YouTube sensation Straight No Chaser comes home

Christmas music, old hits and fog machines were the key elements in Saturday night’s performance by the original members of Straight No Chaser.

The original members of the all-male a capella group performed for Homecoming weekend to promote their new album “Holiday Spirits,” set to release in stores on Tuesday.

“We wanted to capture the same energy that we had back in 1998,” said Straight No Chaser original member Dan Ponce.

Ladies First opened the show with songs such as “Beautiful Disaster” and “Ain’t No Other Man.”

Straight No Chaser’s performance began with its rendition of the hit “This is How We Do It.” To mix up the performance, the men mixed in their version of “Low” by Flo Rida.

As the singers introduced themselves, one of the members said he has a high ambition – to sell 100 million records by Dec. 24. Another member pointed out that would be “Thriller,” the best selling album of all time,  times four.

During the first half of the program, the men sang a variety of songs such as “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley, Toto’s “Africa” and “Worlds Apart.” They also sang three of their songs on their new Christmas album.

The group knew that because it was the end of October, the audience did not want to hear a whole set of Christmas songs, Ponce said. So the group mixed in some other material.

For the second set, the group sang more classics such as “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” and “Stand By Me.” They also brought an original song to the stage called “The Time Has Come.”

The set ended with the classic “Straight No Chaser.” However, after a standing ovation from the crowd, the group performed its version of “12 Days of Christmas,” which has become famous across the country and received nearly 8 million views on YouTube.  

The group’s final encore was an improvised rendition of “Dry Campus.” The song was a humorous way to end the show because they had not rehearsed the song since they performed it together 10 years ago.

“It was an amazing performance,” junior Lauren Grossel said. “It’s nice to see them back together again.”

Because the group had this opportunity, they could not say no, original group member
Walter Chase said. It made the most sense to come back, he said.

The group plans to tour for the holiday album, and then, depending on its success, to return and record a second album in 2009, Chase said.

“It’s been an adjustment to our lives and a huge sacrifice of time,” Ponce said. But he said the group would love to do this full time.

“Everything is the same as it was years ago,” Chase said. “The buildings are the same, the guys working here in the auditorium are even the same guys, but we definitely have changed.”