On November 4, the Grizzly Regiment performed their field show, Wonderland, at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. They performed to a high level, received a higher score than they had received at their last tournament, and won fifth overall. 

The day started with an hour-long zero period in order to prepare for the performance ahead. The marching band completed several musical and physical warm-ups and practiced their music in groups, woodwinds being together and brass being together. Eventually, they all came together and practiced as a full ensemble, running through different parts of their show. 

Our marching band has several musical and visual staff members that help the band run smoothly. These staff members give the band critiques, both in their music and in their visual performances. The staff has been able to elevate the band like we’ve never seen before and aided them all in having a higher-level visual and musical performance. 

After the band’s zero-period, the day went on as normal until around the third period. It was then that the band was dismissed to the band hall, where they all warmed up once more as a group and, later, ate lunch. 

The whole band got on a total of four buses and rode to Los Angeles, which took about an hour. Once they got to SoFi Stadium, they unloaded their trailers and began preparation for the show ahead. 

Before they changed, they got to explore the outsides of the stadium a little. The band then began to change out into their marching uniforms and, once they were finished, they all walked as a group to an empty parking lot. It was there that they began their pre-show prep. 

One of the greatest things about our marching band is their adaptability and hard work. Even though they did not have a field to practice their marching, they used the parking lot lines as a pretend field, each line representing what would be a yard line on an actual field. 

The band continued to march, covering basic marching techniques and smaller visual chunks of their field show. They then got together and started to play parts of the show. While playing the show, they “mark time”, which is essentially marching in place. They also perform any visuals that they were taught during this portion of practice. 

Once they were all finished, feeling properly warmed up and refreshed on their show material, the band began walking into the stadium through a VIP entrance. They were led down several stories, as the stadium was very large, and were brought to the performer’s entrance. Although they waited for quite some time as the bands before them were finishing up, the jitters and nervousness of performing in such a large stadium did not seem to go away. 

As they entered the stadium, shining lights blinding them, they realized that the stadium had a lot more echo then their typical football field. This was something they were not used to, however, they are quick to adapt. Another thing that was different were the hash marks on the field. Since it was a professional field and our band had only ever marched on a high school football field, they had to pay special attention to not confuse the professional hash with a high school hash. 

They performed their show to the best of their abilities and it felt exhilarating to perform in front of such a large audience. In the end, the band received a score of _, which was an improvement from their score at their last tournament. At the award ceremony, they were awarded fifth place overall. 

Performing at SoFi stadium was an unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime experience and our band is extremely proud to be representing Los Osos High School in front of such a large audience.