The St. Louis High School marching band performed its last show at Wheeler Field Friday, Oct. 14 for quite the crowd. The marching band has worked tirelessly since July to create a jaw-dropping show, and the four-song performance for the crowd at the last home game showed the band’s dedication. The night began with Black Sabbath’s Paranoid, which then moved into Radar Love by Golden Earring, and Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne. Finally, the band’s performance ended with a rendition of Enter Sandman by Metallica.

“I think the band sounded very good,” commented spectator Jaiden Dickman. “They had more ‘relevant’ songs this year than in the past few years.” In the past years, the marching band put on shows with older, less recognizable songs. This year, though, the band played some iconic rock songs spectators would know by heart.

The student section wasn’t the only group impressed by the performance, as even members of the band were surprised by how well they did. “Yeah, I think this year was pretty good,” remarked Hayden Mader, a freshman and alto saxophone player in the band. For this marching band season being his first year, Mader commented, “We did really well with all the work we put in, and especially the practices we had inside during rainy days.” 

Senior drummer Colton Markwell was also impressed by the band’s performance. “It was fantabulous,” the senior joked. Markwell’s last performance was especially impressive to him as it was his final performance as a member of the marching band, so he had a lot of pressure on him. Luckily, the dedication from his fellow band members and the enthusiasm from the crowd made it a good final performance.

The marching band may have ended their season on the field, but that’s not quite the end for the band. One final show was performed an exact week later, Friday, Oct. 21, which entailed a tour of both elementary schools and the middle school for the marching band  to showcase their songs to other St. Louis students.

The band had a wonderful season to perform under director Stephen Lawhorne’s guidance, and it has been a standout season.