Listen up, Madison – Friday and Saturday nights (Dec. 2 and 3), the University of Wisconsin MadHatters are performing at the Orpheum Theater at 8 p.m. The premier men’s a cappella group at UW has put together roughly an hour and a half of all types of music, including Christmas, country, rock and the blues.
The MadHatters are well known on the UW campus, but they also perform around Madison and beyond. Alex Yant, a new member of the MadHatters, described the group as “a magical group of sixteen beautiful, handsome gentlemen.” He added, “In all seriousness, in the end, we’re just a bunch of guys that like to have fun, but we’re determined to make a good product for the people to whom we perform.”
The MadHatters can often be found sporadically performing in random venues such as dorms, dining halls and coffee houses, but they only have a few big concerts every year. This is one of them. According to Yant, the Orpheum seats seventeen hundred people and, judging from the dwindling number of tickets remaining, the performance will be to a sold out house.
The MadHatters will be performing many of the songs in their current repertoire, such as “Tossing and Turning,” “Ain’t no Sunshine” and “Not over You.” They will also be performing Christmas music like “Little Saint Nick,” “Blue Christmas” and “Wisconsin Christmas,” a song written by an older member of the MadHatters, David Redick.
“I would say it’s not overwhelmingly Christmas, but it’s our Madhatters fun take on a stylized holiday concert and you know, us being just us,” Yant said. “A lot of it is just spontaneous, off the cuff. You really get a feel for the guys and you know how to work off of each other … I think the group is really fun in that respect because a lot of it is spontaneous. But there might be a few surprises in terms of who shows up onstage. … There’s definitely some surprises for people to look forward to.”
The group will also be selling their CDs at the concert. The MadHatters have five CDs out: Cheer On Tap, Random Play, Not For Credit, Friday After Class and State Street. Cheer On Tap is the group’s Christmas album and includes some of the songs featured in the upcoming concert. Yant said he recommends Random Play.
“That is my personal favorite. It has a lot of good stuff, especially the “Swallowed in the Sea” rendition by us, originally done by Coldplay. That’s one of my favorite MadHatter songs,” he said.
Because the group performs in dorms and dining halls on campus, it is sometimes difficult to know when and where the MadHatters are performing. Yant recommends following the MadHatters’ Twitter and Facebook. The group actively updates these, so fans can follow them and catch a gig or two here or there.
The smaller gigs are exciting, but the upcoming concert should not be missed.
“There’s going to be lights, there’s going to be dancing, there’s going to be action, and there’s going to be a lot of ridiculous humor. We cooked up a few more surprises in terms of videos as well that we are going to share and a few other skits,” Yant said. “It will be fun. I don’t say this lightly. It should be an unforgettable night. … It’s MadHatters Christmas, which makes it infinitely better than normal Christmas.”
Tickets can be bought on the MadHatters website, www.uwmadhatters.com, or from a MadHatters member. If bought online, student tickets are $16 and adult tickets are $22, with a $5 surcharge. If bought from a MadHatter, student tickets are $15 and adult tickets are $20.
