The Redcoat Band's "After the Game" Concert Tradition

This writeup by Roger Dancz appears on the back of the 1969 "Dixie Redcoat Band After the Game" LP. It still holds true today. After a UGA game, wait a little while and enjoy a concert by the Redcoats. It's worth it!

The game is over! It’s a time to celebrate- or console. Cheers for the victors fill the autumn air as football fans move to the stadium exits. The teams have retired to the dressing rooms while families, fans, and sportswriters wait outside in a clump of humanity as the departing crowd surges past. Discarded pennants, empty peanut bags, paper cups, and programs remain in the stands where minutes before crowds cheered and urged their favorites on.

This is a scene repeated many times each fall Saturday across the breadth of America. But when the scene is Sanford Stadium in Bulldog Country one extra ingredient makes the post-game period something extra special. That’s the Dixie Redcoat Band AFTER THE GAME!

In keeping with a long and honorable tradition, the Redcoats of Georgia remain in the stands at the close of each game and fill the late afternoon air with exciting sounds, the brilliance of which must be heard to be believed. Knots of spectators form around the Band, and fans in all sections of the Stadium pause to enjoy the musical treat.

First, it’s the fight songs, of course, but then it’s music in a mellower mood with “Georgia On My Mind”. The beat becomes swingier as the session continues with the uproarious “Glory! Glory!”, and “Sweet Georgia Brown”, and the world is somehow a much happier place because the Redcoats are a part of it.

The post-game concert continues with unabating good humor, recounting tunes from the afternoon’s show interspersed with songs with an unmistakable Georgia accent. Visiting bands often trade tunes with the Redcoats for a time, and the spectators are the happy beneficiaries of this exciting musical sport.

Finally the time comes when a mood of calm and quiet begins to settle over the Stadium. A Bulldog stalwart, now showered and freshly attired, strolls down mid-field with his arm around his admiring girl friend, the coaches dispense post-game impressions to reporters, and the vastness of the great Stadium is accentuated by its sudden emptiness. The Dixie Redcoat Band administers the coup de grace to the afternoon’s activities with its thrilling performance of the ever popular “Tara’s Theme” from GONE WITH THE WIND.

Then, the bandsmen pack up their instruments and join the homeward throng, collecting family and friends as they move along. This Saturday afternoon is history, but there will be many, many more to come, and the victory celebrations will be more intense, the occasional lossl easier to bear, and Bulldog fans a special and happier breed because of the Dixie Redcoat Band, AFTER THE GAME.