Last Friday, April 13, the Colgate Me-morial Chapel was teeming with eager listeners as The Colgate Resolutions took the stage at their annual AKFEST concert, this year celebrating their 20th anniver-sary and Colgate Day. Visiting families, Reso alumni and members of the student body crowded in to celebrate the history and talent of Colgate’s first co-ed a cappel-la group. The Resos were founded in 1992 over Spring Party Weekend by Marc Giro-dana ’94, Marisa Bond ’94 and Jason Cor-rigan ’95. All three founding members, along with numerous other alumni, were all in attendance to celebrate just how far the Resos have come in two short decades.

Starting off their set list was ju-nior Nicole Villanova with a soulful version of Florence + The Machine’s “Shake It Out.” They followed with their “Reso Hymn” to educate the audience about the history of the Resos, even providing the lyrics on the back of their program for any-one wishing to sing along. Sopho-more Austin Allen and junior Caitlin McGonagle followed with a Justin Timberlake mash-up of “Cry Me a River” and “What Goes Around/Comes Around.” Allen certainly did Timberlake’s falsetto justice, with McGonagle comple-menting him nicely. Senior Kevin Blank performed the Black Keys favorite “Tighten Up,” mixed with the Raconteurs’s “Steady as She Goes,” followed by sophomore Gabby Ambrosio’s breathtaking version of the Amy Winehouse favorite, “Valer-ie.” The first half of the concert ended with senior Mani Drefuss’s “No One’s Gonna Love You.”

As per Reso tradition, their intermis-sion was dedicated to the “newbie skit,” in which the newest member of the Resos must prepare some sort of entertainment for the audience. This time, first-year Da-vid Gilden had the honor of describing the interconnecting histories of both The Reso-lutions and his own life and musical jour-ney. After trying his hand at various instru-ments including piano, violin and guitar, Gilden finally auditioned for the Resos on a whim and discovered his true musical po-tential. The account certainly elicited many laughs from the audience.

To begin the second half was ju-nior Tim McEvoy and first-year Rachel Disalvo’s emotional rendering of Go-tye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know.” Next, the current members poked fun at the alumni by having senior Kenley Un-ruh perform “Up on the Roof,” despite an alumnus claiming his hatred for this song after it was first performed at the Resos’s first concert 20 years ago. Senior Britty Buonocore followed with a Reso favorite, “Where the Streets Have No Name.” The group then came back to-gether, performing “So It Goes,” a song that holds particular importance to the group and which they dedi-cated specially to the founders in attendence. Rounding out the night was junior Garett Wilkes performing The Red Hot Chili Peppers’s “Soul to Squeeze,” followed by senior Liz Wing, who was joined by all of the Resos alumni, for the final number, “Operator.”

The Resos certainly did not disappoint on such an impor-tant night in their group’s his-tory. Not only did they look wonderfully coordinated, but their energy was contagious, causing everyone in attendance to leave wishing they had just a fraction of the talent of any of the group members.

Contact Cambria Litsey at

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