For an event that had to be pushed back almost a month because of low participation, the talent show that almost wasn't bounced back to life, running nearly three hours and featuring 24 acts.

It opened with an all-freshman rock band of Paul Blischak, Will Cardina, Mark Jendrisak and Greg Swiatek, followed by senior Kevin Prarat getting down to Jim Morrison in black "pleather" pants and a billowy white shirt.

Cardina was excited to be a part of the show.

"I'd never played in front of a large group of people like that," he said. "It was intimidating to open, but a lot of fun."

Besides the band and Prarat, the first act showcased a variety of talents, including junior Sean King and senior Bryan Milane on bass, junior Will Hamilton on piano, rap by sophomores Jeff Sibley and Justin Holden, solo songs by junior Kayla Maher and senior Bryan Fair, poetry recitation by Alex Mason and dance by Kate Iselin and Lindsay Turoso.

The second act opened with the all-teachers group of Scott Kopp on drums, Greg Milo on bass and Mike McCandless on guitar. Outfitted in Hoban marching band uniforms, they played portions of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," "Instant Karma" and "Hey Jude" by the Beatles.

Near the end of the medley, the audience was a singing ocean of waving arms and lit cell phones in lieu of lighters.

Junior Erica Nunez thought the teachers' act was the best.

"It was really emotional when everyone was singing 'Hey Jude' together," she said. "Everyone was smiling."

The second act consisted of more solos by Tim Magaw, Kathie Kovarik, Mike DeCarlo and Meghan Haury, a group a capella by Megan DalSanto, Andrew Gerbetz, Robert Huff, Rebecca Mayors and Katie Sunday, a rap by Mike Mure and a parody of Mure's rap at last year's show by Mark Apsega and Joe Bouterse.

Throughout the show, there had been technical problems involving the sound system. Microphones were constantly being juggled, as vocalists looked for a live one that didn't make their voices sound crackly.

By the last act, a cover of Aerosmith's "Walk this Way," a P.A. speaker had blown and hardly any vocals could be heard, despite the fact that the performers were screaming into their (dead) mikes.

Senior hosts Shaun Eberle and Bethany Axe did their best to keep the crowd engaged during the breaks and trouble spots by telling jokes and stories of childhood sports games.

Junior John Byerly, who performed a song with senior Karl Vorndran under the name Skiing on Stilts, thought the show could have been better.

"I think the show was a little disappointing because a lot of the kids were really good, but could hardly be heard. It would have been a lot better if the musicians had been given more control over setting up their sound levels themselves," he said.