DURHAM, N.C. (WNCN) — Downtown Raleigh on Friday proved to be a great build-up of what’s to come this weekend at the Dreamville Festival.

There was live music, packed stores, and restaurants.

At the same time, roughly 30 minutes away in Durham the North Carolina Central University Sound Machine Marching Band was preparing for its special performance.

“It’s exciting. It’s a lot of energy going around. It’s a lot of people that haven’t done this before. Then there’s a lot of people that came in with me that have done it before,” said Traci Simpson.
The band will perform Sunday at Dreamville. It’s the second year they’ve been on the line up.

“Artsplosure reached out to us and wanted us to give the crowd a marching band feel experience. So, we just filled the position,” said NC Central’s Band Director Jovan Wilson.

The marching band performed at last year’s festival too. Simpson, a junior, plays clarinet and remembers what it was like performing in front of thousands in attendance.

“I almost forgot that there was that many people in the world. So, it was definitely just interesting seeing all different types of people and seeing them enjoy what we were bringing,” she explained.

Right now, the focus is getting ready for Sunday.

“Every performance is a performance. We are here ready for action,” Wilson said.
He said the preparation for Dreamville is no different from gameday.

“We always want to bring our best selves to practice. Practice how we perform. So, it has really been the same thing just a different goal this time,” mentioned Simpson.