Bob Jones marching band plays Fleetwood Mac

HUNTSVILLE- It came as a complete surprise to the 2,000 concertgoers at the Mark C. Smith Concert Hall Saturday night. First the tuba players filed out on stage. Then the drum line. Before they knew it the entire Bob Jones marching band in full uniform was in the concert hall. Trumpets, saxophones, clarinets and flute players formed a line down the center aisle. Trombones were in the balcony.

They were sharing the stage with the Black Jacket Symphony during their Fleeetwood Mac Tour. And they played and beat their drums to the football rendition of Tusk, a song made popular by the Southern Cal Trojan marching band in the late 70’s.

The band played in front of two sellout crowds in a well kept secret performance.

Bob Jones Band Director Leah Thomas knows the popular marching band song well. The Million Dollar band played it during their pregame while she was a drum major at Alabama.

“About three weeks ago one of their stage managers contacted me about being a part of the show and asked if we would be interested so it was a matter of logistics such as issuing uniforms and we had enough kids that wanted to do it. It was a big commitment. We had about three fourths of the band that didn’t have a conflict. We ran through it with the band once early today,” Thomas said during a break between shows.

The band had to be down at the concert hall early afternoon for a sound check then back for shows at 5 and 9 pm.

“I talked to them about the origins of Tusk and the collaborations between Fleetwood Mac and the USC marching band and how iconic that is in marching band history. We are gearing up for our spring concert so we built it into our concert band and wind ensemble practices. The wind parts are actually quite difficult. Its rangy for upper brass and woodwinds like flutes. It’s been a nice challenge for our older kids. I knew what the drums played so Kevin and I taught them the cadence and they picked it up.”

The concert was a huge success even before the Bob Jones band made their appearance for the encore song.

Stevie Nicks was sung by Taylor Hunnicutt.

Huntsville resident Blair Breitreiter sang lead and played keyboards. She works as a web developer at Lowe Mill Arts and is an instructor at Huntsville Institute of Music. She took the lead on songs popularized by Christie McVie, an original member of Fleetwook Mac and now a member of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, OH.