This march isn't narrated by Morgan Freeman, but I think you'll find it interesting anyways -- it's a halftime performance put on this past weekend by the Ohio State University Marching Band, with a videogame theme. As a band nerd (in addition to being a regular nerd) myself, I couldn't help but critique this amazing performance a little bit -- shouldn't those lines be completely straight? Are they really supposed to hold the Halo logo that long, or do they still have a bit of the routine to learn? -- but honestly, this thing is plenty nerdy enough without me nerding it up any more, so just enjoy. Two things real quick, though: 1) OSU was playing Michigan, hence the stuff with the flags at 7:20, and 2) whatever my nitpicks, the Epona at 6:10 is the most impressive thing I've ever seen a marching band do. Thanks to all of you who sent this in!
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I showed this to my girlfriend last night (she loves Ocarina of Time like all good girlfriends do) and when they got to Epona, once we pulled ourselves out of our delighted shock, we broke into applause at the same time and shed a tear each. It was just so beautiful.
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There are dozens of video game-themed marching band performances on youtube (and I'm sure even more that aren't), but the fact that they played the Gerudo Valley theme makes this the best one.
@Spacetree I wore out the soundtrack listening to that song back when CDs were a viable form of music distribution.
In the final Tetris set, it's hard to tell but it looks like they were sliding and someone decided to set 2 off rather the 4 most are set at so the wobbly part is people just trying to cover down to the 50 while fitting into the form. I'm really impressed there really wasn't phasing with as much directional marching as there was. But they seem to have more practice than most corps style bands in directional marching so that may explain it.
This almost makes me miss college band. Maybe one day I'll go back and march in Homecoming with the Almuni Band.
(And despite it being a Nebraska game, if you have that big of a rivalry it doesn't matter who you are playing, you do not pass up an opportunity to mock your rival. Besides, you don't want to be too hard on the newcomer. My alma mater had a show that overall was mediocre but had a surprise where our mascot took down a "fan" from our rival. That redeemed the show in our minds.)
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I'm always amazed by this sort of thing. I don't even want to begin to think about how much coordination goes into it.
Agreed, as a marching band nerd myself, that Epona formation was the most impressive thing I've ever seen.
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I live in Columbus, and while everyone else here FREAKS about anything OSU does with their sportsball team, I remain an outsider and never notice.
However, after watching a bit of that, it makes me feel I might want to endure a sportsball game once or twice.
@CaptainZADL You and me both, Brother. I have to say though, having lived in a number of cities with big universities, Columbus is by no means the worst.
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@CaptainZADL Time your sportsball outings carefully, because they last for about a zillion years. As someone who was in marching band in high school, I was required to attend sportsball matches when we performed for half-time.
It should be illegal to call time-outs when it's cold out.
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@mythbri In college I went to some sportsball games to watch our band. OU's band was notorious for running onto the field and beating the shit out of the other band.
Competitive band combat should be its own sport.
OSU was playing Nebraska (as it says in the video description) the deal with the flags was solely due to the long standing rivalry with Michigan.
Now, I just need to convince my kid's marching band that they need to do this routine next season instead of whatever esoteric bullshit the band director comes up with that no one understands.
@Frizzo_the_Clown If they compete (regardless of what they compete in: BOA, UIL, TOB, Cavalcade, etc) they generally have to have a very "unique" theme to get good scores. Certain venues are worse than others for nonsense, others worse for excess props or other "extras" (ie vocalists, mics, etc). This has unfortunately crossed over into DCI even. Thankfully college bands don't have these same expectations. Which is why there can get shows like this (Unless you're an aggie... in which case you're stuck forever and ever).
@Knubbsy @Frizzo_the_ClownI know, I know. I just wish they would do something fun. Marching band wasn't as damned serious when I was in school. Well, maybe it was just the school I went to. I know what is going on in the show (by reason of being involved with the band), and usually, I don't even really get what the hell is going on just from watching the show. I just wish they could do a performance that was actually fun to watch, instead of one that is just trying to hit all the points that they need to score well in competition.
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@Gallen_Dugall Space Invaders, Pokemon, Tetris, Super Mario Bros, Halo, Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros again, Pac-Man, finishes with SuperMario Bros music at the Game Over
