Festival of Bands, USA

This past weekend, I finally was able to see my younger brother Aaron perform with the South Dakota State University's Pride of the Dakotas Marching Band at the Festival of Bands Competition at Howard Wood Field in Sioux Falls. The Pride of the Dakotas was not the only band performing at Saturday's competition, spectators also were treated to a performance by the Marine Corps Band of New Orleans.

I was very thrilled that I got to see my brother perform with the Pride of the Dakotas because it's a great opportunity to see his progression from High School Marching Band to a Collegiate Marching Band. From just my observations, Marching Band in the college level is a lot more fun and energetic than in the high school level.

I also enjoyed watching the Marine Corps Band because it just gives spectators an opportunity to see a band in which the corps members are not just musically talented, but they also serve their country to their full potential.

Overall, the Festival of Bands competition was very excellent and I would totally recommend it to anybody.

To just get a taste of what this band is about check out their performance of "Hey Jude" by Paul McCartney during one of their halftime performances at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium at SDSU in 2012:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqqcQMo7d9s

Be sure to "like" both the SDSU Pride of the Dakotas (The Pride of the Dakotas Marching Band) and the Marine Corps Band of New Orleans (Marine Corps Band New Orleans) on Facebook and follow them on Twitter as well: (@SDSU_PrideBand) and (@marineband)