A cappella group Straight No Chaser returns to Rose with ‘90s throwback tour

Throwing back to last year’s ‘90s-themed tour, RIAA-certified Gold a cappella group Straight No Chaser is making a return to Huber Heights this summer — with bright neons, loud prints, and all — to sing some of the decade’s best-loved classics.

The aptly titled “The ‘90s Part 2” summer tour is making a stop at the Rose Music Center on July 25, with special guest O-Town — the American boy band made famous on the reality TV show “Making the Band” — opening the show. Tickets are available now.

The setlist features Straight No Chaser’s twist on ‘90s hits, like “Linger” from The Cranberries, “Everybody” by the Backstreet Boys, and “Stay” by Lisa Loeb (who shared a few dates on last year’s tour). A slew of new songs have been added to the mix — from country, hip-hop, boy bands, R&B, and female rock artists. So, as baritone Steve Morgan says, “there’s something that you will know, and there’s some songs that you will love.”

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Formed at Indiana University, Straight No Chaser rose to prominence at the forefront of the modern day a cappella movement — arguably paving the way for “Glee,” “The Sing-Off,” and the “Pitch Perfect” franchise. Its viral version of “12 Days of Christmas” in 1998 launched a career that’s sold over three million albums, earned more than a billion streams on Pandora alone, and moved 1.5 million concert tickets globally.

With no instruments, Straight No Chaser distills music down to pure voice — straight, no chaser. The approach feels like an antidote to the heavily processed, vocoder-driven vocals that defined much of late-’90s and early-2000s pop. With a show built around ‘90s hits, the group taps into a collective memory, when music felt like a shared experience.

“Certainly in the music industry back then,” Morgan said, “every CD that came out was setting new records; we were all consuming music the same way, listening to it on the radio, having to go out and buy those CDs. Back then, we were all listening to the same thing.”

While the tour is a nostalgia trip for those who lived through the era, the diversity of the decade’s hits can speak to virtually everyone, regardless of age. The songs bring people together.

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At its core, an a cappella group can be seen as an offshoot of choir — something that’s neither inherently cool nor uncool. It’s subjective. The same goes for the perceived “cool factor” of boy bands like O-Town (though you could argue there was an objective lull in the genre before K-pop’s BTS reignited it). So when a show pairs two ambiguously cool acts — Straight No Chaser and O-Town — it feels like they’re doubling down.

I asked Morgan to explain why anyone who dismisses both as “uncool” might just be missing the point.

“The way I describe it, we just want blind joy,” he said. “We’re going to sing songs that you know and love in a unique way. We’re not trying to tell you that we’re the coolest thing ever. We want you to have fun... to get up, sing, dance, clap along, and have a party together.”

Straight No Chaser originally formed in 1996, with the intention of it being a legacy group at IU. It still continues to this day, and will celebrate its 30th anniversary concert next year. SNC has since taken the founding members on the road, across the world, for 17 years.

“The things that we’ve been able to do, the people we’ve been able to meet, it’s just been the most incredible ride,” Morgan said. “We’re just trying to enjoy every step of the way and hopefully keep providing joy for our audience.”

And that, in and of itself, is cool. Or, maybe more apropos of the ‘90s: totally fly.

Brandon Berry writes about the Dayton and Southwest Ohio music and arts scene. Have a story idea for him? Email branberry100@gmail.com.