NORWICH – The Norwich City Band will have its first performance of the season from 7 to 8 p.m. Friday at the firehouse on East Main Street.

The performance will also help kick off the 16th Annual Gus Macker Basketball Tournament, which starts tomorrow.

The City Band plays at the tournament every year, said Lee Wilhelm, the band’s business manager.

“We will be playing ‘YMCA’ like we do every year,” he said.

Performances are scheduled for every Friday night in July, and the first two Fridays in August. Usually the concerts are in East Park, but the band will have to wait until renovations are finished.

“We certainly understand the reconstruction that is going on there,” said Wilhelm. “But we’re excited.”

The band played in the gazebo, when it had about 25 members, Wilhelm said. But as the band grew to 45, 50 and sometimes even 60 members, they no longer fit in the old gazebo and began to move the band onto the lawn.