“I think the performance went so well, we had so much energy,” Hilliard, a first soprano with the group, said. “It was a really good turnout.”

The all female 11 member a cappella group performed a wide variety of songs and choreographed dances to a crowd Friday night in Warriner Hall’s Plachta Auditorium.

The performance included a love medley featuring songs like Pat Benatar’s “Love is a Battlefield” and the Beatles “All You Need is Love” as well as a top 40 mix and Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean.”

“It is so much fun. All the girls are great and we are a very close nit group,” Hilliard said. “We are an amazing group of fun girls and more people should come out and see our shows because they are awesome.”

Hilliard is in her first semester with the group after transferring to CMU last year.

“I’ve always been a singer and I came to CMU hoping to get a chance to perform and make friends doing it and On the Rox was the perfect opportunity,” she said. “I heard about auditions and I auditioned this fall after I saw signs in the music building and on Facebook.”

Troy sophomore Nicole Sieja said she enjoyed her first time seeing “On the Rox” perform.

“I really liked the end of the show when they did all the songs popular on the radio,” she said. “That was really cool.”

She said her favorite part of the performance was by the Michigan State University “Accafellas,” a nine member all male a cappella group.

As the opening act they performed songs like “Yellow” by Coldplay and “Walking in Memphis” by Marc Cohn.

“I can’t pick a favorite song, they were all really good,” Sieja said. “I really enjoy listening to stuff like this. It was a really good performance and people should come out to the next one.”

The Top Shelf a cappella group brings a combined 17 years of a cappella experience to its first headlining concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the Moore Hall Townsend Kiva.

Tickets are $5 at the door or $4 from a Top Shelf member.

The quartet of seniors consists of tenor Dominic Calzetta from St. Clair Shores, baritone Thomas Younger from Metamora, bass Forrest Nelson from Traverse City and high tenor/vocal percussionist Chris Mueller from Grandville.

Younger said Top Shelf is trying to break the mold of the traditional a cappella groups on campus such as Fish N Chips, On the Rox and Central Harmony.

“With four people obviously, what we do is different from what 15 people will do,” said Younger, music director of Central Harmony. “It’s just an entirely different style of doing things. We thought that it would be something to shake things up around here and that people will like.”

Recognizable tunes

Calzetta said people can expect to hear a big variety of songs.

“We sing everything from ‘Sex on Fire’ by Kings of Leon to ‘God Only Knows’ by the Beach Boys,” he said. “We’ve been at it for five years and people around here have been more and more receptive to a cappella music.”

Younger said one of the advantages of having a small group is the ability to anticipate what the other group members will do.

Calzetta said scheduling practices and concerts is easier with four people.

“Everyone’s schedule works out very well,” he said. “There aren’t 16 people with 16 different schedules to work around.”

Younger said the group’s title as not just a clever name.

“The quality of the a cappella we bring is comparable to alcohol that you would find on the top shelf. It’s the best,” he said. “This is our first of many shows and we would like people to come out and show us some support.”