So cool.

It was great to see Adam again and hug his 6'10" self. :)
We miss hearing him in VP but he has some pretty awesome things up his sleeve...so be on the lookout for...that! (Not sure if we can tell you.) :)

It was wonderful to see Krista and Melissa again!! We're so grateful for Krista's friendship, and knowing Bryce brought us together. :)

Cody is our favorite twin and just one of our favorite people in general...like ever.
(Also, best hugs in Vocal Point. Which is really saying something. You just haven't lived until you've gotten a Cody hug. :))

So many happy moments like these...James and his wife, Chelsea, talking with Adam and Tanner.
Gracious, the amount of talent under that one roof was amazing.

Dear, dear McKay. He's incredible.

These guys are hilarious and also kinda adorable.

Too fun not to share--the guy on the far left is Bryce's sister Brooke's boyfriend, Travis. He borrowed Bryce's old VP jacket and dressed like a member of Vocal Point...he may or may not have ended up in a few VP group pictures...hahaha. We loved seeing Brooke again and meeting Bryce's other sister, Brielle!

Bob and Julie Ahlander are two of the most amazing people ever...Julie put a tremendous amount of work into planning the reunion and making it happen and we can't thank her enough.

Carl's face pretty much says it all.
(So does Tanner's. They're hilarious.)

And to think that if Bryce hadn't followed me back on Twitter a year and a half ago, and then randomly told me I should start a VPFans blog (which turned out to be Twitter and Instagram)...none of this would have happened. We love you to pieces, B-Rizz.

So when we came to Utah a year ago, Kyle and Krissy were "just friends"...they'd gone to high school together, and she'd just gotten back from her mission a year ago, and they went their separate ways for a while. We were beyond happy when they started dating last fall and got engaged recently! Hooray :)

One last group picture with all of us....and Travis...and some random kid...good times, good times.

A high school choir from Idaho came to the Saturday night show and whoa. Like, first ever VP mosh pit?! They were awesome.

The little guy in the hat is James Stevens' son, and wow...those kids are amazing.

Sarah and I loved worshiping at Fellowship Bible Church in Lindon again on Sunday morning! What a blessing it was.

Yep, we went to In-N-Out again.

It rained part of Sunday but other than that, the weather was gorgeous the whole time we were there.

Driving back to Provo from Orem

Y Mountain!

Sunday afternoon, Melissa Whitehead and her sister Annie--such beautiful and sweet friends--hosted us and several mutual friends for dinner. It was a delightful afternoon and evening spent with wonderful people who we love dearly.

Then these started coming in and I happily freaked out. Founders of VP and the Sing-Off Group, y'all. NBD.

When we woke up Monday morning, there was a dusting of snow on the mountains. It was beautiful.

We were so glad our flight didn't leave until later and we were able to meet up with Bryce for breakfast!

We had a quiet drive up to Salt Lake that morning...Utah Valley is breathtaking...

Then we got really sad when we had to say goodbye to Utah and the mountains...

We flew over the Great Salt Lake!

Our connecting flight was in LAX....man, Los Angeles is huge.

We didn't know when we landed just how close we were to the Pacific!

The Santa Monica Pier and Malibu are in the distance--such a beautiful sight.

Some of my favorite things in one picture: an indirect reference to an amazing acappella group (Straight No Chaser--ok, so it's kinda the other way around, but whatever), Southwest Airlines (they're the best, ever), and Community Coffee (made in New Orleans!). That was seriously one of the best cups of coffee I've ever had.

It was a long flight back to NOLA, but the sunset was beautiful.

Sarah took this artsy picture, and several others in this blog post. :)

And then we were home.

It was truly the best and most memorable of all the trips we've taken to Utah...what a wonderful weekend! Vocal Point, we love you--both current members and alumni--more than words can say...and the (literally) dozens of friends we've made in Utah and even around the world because of you and your music! We consider it an honor to run the VPFans accounts on social media and to know each of you. You're amazing.

We'll probably be back again next year for the Covey shows. :)

P. S. ::whispers:: unlisted videos, unlisted playlist. Here you go. The 25th Reunion weekend all over again. You're welcome. --> 2016 :)
(And last year's videos: 2015)