Black Tie Stereo returned to the BJC for the second year in a row to perform for the crowd at THON 2017. The four-member alternative pop/rock cover group from Scranton consists of lead vocalist and keyboard player Stephen Murphy, Jesse Morvan on guitar and horns, Aaron Kovalich (a Penn State alum) on bass, and George Pachuchy on the drums. The band came back for an encore after making an impression at THON 2016.

The band kicked off the performance with a rendition of The Outfield’s “Your Love” and heads began to bob in the crowd. From there, they seamlessly moved into Rick Springfield’s “Jessie’s Girl.” During the rendition of “Jessie’s Girl” the Nittany Lion came out on stage to rock out with the band. Black Tie Stereo kept with the rock trend and rolled right into a cover of “Summer of 69” by Bryan Adams. Without even stopping, the opening chords of “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” by Simple Minds began to boom through the BJC. As the band rocked out, dancers on the floor began jumping up and down and signs and letters in the crowd began to move and shake.

Black Tie Stereo kept the BJC reminiscing about the 80s with The Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me.” The performance stayed high-energy as the band whipped out Fall Out Boy’s “Sugar, We’re Goin Down” and the entire BJC screamed out the chorus. Black Tie Stereo then reminded THON dancers of their childhood with “The Middle” by Jimmy Eat World.

As the cherished favorite “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” by the Backstreet Boys started booming through the BJC, boys and girls alike started rocking out to the jam. From there, the Nittany Lion joined the band on the stage again to dance to get “Footloose” with Kenny Loggins. As the song faded out, the Nittany Lion wandered into the crowd to give some high-fives and encouragement.

Black Tie Stereo asked the audience to “Get Funky” and opened with Wild Cherry’s “Play That Funky Music.” The band continued with the theme and merged right into George Clinton’s “We Want The Funk” and “Uptown Funk” by Bruno Mars. “Uptown Funk” never disappoints, and the BJC definitely got a little groovy. Morvan and Pachuchy added some flair to the familiar song with a guitar and drums solo respectively. Keeping with the Bruno Mars, the band then merged into “24K Magic.”

Black Tie Stereo then hit the crowd with “December, 1963 (Oh, What A Night)” by The Four Seasons to bring back some sweet memories from Penn State’s win over Ohio State. The band then broke into an original rock song they just recorded in LA, after which they rocked out to Walk The Moon’s “Shut Up And Dance.” Black Tie Stereo closed out their performance with a rendition of “Sunday Morning” by Maroon 5. The crowd clearly enjoyed rocking out and hearing some old favorites, and they all swayed to the beat as Morvan played them out on the trumpet.

If you enjoyed listening to Black Tie Stereo, you can follow them on Twitter here.