Alumni, students and family members filled the Pause Mane Stage Saturday, Oct. 5 for the Limestones 30th anniversary concert. The show featured different generations of the male a cappella ensemble, going all the way back to its founders.
The original members said their time in Viking Chorus inspired them to create the group because they wanted to keep singing together.
“It was such a joy singing together that we just ended up formalizing it … but it really was just the fact that we loved hearing our voices together, and we loved the camaraderie, and we loved each other and from that it really grew,” Jed Anderson ’92 said.
From performing at overflowing shows in Larson Hall to singing the Star-Spangled Banner at a Minnesota Twins game, the group became something they wanted to pass on to future students.
“Being in the Limestones fundamentally changed the college experience for us,” Ben Lunstad ’92 said. “We had a brotherhood that developed from that and now we can see it progress through generations.”
“We love to see the new groups put their own stamp on it,” Geoff Pemble ’92 said when asked about later generations of Limestones.
“It’s like meeting kindred spirits,” Lunstad said when asked what it’s like meeting Limestones from different generations. “They’re all really enthusiastic, fun people. They’ve really kept the tradition going.”
Other founding Limestones members echoed these sentiments. “We see ourselves in them,” Brent Cataldo ’92 said.
The reunion served as a great way to connect the 70 or so Limestones who were present, and Anderson describes the performance as “a vacation for the soul.”
Reminiscing caused the original members to laugh and harmonize some chords, joking that it doesn’t take much for them to break into song.
Jonah Berthelsen ’20, a current Limestone member and self-described ‘townie,’ was in an a cappella group in high school that always looked up to the Limestones. As him and Silas Guelzow ’20 saw the Limestones perform at the end of a Viking Chorus practice their first year, they knew they needed to audition. Now they are beloved seniors of the Limestones
The Limestones plan to go on a midwest tour through Milwaukee, Chicago, Iowa City and Twin Cities during spring break.
“We’re already looking forward to the 35th reunion,” Guelzow said.
