Lincoln Southeast HS Marching Band Replaces Nebraska Huskers Band at Holiday Bowl

“I'd call us more of a Band-Aid than a replacement band,” said baritone player Matt Eschliman, a Lincoln Southeast sophomore. This after the Lincoln Southeast HS Marching Band was tagged to replace Nebraska's band at the Holiday Bowl.

Nebraska's band is stuck in Nebraska due to a storm.

Omaha.com reports Harvey Perlman, University of Nebraska-Lincoln chancellor, attended an event Monday at a naval base across the bay. He heard the Arizona band. He started getting the itch for “March of the Cornhuskers.”

So Perlman talked to Gary Rectenwald of the Holiday Bowl committee, who called the Lincoln Southeast band director. R.J. Metteer's group, like several bands from around the country, was in town for the Holiday Bowl halftime show.

Do you think you could learn a few new tunes? Rectenwald asked. By tomorrow?

So the Knights skipped some sightseeing and worked past dusk, trying to master “Hail Varsity,” “Dear Old Nebraska U” (“There is no place like Nebraska ... ”) and “March of the Cornhuskers.”

The Holiday Bowl needs those tunes and this band for alumni parties, this morning's parade and, of course, three minutes of pregame entertainment on the field — before a stadium crowd one-third the size of Lincoln.

“They've been bouncing off the walls,” Metteer said.

Awesome story to start of the New Year.

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