As previously discussed, as a marching band nerd myself, I have nothing but respect for other marching band nerds who just embrace their nerdiness wholeheartedly. Thus, mad props to the Penn State marching band, who performed the above routine at a football game against Eastern Illinois back in October. I really don't want to describe it to you, because it's much better if it's a surprise, but suffice to say it's some of the best marching band choreography I've ever seen, meaning it's stupendously fucking nerdy. Enjoy. (Via Great White Snark)
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I'm always super jealous when I see bands doing awesome stuff like this. I was cursed with band directors that always wanted to do stupid bullshit that was serious and un crowd pleasing. We never had formations that actually like, made anything, either. I kid you not we once did "the music of Spain" as our routine.
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When I was in marching band we did a whole Danny Elfman show. <i>Batman</i> and <i>Beetle Juice</i> were the best parts.
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@Dalt It was a joke.
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As a former band nerd of the baton twirling (and occasionally guard) persuasion, I felt that the awesomeness could only have been improved if I could have seen what the twirlers were doing.
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Awesome stuff but the marching isnt too difficult outside keeping that boxer shape. Most of it was falling into formation over the course of four measures and just marking time in place. My junior year we did james bond theme and marched int he formation of 007! wha what>?!
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Wow, awesome.
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U of Arizona did a radiohead show. Major Epic Grande Wonderful!!!!!!!!
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No love for the micheal jackson tribute? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxRWZLKGe70
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Did you hear that? ....yes. That was the sound of my heart gasping in delight because all of my dreams just came true.
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That Vader was kinda weak. Without the Imperial March playing, I wouldn't have known what the hell it was. The rest was awesome, though.
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When I was in marching band, we did "Duel of the Fates" one year. It would have been better if the band director and 90% of the other marching band people weren't jerks, though.
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Wow. I was way into band in highschool and college and I LOVE to see bands think outside the box like this. It actually makes you want to stick around and watch the half-time show instead of running off to buy overpriced nachos.
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This was awesome! I always wanted to get into a marching band (I'm... nerdy as that), but I'm embarrassingly bad at playing music live, so, yeah. @Tanner What? Really? I'm Mormon and a long time reader of this blog, and I've never seen any animosity from Rob or the readers. Just friendly jabs, like the one from Baltimoron (which made laugh like an idiot in the middle of a class, thanks a lot for that...)
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/impressed
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For college marching band, that drill is pretty original and very imaginative. However, I still prefer drum and bugle corps for the best in marching arts. I give you the opening number from the 1983 Garfield Cadets which changed the landscape of drill design since. Even though it's over 25 years old, I still get a thrill at the very end when do the "zipper pull." Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnbyIMMm9PM
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No footage exists, unfortunately, but in my junior year of HS, a guy I used to know arranged music for our marching band's "Halloween show" (one halftime in the second half of October we'd march in costumes instead of uniforms and play a new, special show), and he made one out of classic Nintendo themes. I forget what order they were all in, but I know that it included the original Super Mario Bros. theme, the Legend of Zelda overworld theme, the main theme from Pokemon, and three others. (I want to say that Metroid was one of them, but I don't still have the score, so...)
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it was awesome, though the darth vader kind of looked like cobra commander. And I think Danny Elfman's Theme kicks Hans Zimmer's ass.
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@Anonymous: TBDBITL!!!! Buckeyes rock!
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That'd get Batmans attention!
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This single-handedly turned my mostly crappy day into a day potentially filled with nerdy triumph. Thank you, TR.
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No, the members of the Blue Band get made fun of for going to Penn State.
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That was all sorts of awesome. The Rocky sequence was especially impressive.
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I'm a student at Penn State, and I can tell you that NO ONE in the Blue Band (which is what the marching band is called) is ever picked on for being a 'band nerd', because they do awesome stuff like this. Its more like "Oh, you're in the Blue Band? You must be totally freaking awesome!" I was at this game, and it was probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen in my entire life. A close second would be when the entire band did the Thriller dance for the first game of the season. Truly epic.
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I can't imagine the man hours rehearsing this but it's well worth it! Absolutely awesome show!
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Um...Bad ass much? I'm a die hard Marching Band geek and that deserves some mad props!! No one can truly appreciate the skill that that performance requires unless you have been in a marching band. Nerds for life?
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Wow, if my high school's marching band had done stuff like this, they wouldn't have been picked on nearly as much.
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NEEEEEEEEEERRRRRDDDDSSSSS! also, they weren't going at 88 miles per hour when they hit the tower...
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I guess I never got the Mormon memo, I thought we were still bashing the Rosicrucians.
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So great.... I can't decide what the best transformation was. Probably Darth Vader. 'That last song was so COOL! Hey! What? What are they doing now? Is - is that - I - Oh, too awesome.' And was that commentator for real?
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@Anonymous: ABsolutely Perfect! Only if the girl holding the cam would shut up....
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@Segasonicdude I believe the original Rocky came out in 1977, but the sequals came out in the 1980s, so your idea would still work. Speaking of Rocky, I think that it was the highlight of the routine just because of the diffulty level in marching as the two boxers towards each other.
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Having been a marching band nerd(tuba) in high school, I have to say that our band leaders would have never gone for this, we always ended up do hacks like Andew Lloyd Weber, never the genius of Williams or Berry.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfxETOrzpFk The quality of the video isn't as good, but in my opinion a much better half time show.
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Totally awesome! Could do without the announcer's cheesy narration tho. Totally spoilt the whole routine imo.
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No GhostBusters Theme? could have done that instead of Superman and had it be a Tribute to the Eighties....wait when did Rocky come out?...pay no attention to me then
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Tanner- We're nerds. We don't hate Mormonism. We just recognize it for what it is: the expanded universe of the Abrahamic religion franchise.
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I know that this website hates me and all the rest of my mormon friends. But BYU Marching Band has done pretty great renditions of The Legend of Zelda Theme and the Batman Begins theme.
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That was possibly the coolest thing I've seen in a long time! I think I wanna move there!!
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That was very awesome yes -nods nods-
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Totally awesome show. But 10:05 for Back to the Future? Come on...
TotalComments: 40
