Foster the People Concert Features High School Marching Band

Playing in the school band isn’t always cool — sometimes literally, what with having to wear those uniforms while marching and lugging your instruments around (young tuba players, our hearts go out to you). But sometimes, it can be a thrilling experience; just ask the members of the Upper Dublin High School marching band, who recently shared a Philadelphia stage with Foster the People.

It almost didn’t happen, according to band director Chris Horn, who told the Montgomery News that he actually deleted an email inviting the kids to perform — and that would have been the end of it, if a student hadn’t been looking over his shoulder. A quick student vote revealed the extent of Foster the People’s popularity with the members of the marching band, and the next thing everybody knew, they were getting ready to perform ‘Houdini’ in front of 15,000 screaming fans.

Describing the performers as “floored,” Horn said, “The scale of the performance was bigger than what we thought it would [be].”

It was also a lot of hard work for the kids, who had to learn their ‘Houdini’ parts before traveling to the venue for what Horn called a “gauntlet” of a day that ended well after midnight. But for the kids who were interviewed after the show, it was worth every minute — including Kate Skinner, a mellophone player for the band, who told the paper she’s a “diehard Foster the People fan” and described their performance by saying, “It was the best minute-and-a-half ever.”

Watch a High School Marching Band Perform With Foster the People