In fact, a lot of musicians had been waiting four long years for an opening in the band.

Roland Ashton, a senior in bioengineering attended the concerts the last few years.

“I always enjoyed it,” he said. “I was kind of jealous.”

“I’ve been watching since I was a freshman and I really love it,” said Jason Lusk, a chemistry major who plays bass guitar.

“We were contacted by a lot of musicians that were very motivated,” agreed Bill Cowell.

After three years as a musician for the project, Cowell decided to step into the leadership role this year. Among the handful of other returning musicians are vocalist Noah Stroup, who will be the only musician to have participated in all five years of concerts, and drummer Jeff Carey.

Cowell plays keyboards and saxophone and this year is working the sound effects board as well. After 17 years working at Intel, the nontraditional student came to OSU to study electrical and computer engineering. He’s drawing on past organizational and management experience to transition the event from an established band to more of a dynamic situation with new people each year.

Keyboard player Bill Cowell coordinated this year’s event. (Jesse Skoubo | The Entertainer)

“I’m trying to make it so it’s sustainable,” Cowell said. “You can’t let it end, because it’s become so important.”

This year’s concerts will feature The Beatles’ “Let It Be” and Pink Floyd’s “Animals” and will take place at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 24, at Austin Auditorium at LaSells Stewart Center; and at 7 p.m. Saturday, May 1, in the auditorium at Milam Hall.

“Let it Be” includes such iconic songs as “I Me Mine,” “The Long and Winding Road,” “Get Back,” “Across the Universe,” “For You Blue” — and of course the title track.

Drummer Jeff Carey participated in the first year of Beatles at OSU concerts and is back for the fifth. (Jesse Skoubo | The Entertainer)

In all, there are members of eight local bands represented. They are Honest to Empire (Justin Gibson and Ashton), Pseudoboss and Stairway Denied (Stroup fronts both projects), Target for Tomorrow and the Horns of Destruction (Jason Lusk), the Tim Karplus Band (Tim Karplus and Lusk), a Guns N’ Roses tribute band called Appetite for Destruction (Brandon Cook), Project 431 (Jeff Carey) and Break As We Fall (Alia Beyer).

Other members of the 2010 Imaginary Friends include R.J. Zaworski, Noah Jenkins, Denver Speelman, Bryce Caster, Lauren Shin, Joe Crop, Ryan Erp, Alia Beyer, Jeannie Holiday and Amy Dawson.

“We targeted people that are multi-instrumentalists,” Cowell said.

The core band started practicing in January, with a weekend retreat to a house in Pacific City.

“We played through both albums,” Cowell recalled. “People were waking up with their instruments in the morning.”

“I hadn’t heard all of these guys before that and that settled my mind,” he said. “Now, when I practice myself, I am so moved thinking about what it sounds like on stage.”

Recreating the albums note for note and song for song is an absorbing project for all involved.

“The quartet is finding out what it’s like to play the same note for 10 minutes,” Cowell joked.

Jenkins, a violinist who is majoring in music, wrote the string arrangements.

“This is my first time writing something out like this,” he said. “I was listening to the CD over and over again.”

For the sounds of dogs, pigs and sheep that can be heard in the Pink Floyd album, Cowell actually recorded the sounds of local animals, and as a result was inspired to enlist the help of a new sponsor for this year’s event — the OSU Department of Animal Sciences.

Additional sponsors include the Department of Music, OSU Women’s Center and LaSells Stewart Center.

Tickets to the show are $5 each. For information, see http://beatlesatosu.org.