Music Banter - Need a friendship song! Help!

Hi everyone,

I'm on the search for a specific song about friendship and am hoping for some help. I'm putting together a cabaret show that will premiere this December in New York, which will be a 15 song set - 8 songs by me, and 7 duets with 7 of my friends. I have a wonderful setlist full of jazz, rock, musical theatre, pop, even some 50's doowop... but I'm really stuck on the opening song! It needs to be on the uptempo side since it's a show opener, and I want to stay away from jazz/standards/showtunes since it's a little cliche for the cabaret setting and I have a handful of them already in the show. The song should definitely be about friendship in some positive way (to set the "theme" of having my friends come sing duets with me), though it shouldn't be sappy (i.e. "You've Got a Friend" is a lovely song but NOT what I'm looking for.) Right now the best option I've come up with is "Appletree" by Erykah Badu since the lyrics express what I'm trying to say perfectly - but the song itself is very repetitive so not quite ideal. In a perfect world I'd love for it to be a rock/pop/r&b song that you wouldn't normally hear in a cabaret club. The “cooler” the better. ☺

Any suggestions? Keys and arrangements don't matter - those are easy to adjust as necessary. Oh, and my pianist is incredible, but songs that are very drum-reliant, etc. probably won’t work very well.

Thanks so much for any help!
Judy