The Saint Louis Steel Band held its ninth annual Festival of Steel Saturday, Apr 12, in the high school gym.
Many bands from around the area came to perform at this event. These groups include: New Philadelphia, Alma College, and many more. The combined bands performed a total of six songs, featuring multiple guest artists like Tracy Thornton. The band also held a wristband raffle with the support of the community around Saint Louis.
Many students from SLHS came to watch the show. Senior Rebekah Ross stated, “The most exciting part of the festival was the keytar and trumpet player. When the band played “Jump” by Van Halen in the morning, the energy was unmatched, and I wish I could experience it again. As a trumpet player myself, hearing a world-class player inspired me to improve and showed me how amazing trumpets can sound. My first thought was just: wow. I’ve never heard such top-tier musicians, and being in the front row made it even better. I hope to watch the concert again because those guest artists were incredible.”
“My favorite part of the Festival of Steel was the mass band songs, especially ‘Detroit Rock City.’ It sounded amazing with everyone playing together, and ‘Jump’ was a crowd favorite. I enjoyed talking to students from New Philadelphia, too. I joined the steel band in middle school because I loved playing jumbie jams in elementary school, and my friends were in it as well. I love steel band, so I joined both the class and the after-school steel band to play more. I thought all the bands sounded great, and I had so much fun playing and dancing with my friends, making very few mistakes.”
The next steel band performance will be held in Hastings Thursday, April 24.
