Rocking Out the Crusaders

Friday night was Eaststide Catholic's opening football game; they opened at home.  Before the game, there was a little festival with games and free food.


Pre-game rocking

My older daughter is taking Rock Band this semester, having done her time with Health during summer school. Drama II was full, so Rock Band it was.

The only girl, and the only non-instrumentalist, she has become the lead singer. On Friday night they were given the opportunity to play at half time of the football game. She needed to be there at 5:00pm to set up. Wanting to hear her, I went with her and waited around, acting a bit as her handler while she acted as junior roadie for "the guys," making her eat and keeping her well-supplied with water as they set up in front of the Athletic Pavilion.

Although they weren't supposed to play until half time, they sneaked in a song as a warmup about half an hour before the game. I was pleased to hear how good they were -- you never quite knows how good a group of high school students is going to be when they form a band, even one for credit.

Eastside Catholic football

After the introductions (eight assistant coaches??), the coin toss, the opening prayer and the National Anthem, the game started at 7:00pm. It was a beautiful day, and we were treated to a gorgeous sunset behind the trees as the first half dragged on and on, as EC kept scoring and stopping the clock. Finally at 8:30pm with the score at something like 56 - 20, the clock wound down to 0 and it was half time.

The Pep Band played "Born This Way" and was shortly followed by the plucky drill team (which, so cool, includes a member of the Options program, designed for special needs students) performed. Then it was time for the Rock Band.

As soon as they started, people stopped to listen, kids ran over and started dancing and whooping, and parents and alumni smiled benevolently as they walked past. Although they were told to play only one song, daughter decided if they went right into the 2nd song they could do a shortened version of it, and convinced the others to do it. And to their credit, they almost made it through that second song.

After they finished, she rushed over to me with a big hug, then was surrounded by squealing friends, excited about her performance. It was almost 9:00 by the time we left -- she was tired, but in a good way. There's nothing like singing in a band.

Here's a little sample of what had everyone excited, taken with an iPhone: