In the Sanders Theatre at Harvard University, the university’s oldest a cappella group, the Harvard Krokodiloes, gathered together in their snappiest tuxedos for their October 2025 concert. Despite their 80-year-long history, the Krokodiloes have long proven their ability to take popular music from any era and breathe a fresh lease of life into it with their original arrangements. Music Man readers will be charmed when they hear their unique take on E.L.O.’s 70s hit, ‘Mr. Blue Sky.’

Performed primarily by soloists Luke Williams, Justice Sirotek, and Daniel Shotkin, all of the Krokodiloes joined together to give a performance that highlighted their stunning ability to harmonize, bringing out textures in the song that made it feel brand new. Krokodiloes member William Murray arranged the rendition himself, with one listener commenting, “Added to the list of absolutely breathtaking Will Murray arrangements.” Others called it one of the group’s best-ever performances.

One of the most charming things to me about the Krokodiloes’ performance of ‘Mr Blue Sky’ was how much fun they were clearly having as they performed. There seemed to me to be a sense of energetic playfulness that underpinned the performance as they shared looks and grinned through the performance, allowing themselves to immerse themselves completely in the music. They seemed to be so at ease that they made the complex and challenging performance look like a walk in the park.

While some viewers called this their best-ever arrangement, one even describing it as a “taxing level [of] difficulty in comparison” to their other works, they have so many other impressive performances that any Music Man readers who dig into their back catalogue may find it hard to choose a favourite. Their most viewed performance, a rendition of ‘I Wanna Be Like You’, is a great place to start. At 2.4M views, this captures the same sense of fun and joy that imbues their ‘Mr Blue Sky’ cover.

It could be easy for a historic group with such prestigious academic links to fall into seriousness and pretension. However, for the Harvard Krokodiloes, it is clear that they have managed to keep audiences captivated for over 80 years, not only thanks to their astonishing talent, but also thanks to their upbeat, energetic, and playful performances.

Their lighthearted energy continues to draw audiences to their world tours and to their online videos. Luckily, with an enormous back catalogue and new performances appearing online regularly, fans of the Krokodiloes never have long to wait to find yet another mind-blowing a cappella masterpiece from this astonishingly talented group.

The Harvard Krokodiloes proved why this 80‑year‑old ensemble still captivates: Luke Williams, Justice Sirotek and Daniel Shotkin — with William Murray’s arrangement — delivered a playful, impeccably harmonised ‘Mr Blue Sky’. If you’d like to discover more, useful links to find out more are below this paragraph.