The Bristol Suspensions to appear on BBC’s Pitch Battle tomorrow
Posted on: 07 Jul 2017The a cappella group, who formed at the University of Bristol in 2014, will make their television debut tomorrow evening (Saturday 8th July) when they star in BBC One’s Pitch Battle.
Ten years ago, a cappella didn’t occupy too many units of popular culture, an art form apparently sliding into antiquity along with the barbershop quartets and saccharine harmonies of old.
The subsequent decade, however, has seen an uncanny societal rehabilitation of the practice, with American TV shows like Glee and movies like Pitch Perfect dragging voice choirs back into relevance, reimagining them as places where difference and misfitting is to be celebrated.
This phenomenon quickly crossed the Atlantic, rushing onto the campuses of the UK’s university towns. Bristol is no exception, but is able to boast the exceptional – The Bristol Suspensions, who formed at UoB in 2014, are the current UK University A Cappella Champions.
And it appears the only way is up for the group, who will tomorrow make their television debut on BBC One’s talent show Pitch Battle.
The show, presented by Mel Giedroyc, pits 30 professional and amateur a cappella groups against each other in pursuit of a £50,000 cash prize. The groups are judged by pop-star Kelis, TV choirmaster Gareth Malone and a guest who changes weekly – tomorrow it will be Seal.
Competing against five other groups in tomorrow’s heat, the Suspensions will fight to reach a place in the live final by showing off in the group performance, showstopper and riff-off rounds. The group judged to be the best on the back of these will advance directly to the final.
Speaking to the University newspaper, Epigram, one of the Suspensions said: “It was a big opportunity because a cappella is rapidly growing in popularity among the British public and it was a good chance to get people outside of Bristol listening to us.”
The third episode of Pitch Battle will air at 7.30pm tomorrow night on BBC One – tune in to catch The Bristol Suspensions in action. For more from the UK University A Cappella Champions, check them out on Facebook.
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An ardent Geordie minus the accent, Sam seemingly strove to get as far away from the Toon as possible, as soon as university beckoned. Three undergraduate years at UoB were more than ample time for Bristol (as it inevitably does) to get under his skin, and so here he remains: reporting, as Assistant Editor, on the cultural happenings which so infatuated him with the city. Catch him at sam@365bristol.com.
