30th Anniversary Memories
- EastCoast Entertainment Bands Raise "Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars" for Charity Event- Agent Advice Ensures Unforgettable Success
- Band Goes the Extra Mile to Save the Party!
- The Show Must Go On - EastCoast Entertainment is there to help!
- National Talent Always Creates an Unforgettable Reunion
National Talent Always Creates an Unforgettable Reunion
There is nothing comparable in America to a college reunion at Princeton University. "Reunions" are annual affairs that bring back a sizable percentage of our storied university's graduates and their families for four days of lectures, dining, dancing and reminiscing, unlike anything else in college annals. A book could be written about Princeton University's historic 250th anniversary celebration and its Class of 1971's record setting Twenty-Fifth Reunion, widely acknowledged as "the Greatest Reunion in Princeton history."Without doubt, the highlight of 1971s spectacular Twenty-Fifth Reunion and Princeton's 250th weekend was when Smokey Robinson was conferred honorary Classmate" status. He looked resplendent in the official '71 Class Blazer, having discarded his Armani tuxedo jacket, as he performed a free concert before under a tent set up for dancing. Smokey's appearance was not even announced; he was listed on the Reunions Program only as "Special Guest," yet as the band checked the sound system that Friday afternoon, the bass line of "My Girl" set off a wave of speculation.
Thought the host Class only totaled 800 students as undergraduates, the sound waves bouncing through the Collegiate Gothic courtyards drew more than 6000 students, alumni, University administrators and employees and their families to the site before long, and they were hanging on every word of every song of the performance. Caught up in the moment or swept up in the palpable atmosphere of love and nostalgia, Smokey performed for more than two and one-half hours, though his contract promised only a 75 minute set.
Regular Reunioners recalled that Princeton's 25th Reunion stage once typically hired the top bands from the undergraduate days of the celebrating class, with Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Lionel Hampton playing a Reunions trifecta from 1970-72. Except for 1971s 25th, this tradition had been lost over the years, until 1971 revived it with Smokey Robinson, the poet laureate of its undergraduate experience for the performance for the ages in 1996. No one who was there will ever forget it, and it set the standard which no Princeton Reunion has yet eclipsed.
