Last year, State Farm and UPROXX teamed to bring you an exclusive look at Howard University’s 100th anniversary homecoming halftime show. Now, with the bar raised even higher for 101, we’re going back to campus to showcase the whole homecoming experience and catch up with Howard’s Director of Bands, Chancellor Mills, as he preps the “Showtime” marching band for this year’s show.
Hosted by Fly Guy DC, the above video provides a behind-the-scenes look at a process that starts long before football season kicks off. As Mills puts it, “Showtime is not just a marching band — what you see out on the football field — but it’s years and years of people putting in their blood, sweat, and tears, from the ’70s to where we are now.”
Rehearsals begin in earnest three weeks before the event, starting with learning the music, then adding what Mills calls “the marching fundamentals.” Once that’s all nailed down, they take the field to ensure not a step is out of place; as drum major Ian Claville puts it, “It means never being satisfied, always wanting to go higher.”
Fly Guy DC also hit Yard Fest this year to interact with students experiencing their first-ever homecoming and alums returning to catch up with old friends. Attendees were treated to a live performance from French Montana, while alumss like Anthony Anderson and AJ Calloway expressed their excitement to continue a legacy stretching back over 100 years. And then, it was “SHOWTIME!” as the band took the field to demonstrate why Howard University’s marching band is one of the best — and why there’s no experience like the HBCU experience.