I had such a great time at last year’s RVRHS Glee Off that I made it a point to return for the second year!

Imagine my surprise when I found out that the Glee Off would be changing auditoriums for the event! The second auditorium behind the school called “The PAC” is significantly larger and more updated when it comes to the sound and engineering department than the school’s first auditorium within the school. Needless to say, I was disappointed when the audience was directed to the first auditorium. Why the switch? I’ll never know. I do know that next year, the Glee Off had better return to the PAC because the sound problems this year were torturous.

Sound aside, four teams went head to head to win the second annual Glee Off, including two groups from last year, Dukes of Harmony and No Signal. I fell in love with the doo-wop group, Dukes of Harmony last year and had high hopes for them this year. My oh my what a year makes! These guys have matured so much, are tighter than ever in harmonies, and earned the big win this week easily. Congratulations to you boys! This quartet not only sang well but performed and that’s something two of the other groups lacked big time. They brought comedy, personality, and their own fun rendition to “Blue Moon.” They have character and know what it takes to win over an audience. You could tell that while the group had a goal to win, they were having so much fun in every single moment on that stage.

Also having quite a ball on stage were the members of No Signal who may have actually shocked the audience a bit with their booty shaking at what was supposed to be a family friendly event. Someone’s been watching too much Glee. The group sang Taio Cruz’s “Dynamite” and had the crowd engaged in every moment for both good and bad reasons. I think this year they may have zeroed in more on a shock factor rather than really creating their own interpretation of the song like they did last year with “Telephone.” Plainly put, last year’s performance was much better. It also must be pointed out that the best vocals in this group were provided by David Lopez.

New to the Glee Off were Chasing Trees and Changing Reflections. Chasing Trees was composed of four artists, one of which was female, Emily Cope who harmonizes beautifully. This group performed an original number which would have been beautiful had the sound problems not ruined the performance and one of the kids in the group kept his mouth shut. This kid, who was a Perez Hilton doppelganger while singing was grinning from ear to ear, like he knew he couldn’t sing. It was hysterical and added onto the hot mess that was already created with the sound issues. What a hoot.

Changing Reflections had nine members in their group, eight of which were female. The male on the guitar had no rhythm and rhythm is something that is very much needed, especially when singing, “Landslide.” Poor girls. The girls harmonized well but it would have been so much better had they not been distracted by this rhythm-less guitar player. Had the performance been acapella, it would have been my second favorite of the night.

As the votes were being tallied for the winner (again, congrats Dukes of Harmony!), the RV Chamber Choir performed three numbers, one of which included their own rendition of Katy Perry’s “Firework” which dare I say was even more entertaining than the Glee version! And I love the Glee version. An encore performance of “Java Jive,” you know, that “I love coffee, I love tea” song was presented. It looks like this could be the annual song at the Glee Off and that’s alright with me! The band, Final Warning also returned to the Glee Off to see us out and what a great job they did! All in all, it was a great celebration of music and sound problems aside, that’s what matters the most! I had a great time gathering with those who share this similar interest with me and will gladly go again next year. See you there!

*P.S. To those who attend RV, please stop calling the PAC “the PAC Center.” You know who you are. PAC stands for Performing Arts Center so you’re really saying “The Performing Arts Center Center” and you sound like a fool. That is all.