The first video clip shown introduced the audience to quite the suspense and the “hardships” that Partial Credit had gone through, namely: auditions. To explain myself, Partial Credit—where the members call themselves the “PC Kids”—is one of RPI’s a cappella groups. In addition to their interesting repertoire—which includes songs from Rent, Avenue Q, Weezer, and Natalie Imbruglia—they also share an uncanny love for Muppets.

To warm the audience up, Partial Credit started off by performing The Who’s “Baba O’Reilly,” Counting Crow’s “Accidentally in Love,” and Weezer’s “Island in the Sun.” Afterwards they opened the stage up for the next guest performers: the Girls Next Door.

Coming from St. Rose’s in Albany, the Girls Next Door proceeded to entertain the audience with their own style of music—yes, the name does hint that it was a group of girls. Some of the songs they performed were Alanis Morissette’s “Ironic,” Don Henley’s “Boys of Summer,” Cheap Trick’s “I Want You to Want Me,” and—the cream of the crop—Madonna’s “Like a Prayer.”

The second guest performance came from the University of Rochester, and they called themselves the Yellow Jackets—and yes, they were wearing yellow jackets. Contrary to the Girls Next Door—which was all girls—the Yellow Jackets had—yes, you guessed it— an all-male performance.

U of R’s Yellow Jackets charmed us with Billy Joel’s “Sleeping with the Television On,” Weezer’s “Undone,” O.A.R.’s “Hey Girl,” Staind’s “Everything Changes,” and The Nylons’ catchy “Up the Ladder.” To further add to our amusement, the Yellow Jackets made a plea on buying their CDs by threatening to leave their freshmen behind—poor fellows.

Right after a brief ten-minute intermission, Partial Credit came back on stage to finish with a bang. They started out with a Muppet medley (including the songs “It’s Not Easy Being Green,” “Moving Right Along,” and “Rainbow Connection”), to the great amusement of many.

PC then proceeded to continue with the songs listed on the program. We heard songs such as Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock and Roll,” Howie Day’s “Collide,” Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes,” and REM’s “Shiny Happy People.” In addition to that (and these two were my personal favorites), two other performances were Natalie Imbruglia’s “Wishing I Was There,” and “Take Me or Leave Me” from Rent.

Each of the last performances had its own string of soloists, adding to the variety of the music. Near the end, when the final performance was at hand, the PC Kids found fellow PC alumnus Trent to join in for the finale. Their last song was apparently a “tribute” to the best song in the world.