The Griffin’s Favorite Duo takes on the CrescenDON’Ts concert

By: Hannah Wiley, Features Editor and Kaitlin O’Meara, Copy Editor 

The Griffin’s Favorite Duo decided to check out the semesterly CrescenDON’Ts concert themed “Once Upon a Tune,” where they sang a mix of Christmas and songs that “told a story,” according to their executive board! They also asked that attendees bring canned goods which could be donated to Buffalo City Mission, in light of ongoing food uncertainty with SNAP benefits in jeopardy for many. 

The concert opened with “Life is a Highway” by Rascal Flatts, known by many from the “Cars” franchise. There were some technical challenges during this song, as some performers’ microphones were much louder than others, but the song was still great overall. It was a very fun and upbeat way to start off the concert and got the whole audience excited for what was to come!

The next one that really stood out was “You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch” from the Grinch movie. The best part about this song was that the soloist – Matt Morcelle – has the perfect voice for the song. Between the choreography and the incredible vocals, this song was memorable and very fun to watch. 

Two of our favorite small ensembles (or at least mine – Kaitlin) were two of their Christmas songs, “That’s Christmas to Me” and “Mary Did You Know?” The latter was sung by the CrescenDON’Ts executive board, including Kaitlyn Belile and Katie Dusza – two members of The Griffin staff. Each member complemented each other beautifully, both in their solo sections and the group harmonies. “That’s Christmas to Me” also featured Kaitlyn Belile among other very talented members of the group. 

One of our favorite performances of the night was performed by The Griffin’s very own, Kaitlyn Belile! She was the soloist for “Fireflies” by Owl City and if you’ve ever heard her sing, you know that you could listen to her for hours. For anyone who read Kaitlin O’Meara’s review of last fall’s concert, “Evergreen,” you’d know that more Kaitlyn Belile was requested – and they delivered.

They ended the concert singing “Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield with soloist Ria Minhas. You could really see how much fun everyone was having on stage which made the audience have even more fun, and made them sad the concert was coming to an end.

A nice touch throughout the concert was that each member of the e-board spoke about their position and also the upcoming songs. They also all came out as an e-board towards the end of the concert where they thanked everyone for coming and also announced that over 65 canned goods had been donated!

We’ve gone to the CrescenDON’Ts concert for the past three semesters and it’s so fun every time. They put so much time and effort into the concert. Every semester is a different theme and everyone wears outfits that coordinate in color which makes it so much more fun to watch!

We highly recommend you all attend next semester's concert – we promise you won’t regret it!

CrescenDON’Ts at their concert via Lio Salazar