The Marching 110 has made a habit of going viral, and the group has done it again.
“You kind of just have this anticipation that ... it’s going to happen at some point,” bass trombone player Colton Allen said. “So, when it does, it’s just kind of like… I was part of that band that year, and I think that’s just really cool.”
From PSY’s “ Gangnam Style” to Ylvis’ “The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?)”, several videos of “The Most Exciting Band in the Land” have received thousands — even millions — of views. The bands latest performance to go viral is its rendition of Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” on July 28 in Cleveland.
About 90 members of the band performed the song as a promotion for the upcoming DreamWorks Animation film Trolls, which is set to be released Nov. 4. The video, which has been viewed more than 600 thousand times combined on Facebook and YouTube, shows the band emerging from a massive box in downtown Cleveland.
“It was about 150 degrees in that box,” Allen, a sophomore studying biological sciences, said.
The band members then performed “Can’t Stop the Feeling!”, all with colorful troll wigs on their heads. Unsuspecting onlookers can be seen smiling, laughing and dancing to the music.
“It was neat to be that close to the audience,” tuba player Jesse Liggitt said. “Usually the audience is in the stands, but this time they were right in our faces, and it was interactive.”
The 110’s assistant director Josh Boyer said DreamWorks was looking for an enthusiastic band willing to perform for the promotion.
“We felt that if we could combine the infectious anthem of ’Can’t Stop the Feeling!’ with a world-class college marching band, and set it loose in a place like downtown Cleveland in front of an unsuspecting crowd, we’d be able to captured (sic) in real life the joy and the fun that’s at the core of our movie,” DreamWorks’ head of digital marketing, Justin Pertschuk, said in a press release.
The band did not have much time to practice, Liggitt, a junior studying integrated social studies education, said. Members had minimal rehearsals, and learned their choreography from Timberlake’s dance troupe just before the performance.
“It was hectic,” Liggitt said with a laugh.
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Trent Thacker, a sophomore studying music education and a 110 member, said making the video “was fantastic — It was a great experience.”
Boyer said DreamWorks was pleased with the performance, as well as with the band's eagerness to perform on a volunteer-basis during the summer.
“Our goal is to entertain the clientele — the fans,” Boyer said.
