Glowing reviews: Here’s how Blue Valley Northwest’s marching band delights the crowds

Marching in formation while playing music you’ve memorized takes a lot of practice, but Blue Valley Northwest’s marching band can literally do it in the dark. The band’s annual Glow Show features its standard halftime show on the field but with band members wearing light-up suits in a pitch-black stadium.

“We have these actual glow suits, so it’s like a black cotton material. It has glow wires and a battery pack. You switch it on, and if you’re outside in the dark, you look like a stick figure. It’s pretty hilarious,” said Daniel Kirk, director of bands at Blue Valley Northwest.

Glow Show has been a fall staple since it started in 2008. In the intervening years, it’s grown into a whole festival for attendees. This year’s event took place Oct. 30.

Since the end of marching band season usually comes around Halloween, the group encourages children to come in their costumes and even trick-or-treat on the field before the performance.

A raffle with big prizes helps raise money to supplement the band’s yearly budget. The whole thing is organized by parents of the band members, and numerous local businesses provide sponsorships through raffle prizes.

Sharon Murdock has coordinated the event for several years. Her three sons have all been in the band.

“It’s a really fun event. It’s really exciting for our feeder system to get a glimpse into high school life and think someday they, too, could be a part of the Glow Show,” she said.

The show has drawn up to 2,000 attendees in the past, filling the home team side of the bleachers. Over the years it’s gotten canceled a handful of times for weather and once in 2020 due to the pandemic.

Although most people might have trouble navigating a football field in the dark, it’s not as hard as you might think for the band. The music they perform is what they’re been doing all season. This year’s show featured a mix of pop music from Queen to Lady Gaga.

“They do the show so much over the course of the fall that navigating in the dark, after their eyes have adjusted in the dark, is very doable. You can even see some of field markings still. At this point in the season, it’s all muscle memory,” Kirk said.

Before the show, the students practice turning the suits on and off on cue so that they’re ready when it’s performance time.

“The moment when the lights go out … it’s completely dark, and then band coordinates and they all turn their glow suits on at same time. It’s pretty dramatic, and the little kids love it. The lights go out and boom, all of a sudden there are these glowing stick figures in formation on the field,” Murdock said.

The additional trick with the suits is to keep the glow part facing the audience as much as possible — something they don’t normally have to worry about in a marching band show.

“If they do the correct visual fundamentals, like keeping shoulders flat to sidelines, that they’re taught in rehearsals, it works great, because you see the front of the suit. If they turn their shoulders at an angle so they’re not projecting their sound to the front, then you lose some of suit,” Kirk said.

In addition to the glow suits, many students decorate their instruments with lights and glow sticks.

What makes the event extra special for the high school students is that it’s not connected to a sporting event.

“The crowd is there strictly for them,” Kirk said.

“They’re not playing a half-time for a football game. They’re playing a show that is put on by the band for the band. It’s really special to fill the stadium just to support the band. They feel very affirmed.”