2024 will begin with the UA Million Dollar Band making memories and history. Tonight, when the clock strikes twelve, the fireworks and corks pop and “Old Lang Syne” is being sung The University of Alabama’s Million Dollar Band (MDB) will be getting ready to make history.
In the wee hours of New Year’s morning the 400 women and men of the famous marching band will be preparing to become the school’s first band to march in the iconic Rose Parade in Pasadena, CA.
At least we think its history. The Crimson Tide Football Team has played in the Rose Bowl seven times before this year. However, nobody can find any evidence, either here in Alabama or in Pasadena, that Alabama’s marching band ever joined the team in California.
The band’s first appearance in the Rose Parade could have been a couple of years earlier had it not been for the COVID19 pandemic. The Tide made the College Football Playoffs in 2021 and their first-round game was in the Rose Bowl. But due to strict California laws about large gatherings during the pandemic, that game was moved to Arlington, TX.
There will be more history surrounding MDB’s 5.5-mile trek in front of more than 700,000 on Orange Grove Blvd. to Colorado Blvd. and millions on watching on television The Million Dollar Band will become one of the few college marching bands to have marched in parades conducted by all of the major bowl games. Also, the upper classmen in the band will have marched in the nation’s two most famous parades, the 2021 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade through the streets of New York City and now the 135th Rose Parade.
The Rose Parade gets a thrilling start at10:00am CST tomorrow morning with a flyover by a U.S. Air Force B-2 “Stealth” Bomber. After the flyover the U.S. Marine Corps Color Guard and Band lead the parade down Orange Grove Blvd. Behind them will be floats, equestrian units, bands from across the U.S. and other countries, vintage cars carrying the “White Suiters” (Tournament of Roses Committe officials), the Rose Queen and her court, the annual appearance of the New Buffalo Soldiers, drill teams, the Michigan Marching Band, Budweiser Clydesdale and in 38th and 39th position – the University of Alabama float followed by the Million Dollar Band playing “Yea Alabama”.
The parade is pretty straight-forward except for one tricky turn, and it is done if front of national and international television cameras at the intersection of Orange Grove and Colorado Boulevards. The band will have to navigate the very sharp turn to the right while maintaining straight lines.
Once the Million Dollar Band reaches the parade’s end, the day will only be half over. After a box lunch the band will lineup to march into the 100-year-old Rose Bowl Stadium. They will perform a pregame and halftime show and be the center of Crimson Tide spirit in the stands for the game.
The game will wrap up a busy week of practices, performances, a Disneyland Parade and pep-rally and some sightseeing.
But the Million Dollar Band will not be the only Alabama based marching band performing in the parade. The Albertville High Aggie Marching Band will be making a repeat appearance in the parade.
The theme of the 2024 Rose Parade is “Celebrates a World of Music.” It will be live-streamed on multiple platforms, including FUBO, Christmas Plus, PLUTO TV and LocalTV for the first time. It will remain on broadcast channels, including ABC, The Cowboy Channel, The Cowgirl Channel, Great American Family, KTLA, NBC, RFD-TV and Univision.
