Open up TikTok and search #villanovaspires. Better yet, scroll through your For You Page. Either way, if you’re a student at Villanova and your algorithm is anything like the rest of ours, you’re likely to come across the Villanova Spires singing their rendition of Jeremih’s “Birthday Sex.”
The Spires are one of nine a cappella groups on Villanova’s campus. But long before the Spires went viral on social media, they were just a group of college students who loved three things: singing, their guitars and each other.
The Spires were originally founded as a folk guitar group by Tom Picardo in 1961. It wasn’t until 1988 that the group became fully a cappella.
Now, on the 65th anniversary of the group’s founding, the current 12 members are hosting an anniversary concert intended to bring together generations of Spires.
The concert will open with an introduction, followed by a selection of songs from the current members, which will feature everything from their A Capalooza set to senior-specific solos.
From there, alumni will be brought onstage by decade, culminating in a final performance with all alumni singing “Time in a Bottle” by Jim Croce, who is another founder of the group.
“When you join a club here at Villanova, you enjoy it for four years, and then sometimes you stay friends with people,” music director and senior Aleko Zeppos said. “But Spires is the gift that keeps on giving. I mean, we have such a great alumni network, and we’re able to do something as unique as this alumni concert, where we invite these guys, dating back to the 60s, to come join us on stage and sing songs that we all know, or show each other unique songs from our times, and just bond over that. I mean, it’s really special.”
Another musical group on Villanova’s campus, the Villanova Choir, produced many of the Spires’ founding members. In the 1960s, several men from the choir formed the Spires, which began as an unofficial subset of the group. Any kind of folk music one could think of, the Spires performed it.
Since then, the Spires have evolved, but brotherhood has remained the grounding force behind its evolution.
“What differentiates us from any other group or club on campus is that we’re a friend group,” president and junior Cole Joyce said. “And the medium we do that through is music.”
The Spires only began doing birthday visits, featuring either “Birthday Sex” or their signature song, “Good Ol’ A Cappella,” this academic year. But the impact of those mini performances has been nothing short of astronomical.
“It goes to show how much of an impact only 12 people can have on the community,” Joyce said. “Singing these [birthday songs] feels very normal to us, but I read some of the comments on TikTok, and it’s kind of unreal.”
The comment sections are flooded: “I should have gone to Villanova,” “My best friend goes there,” and others tagging friends, encouraging them to audition for the group.
“Just to see people taking pride in the school from something we’re doing is kind of crazy,” Joyce said.
But that’s the impact the Spires want to be having after their 65 years on Villanova’s campus.
They want to engage the very University that has welcomed generations of alumni.
“We’ve maintained a brotherhood [all these years],” Zeppos said. “It’s just a group of brothers that enjoy singing and enjoy sharing our gifts with the rest of the Villanova community.”
The Anniversary concert will be held in the Villanova Room from 4-7 p.m. on Saturday, April 18, when guests can see six decades worth of Spires sing.
