On November 8, 2025, the University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club will host their 166 annual concert. That is correct, the group has performed every year for 165 straight years. It is the second oldest university glee club in the United States. If we are in Ann Arbor, my wife and I and a handful of friends never miss the performance.
The show is typically held at Hill auditorium and runs for 90 minutes to two hours. The music is wide ranging. The choir will sing some international songs, some comical parodies, and, my favorite, some traditional Michigan drinking songs. When I hear them sing “I Want To Go Back To Michigan”, I want to head to Joes and the Orient. Listening to “Michigan Men”, I am always pleased to know that “if your feet are big and your head is small, you can go to State just to play football”.
When a member belts out a great solo, the other ninety nine performers snap their fingers instead of clapping. The tradition started because you could not applaud with a beer in your hand. You have to love a group like that!
We started going to the performances in the late 1960’s. In those years, the event was held on Homecoming Saturday. Often, Michigan invited the glee club from the competitor’s school and the joint concert was fantastic. So, we would fold up the World’s Greatest Tailgate a little early on Homecoming weekend and head to Hill for the Glee Club Concert. One of my best memories was the University of Illinois Glee Club marching into the auditorium singing “Oh we’re marching along for the Illini. Hoorah for the orange and the blue. We’re marching along for Illini. Illini we’ll always be true”.
For some reason, tickets to the fall concert have always been hard to get. Not because they are expensive and not because they sell out quickly. They are hard to get because it is difficult to find the ticket office that is selling them in any particular year. For example, I checked in to buying them for the 2025 concert and the glee club web site says tickets for the November 8 event are not on sale yet.
A few years ago, I went online to find out how to buy tickets to the 152 annual concert. After a little digging, I found that I could snag them at the Michigan Union Ticket Office. Great! MUTO is one of my favorite places. Often, when we arrive in Ann Arbor for football season, an early stop is MUTO. I can spend an hour reviewing everything that is going on in the city for the next three months. If I am excited with an event, I can nail down the tickets then and there.
I needed 20 tickets to the Glee Club concert. I worked my way to the front of the line. There were three or four students behind me. I asked the student aged clerk if I could review the Hill Auditorium seating chart because I wanted to buy Glee Club tickets. He politely replied that MUTO didn’t sell Glee Club tickets. I said that this was surprising because an online inquiry to the Glee Club indicated that this was the only place that sold them. He assured me that MUTO didn’t sell them. I was beginning to get the impression that this particular clerk may have been enjoying the benefits of the recreational drug laws before they were actually enacted in Michigan. I replied, another indicator that MUTO might be selling Glee Club tickets is the sign behind you that says “Glee Club Tickets Sold Here”. All of the people behind me in line audibly started to laugh. The clerk turned around and said “Wow! I never noticed that sign before. It’s really strange because we don’t sell them.” I said, “could you humor me and check the computer to be certain?” “Sure, I’d be happy to check….. This is amazing! We actually do sell Glee Club tickets.” I said that “This was a great relief to me because this is the 152 annual concert and I have never missed one since they started. I really didn’t want to end the streak.” The clerk’s response was “Man that’s really impressive! I am really happy we could help you out!” The queue is now hysterical. I rang up the tickets and told the guy behind me that I hoped he had a very simple transaction.
Somehow, we have been able to find tickets to every concert we wanted to attend. I actually do not know how many of the 165 past events we have seen. Certainly, we have enjoyed many of them since the 1960’s. None of them have been average. Every single Glee Club concert has been a truly outstanding experience. There are very few things in life that consistently deliver at the highest level but the Glee Club is one of them.
So, if you are in Ann Arbor on November 8, 2025, treat yourself to a spectacular two hours. In addition to the other elements of the performance, the Glee Club usually squeezes in all the choruses of the “Victors” and “Varsity”. Typically, the evening ends with all of the Glee Club alums filtering up to the stage to join the 100 current club members in singing “The Yellow And The Blue”.
This cannot be missed.