Fresh off a massive United States tour, beloved a cappella group The Other Guys returned to University of St Andrews with a breathtaking “Homecoming” performance in Buchanan Theatre. After an opening video with highlights from their tour (which included a stop at the “TODAY” show), the show kicked off with a fan-favorite tune, ‘St Andrews Girls‘. The boys were as cheeky as ever, hamming it up for their audience and showing off their dance moves.
Their set continued without skipping a beat, and the guys shared one of two brand-new medleys from their tour – a mashup of Justin Timberlake’s “Suit and Tie”, “What Goes Around…”, and “Summer Love” (with a dash of *NSYNC thrown in as well). Soloist Ryan Hubner flaunted his charm (with some backup help from Ted Haxby and Andrew Pattie), making one think that The Other Guys should venture into 90s-boybander-turned-superstar territory more often.
One of the standouts from the first act of the “Homecoming” show was a stunning cover of Sara Bareilles’ “Gravity”. With a single spotlight on vocalist Laurie Slavin, the boys showed their versatility in this quietly understated interpretation of the song.
Watch the video below to see for yourself!
Following a brief intermission (where fangirls such as myself could buy fabulous TOG merchandise), a second video was shown, with slides of the guys in New York and Boston during their tour. One of the most memorable bits of the video was The Other Guys’ adventure to Build-A-Bear, where they made their special tour bear. Along with the videos, the group took pauses in their performance to share stories about their trip. Ted Haxby detailed a memorable night in New York, where the boys were taken to a bar called “Franklin’s”, and found that there were lots of… other guys. Of course, it wouldn’t be a great night without room service, so after their dash from the gay bar, the boys ordered $100 worth of room service bacon. The audience was in stitches, and loved hearing the quirky parts about their United States tour.
In this second act, The Other Guys debuted another mashup, featuring the songs of pop icon Miley Cyrus. Andrew Pattie’s passionate rendition of “The Climb” was one of my favorite parts of the night, and it seemed that the boys loved performing the mashup as well. Other highlights included The Other Guys’ original song “St Andrean Skies” (written in honour of the 600th anniversary of the university), as well as a parody of Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise”, or rather, “Golfer’s Paradise”. Listen below!
Words: Staley Sharples
Saint Audio 