A new season of Border Concerts was launched on Sunday, Oct. 11 when Home Free, a sensational a cappella group appeared on the Backus Auditorium stage. In the first of five shows slated for this series, Home Free electrified the audience with an astounding vocal performance.
Right from their opening number, “Life is a Highway,” the group of five young men left no doubt that this was destined to be an evening of exquisite harmony and high energy mixed in with lots of humor.
Vocalists Matt Atwood, Chris Rupp, Rob Lundquist and Troy Horne were accompanied by vocal percussionist Adam Rupp in an eclectic program that spanned many musical genres.
“Rockin’ Robin,” “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and “I Saw Her Standing There” brought back memories of past decades, and Horne’s incredibly rich bass voice was featured in Tennessee Ernie Ford’s “Sixteen Tons” and the Temptations’ hit “Papa Was a Rolling Stone.”
Home Free even threw in a couple of traditional barbershop numbers, including “Tonight” from “West Side Story,” which they performed without microphones, relying instead on the purity of their voices and the wonderful acoustics of Backus Auditorium.
But the highlight of the night undoubtedly occurred when Adam Rupp had the stage to himself for a vocal percussion performance that literally brought the audience to its feet.
A standing ovation mid-concert is certainly a rarity in Border Concert circles, but in this case it was well-deserved. Rupp’s imitation of a complete set of drums and a deejay’s turntable was astounding. Not only did he pull it off in spectacular fashion, but he managed somehow to sing along with himself. Many in the audience were left shaking their heads in disbelief that what they were hearing came from the mouth of a single performer on stage.
Home Free closed their show with an emotional rendition of “God Bless the U.S.A.” which again brought the audience to its feet. “Joy to the World” (remember “Jeremiah, the bullfrog?”) was a fitting encore to a great show.
With four concerts still to go in the series, this one is going to be difficult to top.
