BY: CURT HARLER
The 2025 Blue Band season is just about a month away with the Nittany Lion football team on the field between the Band’s pregame and halftime shows. In all seriousness, Dr. Greg Drane and the Blue Band staff have several amazing halftime programs set for home games this year. The musicians will be challenged.
"I’m eager to see what the band can whip up this year,” he says with excitement.
Keep in mind that the Blue Band literally starts anew each season. Dr. Drane and his team will know more as auditions at Band Camp are finalized. The block should be filled. “Numbers are looking good so far,” he adds.
As the calendar flips to August, music is being sent to arrangers and the Blue Band’s directors are designing drills and formations. The first show of the year at the game August 30 against Nevada will be “Karaoke,” a sing-along with fans in the stands. Exactly which numbers will be played is not yet set in stone but expect the program to feature a medley of popular songs through the years.
Next show is “The Evolution of Oz,” a musical look at the iterations of L. Frank Baum’s Wizard of Oz story including tunes from the original 1939 Judy Garland film; 1978’s The Wiz with Lena Horne, Diana Ross and Michael Jackson; and the 2003 Tony Award winning Wicked which originally starred Idina Menzel as Elphaba, Kristin Chenoweth as Galinda, and Joel Grey as the Wizard. “It’s going to be a good one!” Dr. Drane says.
From there, the Blue Band goes “Higher, Faster, Louder.” This will reprise some of a 2017 halftime show which Dr. Drane says will feature “tunes that bands sound great doing.” The performance will include jazz numbers like Duke Ellington’s Caravan and a rip-roaring Louisiana Funk set. The show will wrap with Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite.
Once again, each Blue Band stadium performance will conclude with a post-game show and the students getting a post-game meal to replace calories and fluids lost through the afternoon. “You can’t believe how valuable a meal is for the students after a long game,” Dr. Drane says. “They don’t have to hunt down dinner and can go home fed and ready for their evenings.”
This year, the Blue Band will send a pep band to two of the Nittany Lions’s away games. However, if there is one blemish on the upcoming season it is that none of the visiting teams coming into Happy Valley will be able to bring their band to perform at halftime. “We are not hosting any bands due to the current stadium renovation,” Dr. Drane confirms. There simply will not be room for an additional several hundred attendees.
