FAMU’s Marching 100 excited about pregame Super Bowl performance
February 7, 2010
(Tallahassee.com)
A blue sky with fluffy white clouds met Florida A&M University’s marching band in West Palm Beach Saturday. But there was no time to enjoy the scenery.
Members of the Marching 100 were given strict orders. Get off the bus quickly. Meet on the football field. Get prepared for a rigorous practice. The 387-member band was there to get down to business — to rehearse its pregame Super Bowl show for Sunday.
Harold and Janice were just two of the nearly 100 area residents who showed up to watch the band practice.
"I come out anytime they’re close to me," Harold Finley, of West Palm Beach. He was decked out in his own Marching 100 gear. "I played tuba in the band in 1976."
The band endured a nearly-10-hour trip from Tallahassee to West Palm Beach on Saturday.
The group didn’t expect to get to Palm Beach Lakes Community High School so late in the day to practice, but buses arrived at the university about an hour late, and the Rattlers got off to a late start. The later schedule and long trip didn’t seem to diminish the band members’ excitement though.
"We have a really exciting tribute to Michael Jackson," said head drum major Ahmad Newbold, 22. "Basically anytime we perform it’s exciting. It’s always going to be somebody’s first time seeing the Marching 100, whether it’s in the parking lot right here or the big stage at the presidential inauguration."
Director of Bands Julian White said the NFL paid for the band’s accommodations, travel and expenses.
"I think this truly endorses us as America’s band," White said.
He added his group wasn’t expecting the invitation to perform. The band has already performed in one pregame show for the Super Bowl and three half-time performances, the most recent with pop star Prince in 2007. Band President Dontay Douglas, 24, was a band member during that memorable Prince performance.
He said this invitation for the pregame performance means just as much.
"It still means a lot because we’re fortunate to be invited," he said. "The excitement is always there."
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