During Bandapalooza on Friday night, the band and attendees experienced a one-hour weather delay due to lightning in the area that led to a shorter-than-anticipated performance; however, the crowd held out and ultimately saw the band’s first public performance of its 2024 marching show.

Bandapalooza is a yearly event held at the start of the marching band season that allows spectators to get a preview of the performances the band will put on during marching season. Along with performing parts of its show, the band also took time to display many of the drills and processes that it goes through during practice and warm-ups to give the crowd a sense of the work that band members have been putting in for the past few weeks.

Director of the McCallum Band, Carol Nelson, is in her 45th year with the program. She detailed the work happening behind the scenes to make this year’s Bandapalooza a safe environment while working with the delays, and still allowing the performers to put on their oft-rehearsed performance. 

“We got the lightning app alert that said ‘lightning within eight miles, so what we had to do was pause and wait for an all-clear on our app before [the band] came out,” Nelson  said. “I was in close communication with Coach Gammerdinger and Matthew Johnson, the trainer, who was telling me what they were doing. The performance wasn’t as long as we had hoped, but it was cooler.”

Last year, the band performed a piece titled “Starsurfer,” the halftime show at football games, and the piece the band would perform at competitions. With a new school year, however, Nelson felt the group needed to change up their performance style. This season’s show is called “Fury Road” featuring pieces including “Belkis” by Queen of Sheba Respighi, “Let Them Up” by Holkenborg, “Cathedral” (from Road to Perdition) by Newman and others.

“Last year we did something very fun and light-hearted but [this year] we wanted it to be more serious,” Nelson said. “The music we have chosen has a more serious flavor to it and the kids are fired up, and they want to do well. I want us to just have a fantastic show, and the kids to have a great time.”

Color guard member, senior Audrey Eberly, is returning to her fourth, and final, year in the program and, just like Nelson, is excited about what is ahead for the marching season.

“I have high hopes for this season because I feel like all the new people, especially in the color guard, seem ready to learn,” Eberly said. “They’re pretty much just kind of thrown into it, but we’re just trying to get them excited, showing them old performances to see what they’re in for.”

Upperclassmen within the marching band play a crucial role in this year’s season. With a large majority of the band being underclassmen, leadership is essential.

“It all starts with the leadership team,” Junkin said. “They are my favorite group of leaders that I’ve ever had, and they are doing a fantastic job of getting these new members up to speed, and it all starts with the leadership team.”

Junkin, in his third year with the band, explained that he adapted Bandapalooza in a way that showcases more of the band’s behind-the-scenes work in addition to their performance.

“I kind of turned it into a little bit of a showcase of how we go about rehearsal in a very abbreviated format,” Junkin said. “It’s  a chance for the parents to come out and see how we go about our rehearsal. They see the performances on the field but not necessarily how they’re created.”

Following Bandapalooza, the small audience that gathered around the band parking lot in support of the start of marching season, will grow into a crowd of hundreds when the band takes the field at Mac’s biggest football game of the season, Taco Shack this Thursday night.

“I am looking forward to putting an incredibly exciting show on the field with incredible students,” Junkin said. “We’re very young but very young also means incredible potential, and I’m incredibly excited about that.”