the Cal Band was asked to help with the Nobel Lecture by George Smoot in 2006 by recreating "The Big Bang". Football Performances During weeks of home football games the Cal Band gives several performances. On Fridays before a game, the Cal Band plays at the noon rallies on Sproul Plaza. On game days the Cal Band gives a concert on Sproul Plaza an hour and a half before kickoff. Following this performance, the Band marches in formation to California Memorial Stadium, leading a procession of Cal alumni and fans. During home football games the band gives a pre-game show, a half time show, and typically a musical performance after the game as the crowd leaves. During the game, the band is seated to the left of the primary student section, and plays stand songs, as well as fight songs throughout the game. A "break off" band performed in the front of each major section during the third quarter prior to the 2012 renovation of California Memorial Stadium. In 2017, the band played alongside University of Washington Husky Marching Band in their “Tribute to Horn Bands” show, featuring music from The Blues Brothers, Tower of Power, Earth, Wind & Fire, and Chicago. In the Bleacher Report's power ranking of the top 25 college marching band pregames shows and traditions, the Cal Band was named 9th (of 25) as having a show that "beckons [the] former glory days, full of school songs and traditional formations" and is "a stand-alone classic". Instrumentation The Cal Band uses a fairly standard military band instrumentation with piccolos, clarinets, alto saxophones, tenor saxophones, trumpets, mellophones, trombones, baritones, sousaphones, glockenspiels, snare drums, tenor drums, bass drums, and cymbals. California Alumni Band The California Alumni Band, usually shorted to Cal Alumni Band, is a marching band consisting of former Cal Band members. The Cal Alumni Band is run by the non-profit Cal Band Alumni Association and is a subset of the Cal Alumni Association, an organization that handles alumni affairs of the University of California, Berkeley. The Cal Alumni Band performs at various events such as: San Francisco AIDS Walk, Alumni Band Day, the Fourth of July Parade in Sausalito, California, Cal Basketball Games, and many other performances in the San Francisco Bay Area and across California. References External links University of California Marching Band Cal Band Alumni Association Video clip of Pregame Show California, University of Pac-12