Strike Up The Band - US Marine Band and Fireworks Show

Nothing says American better than the President's Own Marine Band and a patriotic fireworks display. Both of these were present at the Trap last night. The United States Marine Band was founded by Congress in 1798 and is the oldest professional musical organization in the United States. They perform at many government and civilian events throughout the year and began touring the country in 1890 due to their most well known conductor, John Phillip Sousa. They're known as the President's own due to their connection with many US Presidents and they have played at every inauguration since Thomas Jefferson. They sound absolutely amazing and their repertoire had a lot of variety last night. Along with the well known marches, they also played songs from the Music Man as well as the 1812 Overture, one of my favorite pieces. The fireworks display was one of the best I've ever seen and even the ushers were allowed to stay and watch the action (we still couldn't sit down though!) All In all it was a great performance.

This show is perennially one of the craziest of the year because it's free and people can enter without having a ticket. The final count was around 7200 patrons, which is amazing since the theater only holds 7100. The lawn was completely full and I quickly found out how hard it is to weave between peoples blankets without unfortunately stepping on something. We did keep order and get the job done, however, and our staff received praise from a number of patrons. I also had my first wheelchair duty, which was a highlight a of mine just because I get to engage with the patrons in a more personal way than on the lawn. While it was a very busy show and did get overwhelming at times, I thought our whole staff did a great job and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. I'm off until Friday so I'm signing off for a little while. Looking forward to more shows!

My favorite part of this show was the 1812 Overture. The Marine Band definitely did it justice and I'm glad I heard the full version instead of the shortened one I played while with the USC Concert Band. Such a great piece of music!

DC

I wonder if they're trained how to defend themselves with their instruments.