Only a day after the chocolates and roses of Valentine's day, a full crowd in Slee Hall was offered some sweet sounds courtesy of UB's renowned a cappella group, The Buffalo Chips.
The show was particularly special, both because of the group's 13th birthday, and the two other great a cappella groups opening the show.
The Chips were first to take the stage, welcoming the crowd by performing "King of Spain," by Moxy Fruvous and "White Shadows," by Coldplay.
Taking the stage next was a co-ed a cappella group from the University of Pittsburgh, The Pitt Pendulums.
The Pendulums came out and sang a wide range of well-known songs, including "All That She Wants," by Ace of Base, "Africa," by Toto, and "Hit Me With Your Best Shot," by Pat Benatar.
The group finished with the song everyone knows and hates to admit they love, "Shot Through the Heart," by Bon Jovi.
"[I'm] excited to perform with The Chips again...they bring a great audience and gave us a really great time," said Leigh-Anne Miguelez, one of The Pitt Pendulums.
Miguelez added that she hopes to perform with The Chips again.
"The Chips are great hosts, and great performers...we had a lot of fun," said Peter Mckeon, the Pendulums' co-music director.
After a 15-minute intermission, the female a cappella group Sounds of Pleasure, also hailing from the University of Pittsburgh, performed. The Sounds sang an illustrious set of five songs, including a rendition of Coolio's "Gangster's Paradise."
The group sang some songs from the softer side of pop, starting with "Dreams," by The Cranberries and "Fix You," by Coldplay.
The Sounds then sang a version of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy," receiving thunderous applause from the audience, and finished with cheesy pop classic "Backstreet's Back," by The Backstreet Boys.
Finally The Chips came on for their full set, starting with the very popular "Apologize," by Timbaland, featuring OneRepublic, and Queen's "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" (with some help from the Chip Alumni).
"Our group is unique because we have no music majors, some groups made of all music majors are better at blending because they are trained, but we focus more on performing and the audience," said the group's music director, Mike Donohue.
Donohue believes their focus on entertaining the audience is one of the reasons they have won best choreography honors at some of their main competitions for four years in a row.
"People hear a cappella and think of the old stuff like barber shop quartets. They don't understand we do songs people know, and songs that are on the radio," Donohue said.
For their next song, "It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday," by Boyz II Men, The Chips brought up a member of the audience, who was celebrating her 50th wedding anniversary, and made her swoon.
The final song, "What Goes Around," by Justin Timberlake, had choreography that would have made its original singer proud.
For an encore The Chips performed "It Don't Have To Change," by John Legend, a very soulful tune that had the audience clapping along.
Michelle Masters, a sophomore pharmacy major at UB, enjoyed the whole show.
"I like how unique it is, and how each song is really different," Masters said.
Elyse Jackson, another sophomore pharmacy major, was impressed by the choreography in particular, and thought that all the groups were very "polished."
"They have to be really talented; a cappella shows true talent," Jackson said.
Since The Chips took first place along with several other awards at the recent International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella tournament, the group is working hard to fundraise for the next competition at Rutgers College on April 5. The Saturday show should help to send them on their way.
"It's unlike anything else you hear today. It's distinct, and it's refreshing to hear," said Sara Calleri, a sophomore history major at UB. "It shows you that people can still sing, and not everyone is just a synthesized voice box."
