The Badger Spring Concert

The Badger Band on-stage. 4/11/25 dwm

The 2025 Varsity Band Spring Concert was supposed to celebrate 50 years of the University of Wisconsin's dynamic group of musicians; but then Covid cancelled shows in 2020 and 2021.

It's the band's 6th season under Corey Pompey, the Michael Leckrone Director of Athletic Bands at Wisconsin, and it was another outstanding performance.

The 280-plus members of the band entertain throughout the year as classmates play men's and women's basketball and hockey; women's volleyball; and football. These two nights in April are a double dose of Badger band enthusiasm.

Corey Pompey introduces the next song. dwm

This was our 9th concert, except this time I was sitting next to an empty seat since my wife decided to send me while she stayed home due to an unrelenting cough.

Tradition keeps fan favorite songs in the mix and I don't think there will ever be a Spring Concert without a Fifth Quarter.

The band featured their favorite medleys from the 2024 football season - A Grande Opening with music of Ariana Grande; Fleetwood Mac; A Thrilling MJ Show with six hits by Michael Jackson; and Light Up the Sky which included seven pieces with a fireworks them that matched the pyrotechnics inside Kohl Center.

Fifth Quarter begins. 2/11/25 dwm

It's a high-energy performance, but especially so when the Fifth Quarter is performed on the floor, in and around hundreds of fans seated on what is usually where basketball or hockey is played.

Cheer squads, Bucky Badger, and the Drum Major run out from the wings as streamers are launched into the air and the band leaves the stage.

While the band is on the floor - each of the nine sections of musicians seem to have their own thing while continuing to stay on the same page.

1 of 66 trombones in the band. 4/11/25 dwm

I was sitting on an aisle of the arena floor where a dozens of tuba, trombone, and trumpet players danced and played with and for the crowd.

If there is a high-point in terms of audience participation, it's during the chicken dance polka. A Wisconsin wedding staple, the band's version includes a band member in a chicken suit to lead the frantic motions of the dance.

Once isn't enough, there were two more versions this year, each one faster than the one before as the band pursued a new record. (Not sure how official it is, but the band can do an entire chicken dance in less than 25-seconds!)

A couple doing the polka. dwm

At some point during each concert, the band plays the Alma Mater while the audience sways back and forth, hand in the air.

It's funny. I'm not a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, but this is the only Alma Mater I've committed to memory.

There was one the graduating class learned for our ceremony in 1981, but I'm sure that's the only time we ever heard it. My graduating class at Drake probably sang the Drake Alma Mater but since I finished in December, I decided not to walk in the spring ceremony.

We attended the event to celebrate with a few friends. I never did regret choosing to skip the mortarboard and gowning up.

Longtime director Michael Leckrone was in the audience with his family, receiving a well-deserved standing ovation when he was recognized. Leckrone is a showman who is primarily responsible for the Badger Band's reputation.

Corey Pompey is doing things his own way by focusing on current band members and being the best version of himself not a second version of the popular Leckrone. It's a good call. The U.W. Band is in good hands.