LAWRENCE, Kan.- Jayhawks are hitting the bars with Budweiser in one hand and a tuba in the other.
Musicians at the University of Kansas are in the 10th year of Bar Band, a tradition during football season.
“We caused a riot at The Wheel,” Daniel Hames, Wichita senior, said. “People hanging from the ceiling fixtures, dancing on tables, it was crazy.”
Hames said the band consisted of 20 to 25 members who barhopped each Friday night before a home football game to play fight songs for Lawrence residents.
Participating local bars offer the musicians compensation for entertaining the crowds within. The Sandbar on Massachusetts Street gave the group matching “Bar Band” T-shirts from Adidas to wear each night.
All of the bars provide the band with free malt beverages before their performance. Hames laughed and said the quality of music went down as intoxication went up, but “everybody loves us more.”
“People come up to us and say, ‘We came here tonight because we knew you were going to be here,’” Tyler Metzger, Oskaloosa junior, said. “We get to party like rock stars.”
Metzger said The Sandbar was so full one evening, his instrument was smashed into his mouth by a woman dancing on the bar. He added that management frequently had to order the crowd to settle down or leave the bar.
Metzger said the Lawrence Bar Band is invitation-only to current students and alumni, and not affiliated with any University bands.