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)
Comments
Chuck said:
Totally awesome show. But 10:05 for Back to the Future? Come on...
Posted 11/11/2009 at 12:19:43 PM
Danielle said:
That was possibly the coolest thing I've seen in a long time! I think I wanna move there!!
Posted 11/11/2009 at 12:33:51 PM
Tanner said:
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.
Posted 11/11/2009 at 12:34:12 PM
Baltimoron said:
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.
Posted 11/11/2009 at 12:36:55 PM
Segasonicdude said:
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
Posted 11/11/2009 at 12:42:57 PM
Josh said:
Totally awesome! Could do without the announcer's cheesy narration tho. Totally spoilt the whole routine imo.
Posted 11/11/2009 at 12:53:07 PM
Anonymous said:
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.
Posted 11/11/2009 at 12:55:08 PM
Staxxvolt said:
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.
Posted 11/11/2009 at 01:06:14 PM
Coralskipper said:
@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.
Posted 11/11/2009 at 01:08:11 PM
GreekGeek said:
@Anonymous:
ABsolutely Perfect! Only if the girl holding the cam would shut up....
Posted 11/11/2009 at 01:22:12 PM
DoctorSmashy said:
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?
Posted 11/11/2009 at 01:27:29 PM
Gizmo said:
NEEEEEEEEEERRRRRDDDDSSSSS! also, they weren't going at 88 miles per hour when they hit the tower...
Posted 11/11/2009 at 01:31:06 PM
DireAshenEyes said:
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?
Posted 11/11/2009 at 01:48:27 PM
Forte said:
I can't imagine the man hours rehearsing this but it's well worth it! Absolutely awesome show!
Posted 11/11/2009 at 01:56:04 PM
Abbey said:
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.
Posted 11/11/2009 at 02:04:37 PM
Krakes said:
That was all sorts of awesome. The Rocky sequence was especially impressive.
Posted 11/11/2009 at 02:20:55 PM
Joe Mello said:
No, the members of the Blue Band get made fun of for going to Penn State.
Posted 11/11/2009 at 02:31:25 PM
Mary said:
This single-handedly turned my mostly crappy day into a day potentially filled with nerdy triumph. Thank you, TR.
Posted 11/11/2009 at 02:41:38 PM
JimmyBoots said:
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.
Posted 11/11/2009 at 03:35:55 PM
The Man With Two Brains said:
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...)
Posted 11/11/2009 at 03:49:34 PM
Anonymous said:
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:
Posted 11/11/2009 at 03:56:52 PM
Dalf said:
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...)
Posted 11/11/2009 at 05:26:31 PM
Jed said:
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.
Posted 11/11/2009 at 06:14:05 PM
RageTreb said:
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.
Posted 11/11/2009 at 07:28:06 PM
Grace said:
Did you hear that?
....yes. That was the sound of my heart gasping in delight because all of my dreams just came true.
Posted 11/11/2009 at 08:20:36 PM
Anhil8tor said:
No love for the micheal jackson tribute?
Posted 11/11/2009 at 08:43:34 PM
Zenfunk said:
U of Arizona did a radiohead show. Major Epic Grande Wonderful!!!!!!!!
Posted 11/11/2009 at 09:54:18 PM
Tightness said:
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>?!
Posted 11/12/2009 at 01:21:41 AM
Sassette said:
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.
Posted 11/12/2009 at 02:45:18 AM
Snath said:
When I was in marching band we did a whole Danny Elfman show. Batman and Beetle Juice were the best parts.
Posted 11/13/2009 at 10:21:43 AM
moonbunnychan said:
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.
Posted 11/14/2009 at 08:18:38 PM






