LONDON - Kansas’ trip to Wembley Stadium has turned into a full-blown marching-band reunion, with a familiar face on the Arizona State side adding an extra layer to a weekend that already stands out as the first college football game played in the United Kingdom.
For Kansas Band Director Sharon Toulouse, the link to Arizona State goes back to 2003, when she was working toward her master’s degree. The connection runs through James G. Hudson, now the Sun Devil Marching Band director and once the marching band director at Kansas while Toulouse was in school.
“The band director at Arizona State is actually a mentor of mine. He was the marching band director at KU when I was going through my master’s degree,” Toulouse said in a recent interview.
The Marching Jayhawks have hardly had a quiet week. They were part of the Chiefs-Broncos halftime show on Monday at Arrowhead Stadium, then flew out Tuesday and landed in the U.K. on Wednesday.
Since then, they’ve been rehearsing at the Grasshopper Rugby Football Complex while Wembley Stadium is transformed into a football field. Kansas’ football team has shared that practice space since Wednesday, and the band is set for a sound check and rehearsal on Saturday morning before kickoff.
The schedule in London has been packed beyond the practice field. Thursday brought pep rallies in Richmond and at Tower Bridge.
On Friday, Kansas is set to perform at the Adidas pop-up at the new Oxford Street store and later at the Union Jack Classic’s official pregame party. Saturday will pile on more appearances, including the Jayhawks’ tailgate pep rally and Big Noon Kickoff before the team heads onto the field at Wembley.
Trombone leader Hannah Platt said the band will lean on a mix of songs during its appearances, but the football game itself will not feature the group’s usual pregame routine. Instead, Kansas will perform with the B2wins, a Brazilian musical duo.
The size of Wembley has forced some adjustments, too. At about two and a half times the size of David Booth Memorial Stadium, the venue presents a different kind of challenge for on-field formations, especially with Kansas and Arizona State each bringing 40 members.
“Because it’s a bigger stadium with only a fraction of the band, we had to change instrumentation a little bit; there will be fewer woodwinds compared to brass, since brass is louder,” Platt said.
Even the uniforms are different for this one. The band will not wear its traditional look, a staple since 2015. Instead, Kansas will suit up in warmups featuring the Union Jack Classic and classic Jayhawk logo.
“We’ll have jumpsuits that coordinate with ASU’s band. We’re both Adidas schools, so we’ll each be wearing our own colors, but in the same style,” Platt said.
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