I’ve been a big fan of The Friars for a while now. Excited for our last Friars concert as graduating seniors, my friend and I were very much looking forward to the ‘Best Concert Ever’. My friend actually insisted we leave the house at 7 pm for the 8pm show because she’s so particular about the seating in Rackham. “You don’t have a good view of the stage unless you’re in the middle rows,” she said. So we left early, got seats in 4th row center, and anxiously awaited the Friars to jump out onto stage.
The Friars, as always, were energetic. A few of the songs they sang included Starland Vocal Band’s “Afternoon Delight”, Hall & Oates’ “You Make My Dreams” , Taylor Swift’s’ “You Belong with Me”, Maroon 5’s “Misery”, and The Turtles’ “So Happy Together”. But of course, everyone knows that the Friars are famous for their parodies. One new parody song they sang was about a certain “unkempt” group of people on campus: humanities majors. The song poked fun at LSA and subjects in the humanities in comparison with majors viewed as more practical, such as computer science and engineering. The song was of course introduced by Tenor II, LSA junior, Aaron Bindman as he joked about his concentrations in History and Classics. Another well-known parody they performed was “Formal Rush Dropout” to the tune of ‘Beauty School Dropout’. As many know, the Friars love singing about Greek life. (Another one of their parodies mocks the sorority girls’ winter dress, ‘North Face Girl’). I’m not sure they’ve gone one show without singing either one of those songs, but it’s all in good humor.
Later into the show, they brought up the ‘Prior Friars’, as they call them, to sing “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”. About 7 of them were in attendance, both from recent years and many years ago. Their presence is usually very noticeable because the Prior Friars are the ones making jokes and calling out to the stage during song intros. They are also usually all wearing turtlenecks, in all kinds of colors. After being to a couple shows where the Prior Friars came up and sang, my friend and I realized it must be a tradition. These kinds of traditions are what the Friars are really all about, whether it be their parodies, hilarious, but unrelated introductions to songs, or the Prior Friar joint performance.
Closing their 2-hour concert, Tenor I, junior, Bryan Kendall, led the Friars in singing, “G-d Bless the U of M”, their version of “G-d Bless the USA”, which I would say is one of their best parodies, one that’s not full of jokes, but more sentimental and full of UM Friar pride.
