By Mary Richardson

A legendary rock band called Zebra — described by one fan as “Led Zeppelin meeting Rush” — will celebrate its 50th anniversary on the historic Bulber Auditorium stage on Saturday, March 15, as part of the McNeese Banners Series.

The concert will begin at 7 p.m. Anything but Human, a rock band from Dallas known for high-energy live performances with breath-taking vocals, will open for Zebra.

Tickets are $20 and included in all Banners membership packages. They are also available at the door, online at www.banners.org, or by emailing Assistant Director Randy Partin at rpartin2@mcneese.edu. Tickets are free to McNeese and Sowela students with ID and children under 12. Free memberships to the entire series are available to all current and retired educators, current and retired military, first responders, and people over the age of 80 due to a donation from Banners sponsor Reed Mendelson Jr.

In addition, people can join McNeese President Wade Rousse in purchasing a $99 VIP Experience with Zebra to take place at 5 p.m. The experience will include meeting Zebra in person, a signed commemorative tour poster, a photo with Zebra using your own phone or camera, a commemorative Zebra VIP laminate, a Zebra guitar pick, and two signed items that have been purchased. Tickets are available on the Banners web site, banners.org, or by calling the Banners office at 337-475-5123. Rousse said he wouldn’t miss the opportunity. “I grew up listening to Zebra,” he said. “I can belt out all the words to ‘Tell Me What You Want.’ ”

“This is more than a concert,” says Banners Director Brook Hanemann. “It’s a reunion with rock royalty!” She says to “dust off your air guitar, crank up the nostalgia, and join us for an electrifying evening packed with the timeless hits and jaw-dropping musicianship.”

Hanemann calls Zebra a “force of nature.” Another fan describes them as “a hard rock power trio with a progressive overtone who crosspollinate The Beatles with Led Zeppelin without ever sounding like a pastiche, a parody, or a pathetic cover of those stately behemoths.”

The band was founded in New Orleans in 1975 by guitarist and lead vocalist Randy Jackson, bassist Felix Hanemann, and drummer Guy Gelso. They adopted the name “Zebra” on a whim, saying they saw a cover for Vogue Magazine showing a woman riding a zebra, and liked it.

Fame came early. Their self-titled debut album, cut in 1983, became the fastest selling debut in Atlantic Records history, and featured anthems such as “Tell Me What You Want” and “Who’s Behind the Door?” Accolades continued to pour in during the next five decades, and they have been admitted to both the Louisiana and the Long Island Music Halls of Fame.

In celebration of their 50 years together, band members are working on a new album. In an interview with Newsday in December, Jackson said, “we got some stuff from 1977 we never recorded, songs I penned with other people, and a bunch of tunes I wrote recently. It’s evolving as we’re doing it.” The album will reunite the band with Jack Douglas, who produced Zebra’s first two albums.

A documentary, tentatively titled “Tell Me What You Want: 50 Years of Zebra,” is also in the works. It will include never-before-seen footage from the band’s beginning in New Orleans, as well as subsequent work in Long Island, New York.

“I am tremendously proud that Zebra decided to celebrate this important 50-year anniversary with us,” Hanemann said.

“People won’t want to miss this concert – because legends like this don’t come around every day.”