The Marching 110's Saturday show will include old hits and a contemporary ballad and the Alumni Band will perform "Play That Funky Music."
Terry Krause, a 1972 alumnus, has only missed two Homecomings in the last 30 years — solely because he plays in the Alumni Band.
“Playing in the Alumni Band, you get to be a rock star for five minutes,” he said.
The Alumni Band carries on tradition the Saturday of Homecoming Weekend as it marches in the parade alongside current 110 members and later performs at Peden Stadium. This year, Josh Boyer, the assistant director of the 110, said the alumni will be playing and dancing to “Play That Funky Music” by Wild Cherry.
The Alumni Band receives the music prior, but puts the final show together during a Saturday practice that’s about an hour long.
Mike Voytek, an alumnus and trombone player, said the song the band performs is not important.
“I don’t even care what we play, just the fact we get to play is my favorite things — being in the parade, being out on the field, seeing the crowd, hearing the crowd, feeling the power of the band,” Voytek said.
The Marching 110’s Saturday show will also acknowledge the 40th anniversary of women returning to the band. The 110 will open with “The Main Event” by Barbra Streisand, a song from the late ’70s.
The 110 played “The Main Event” during halftime in 1980, and Saturday’s performance will include some of the same drill concepts, Boyer said. The band will also play “Thinking Out Loud” by Ed Sheeran and dance to “Love Rollercoaster” by The Ohio Players, a song that was released in 1975.
“The show has a couple of really cool moments in it, some impact moments in it, and I think people will really enjoy it since it’s a little bit of old, a little bit of new,” Boyer said.
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Matt Brunner, an alumnus who played the trumpet, said he tries to come back to Homecoming every chance he can, but it’s not always possible because he is the director of Temple University's marching band.
The moment football schedules come out, he said he checks to see if he will be able to make to OU’s Homecoming.
“I don’t even plan Temple’s band schedule until I know when Homecoming is at OU,” he said. “If there is a football game, there isn’t much I can do about it, but for other performances, I say ‘Nope. I won’t be there.’ ”
Kyle Likens, an alumnus and trombone player, graduated in spring 2014 but said coming back for last year's Homecoming felt like coming home.
“It’s amazing that we get to go out, play and dance with the band still,” Likens said “It’s an unforgettable experience to come back for homecoming.”
Likens said regardless if someone is newly graduated or was in the original Marching Men of Ohio in 1967, stepping back on the field brings back all of the memories.
Krause said the first time he marched with the Alumni Band and stepped on Peden Field again was a memorable moment.
“You forget what that’s like after a while and you come back and you do that and go ‘Wow,’ ” he said. “Every year, there is that wow factor.”
A lot has change at OU over the years, Boyer said, “but the band is still the 110.”
Aislyn Scalese, an undecided sophomore and current trumpet player in the 110, said preparing for Homecoming is the hardest week of the season. Last year was difficult, Scalese said, but it was worth it.
“Getting to perform with the alumni last year and seeing the energy and making awesome music with people who are 20 or 30 years older than me was amazing,” she said.
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