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Arts & Entertainment

An Amazing A Cappella Performance

Overboard, an a cappella quintet, performed at the Islington Community Center Monday evening as part of the Westwood Summer Concert Series.

Westwood's Summer Concert Series continued Monday night with a performance by Overboard, a Boston based a cappella quintet that played a variety of classic rock tunes.

The performance was the second concert of the series, which is organized and sponsored by The Westwood Young Women’s Club with support from the Westwood Recreation Department. 

Overboard was scheduled to perform at The Westwood Senior Center on Monday evening, but it seemed the weather had other plans with rain in the forecast.

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Due to this, the concert was moved indoors to The Islington Community Center on Washington Street, where attendees were greeted at the door with pizza and refreshments provided by Westwood Pizza. Donations for the Westwood food pantry were also collected at the door.

It was soon apparent that old Mother Nature had pulled a fast one, as the sun shone through the windows of the Community Center as soon as the concert commenced. This, however, did not seem to matter. Spirits were high in tots and adults alike, and although the heat was a stifling, there was plenty of water to go around, and the energy level was through the roof.

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Starting out the evening, Overboard performed the popular song “Got To Get You Into My Life” by The Beatles, which set the pace for the rest of the evening.

The crowd was instantly involved, kids jumped from their seats and began twisting and jumping up and down with endless energy. The adults couldn’t even help but be whisked away by the incredible vibe being projected from the talented singers onstage.

Currently, Overboard is made up of five people: Nick Girard, Scott Cobban, Caleb Whelden, Jeff Eames, and Alfredo Austin. Girard founded the band in the Spring of 2006, and is the current Musical Director of Overboard. As time has passed, the members have changed, with Eames and Austin being the newest additions to the group.

“This has been a big building year for us,” said Whelden onstage.

The group went on to sing “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” by Billy Joel, “How Sweet It Is” by James Taylor, “Sister Golden Hair” by America, and even “You Might Think” by The Cars, and many others.

“I’m a big Cars fan,” said Girard, as he expressed his excitement about The Cars’ new album.

One of the amazing aspects of an Overboard concert is that you tend to forget they are only using vocals. If one were to close their eyes during a performance, it would sound as if they were actually playing instruments.

By the time the second set rolled around, the kids were jumping and dancing all around, with one boy even doing a somersault across the floor during the performance.

“If any one of us had tried that, we probably would have been hurt,” laughed Cobban between songs.

One of the highlights of the performance was the popular song “Come Together” by The Beatles, which appears on their new album titled Help! 

According to their website, “Help! was envisioned as a concept album/rock opera in a similar vein to Pink Floyd's The Wall and The Who's Tommy. Through twenty-three original arrangements, Help! contains Overboard's reinterpretations of over forty Beatles songs and sounds.

Like many concept albums, Help! is intentionally vague, but close listeners will not miss the story of the album's stars, Billy Shears and Eleanor Rigby.”

In the past months, Overboard has received many accolades for their musical achievements, including their second CARA (Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award) for Best Religious Song (“Amazing Grace”) and two runners-up for Best Jazz Song (“Toxic”) and Best Hip Hop/R&B song (“Used To Love U”).

Girard also announced that Overboard had won the Boston Regional Harmony Sweepstakes Festival.

“It was a pretty cool experience for us,” Girard said with a smile.

Overboard also received the Judge’s Prize for Best Arrangement, and the Audience Favorite Award.

If you would like to know more about Overboard, visit their website at www.overboardvocals.com. All of their songs and albums are available for purchase on iTunes.

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