EASTON, Pa. — A popular a cappella group whose membership includes two Lehigh Valley natives, will return to Easton’s State Theatre in December for a holiday show.
So will a popular rock-music-holiday presentation that also includes a Lehigh Valley resident.
The nine-man a cappella group Straight No Chaser, best known for its viral internet video of “Twelve Days of Christmas” mashed with Toto’s “Africa,” will perform at the theater Dec. 7, the group said in announcing its latest tour, which kicks off July 8 at Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, New Jersey.
The group will release a new holiday album this year, a release announcing the tour said.
The State Theatre has not announced the show, so times and ticket sales and prices have not been revealed.
But State Theatre has announced that Wizards of Winter, the popular rock-music-holiday show featuring members who have performed with classic rock legends such as Trans Siberian Orchestra, Def Leppard and Alice Cooper and on Broadway, will return at 3 p.m. Dec. 21.
Tickets for that show, at $47.50-$69.50, are on sale at the State Theatre website and the box office at 453 Northampton St., Easton.
Started with a 2007 viral hit
Straight No Chaser includes Forks Township native Walter Chase (who also is its musical director) and Allentown native Jerome Collins, who is the group's lead is vocalist.
Its version of "12 Days of Christmas," released 18 years ago, has nearly 40 million views on YouTube alone.
The song went viral when a video of the group performing “12 Days of Christmas” mixed with Toto’s “Africa” was released on YouTube and became the most viewed video of 2007.
Straight No Chaser in 2008 signed with Atlantic Records and released its debut album, “Holiday Spirits.” That disc reached gold sales, as did the group’s sophomore disc, 2009’s “Christmas Cheers.”
It has released nine albums and seven EPs since, with its last being last year's EP "90s Proof."
Straight No Chaser last played at the State Theatre in December 2024. It also played there in December 2023 as part of the tour for its last album, 2023' “Yacht on the Rocks.”
It also sold out two shows at the theater in 2019, in 2018 and in 2017 in its first shows at the venue.
It also performed at Miller Symphony Hall in Allentown in July 2023, in 2016 and two shows in 2013 (one sold out in 42 minutes). It drew 5,000 at Bethlehem’s Musikfest in 2011.
TSO cover band to original Christmas music
The 12-member ensemble Wizards of Winter, which is based in Frenchtown, New Jersey, is a Trans-Siberian Orchestra-like holiday-themed, orchestral rock group.
Its members include bassist Greg Smith of Washington Township, Northampton County, who for nearly two decades has been bassist for raucous rocker Ted Nugent.Wizards of Winter website
This marks the 16th year of Wizards of Winter since it formed to perform a holiday concert of Trans-Siberian Orchestra music to support a struggling local food pantry.
It found so much success it wrote its own Christmas rock opera, “Tales Beneath a Northern Star,” for its 2011 tour. It since has released four more albums — the latest being last year's "The Wizards of Winter Live Volume I & Volume II."
It now plays a show that’s 90 percent its own music.
Its members include bassist Greg Smith of Washington Township, Northampton County.
Smith for nearly two decades has been bassist for raucous rocker Ted Nugent and has played with Alice Cooper, Billy Joel, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, The Guess Who, Dokken and more.
This year, Wizards of Winter again will perform “The Christmas Dream.”
