I got a chance to relive my college days today during a trip to Green Bay. I went with my mom and some other family members up to the Weidner Center in Green Bay to see the University of Wisconsin band perform. Some of my fondest memories from college were at football, basketball and hockey games and the soundtrack that accompanied the sports triumphs and tribulations was provided by the UW band.
The band was up in Green Bay as part of a fund-raiser for the UW Alumni Club of Brown County.
They didn't disappoint from high-stepping entrance, to the last "U-rah U-rah Wisconsin." They played a good mix of football halftime show tunes, like a Queen melody, a tribute to rockers who died young and a TV theme song melody. Their performance of selections from Les Miserables was really cool (I loved how they started with a loner trumpeter on Do You Hear the People Sing? and it slowly grew to the entire band).
But while their entire show made me tap my toes and clap my hands, I have to admit, my favorite parts were the pieces that brought me back to my days at Camp Randall or the Kohl Center. How could you not enjoy The Chicken Dance (which we completed in 22 seconds flat?), or The Beer Barrel Polka or If You Want to be a Badger? And Tequila or Hey Baby?
And although I didn't have fellow Badgers next to me to drape an arm around while I sang Varsity, I felt as though I was transported back to my days in Madison, just another Badger celebrating, or lamenting, another fine performance on the athletic field.
So thanks to the Badger band, for taking me back to my time as a student and letting me enjoy the songs I came to cherish. Because it's true, when you say Wisconsin, You've Said it All.
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