On Christmas Day millions of football fans tuned in to watch Snoop Dogg perform during halftime of the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings game at U.S Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. But one associate professor in the music department at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire got the best seat in the house.
EAU CLAIRE (WQOW) – On Christmas Day millions of football fans tuned in to watch Snoop Dogg perform during halftime of the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings game at U.S Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. But one associate professor in the music department at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire got the best seat in the house.
It was the opportunity of a lifetime for Alexander Henton.
“You’re just playing with Snoop Dogg, here’s what’s going to happen,” he explained.
Henton played the French horn at “Snoop’s Holiday Halftime Party.” It all started when the Twin Cities based musical contractor STRINGenius reached out.
“Eventually it came down to are you free Christmas and I was like what is this gig? And I found out it was going to be with Snoop Dogg,” Henton explained.
On the day of the performance, Henton said that’s when the scale of the operation sunk in.
“It was pretty fun because we got the full stage was going the whole time like the dancers, the drumline, the Vikings cheerleaders, the choir. It was just kind of wild to see all these moving parts some together so quickly,” Henton said. “I was next to a set of stairs so there were camera operators going up and down while I was playing. I was worried if I was going to hit them with my horn or if they were going to bump something.”
As showtime approached, he explained there was a final realization of the moment sinking in.
“I think once we got into the tunnel that’s when I started being like ‘Oh this is real, this is happening. We’re going to walk out to a stadium that’s pretty full,” Henton said.
Everything was a blur once he made it to the stage.
“Honestly I was just in such a zone that of performance that those thoughts disappeared the second I stepped onto the field,” Henton said. “Just a really cool experience that flew by and just being in the moment of it. I know it was like 10 minutes on Netflix, but it felt like 45 seconds.”
Henton doesn’t think any performance will come close to his Christmas Day concert.
“I think I’m going to look back on it and just be so grateful that I was asked and that I get to have this as a memory for the rest of my life,” he said.
Henton is thankful for all his former professors, instructors and teachers throughout his career. He plans to use this concert as lesson to his current Blugold students that music can take you anywhere.
You can find a video of the full concert here.
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