Lakeville South marching band performs for thousands on St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland

(FOX 9) - The Lakeville South High School marching band is used to playing for thousands of people in performances around the Twin Cities. But this weekend, the band had an audience of hundreds of thousands of people in Ireland for St. Patrick’s Day.

The band arrived in Ireland last Friday. On Sunday, they played in Dublin’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

"When we first stepped out for the parade, it was mind blowing how many people there were. There was people hanging out of windows, there’s thousands of people on the street, everyone putting their hands over the gate to high five us. It’s just insane. The energy is super, super high," Lakeville South senior snare drum player Brooke Taylor told FOX 9.

Taylor is part of the group of 100 musicians from the south metro that is making the most out of every minute during their trip.

"[It’s] definitely an unforgettable experience. It’s a completely new environment for us coming from Minnesota," Taylor said. "The environment is just mind blowing. It’s great."

"There’s so much noise everywhere. Everywhere you look, you could just see the green of the Irish. It was amazing," Lakeville South senior baritone player Thatcher Enneking said. "We’ve never actually been able to perform in front of this many people. The sheer amount of people… everywhere you look as you were marching, there was people."

The LSHS band has also made time for sightseeing; visiting Kilkenny, Dublin and Limerick.

"It’s an experience that you just cannot experience through a phone screen. Before this trip we were looking through pictures and videos of what the environment here is like, it’s really just unbelievable when you get here, it’s completely different," Taylor finished.