2024 Virginia International Tattoo will honor D-Day, NATO, feature military bands and celebrations of patriotism

U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Jerilyn A. Flores, a trumpet instrumentalist with the Quantico Marine Corps Band, performs Taps during the Virginia International Tattoo in Norfolk, Va., April 19, 2023. The Virginia International Tattoo is an annual military music and arts festival featuring performances by military bands, drill teams, dancers and artists from around the world. (Kayla LeClaire/U.S. Marine Corps)

(Tribune News Service) — Eighty years ago, 7,000 ships manned by more than 195,000 Allied soldiers from eight countries launched the largest amphibious invasion in history across the English Channel and onto the sands of five French beaches to begin the liberation of a Nazi-dominated Europe. The struggle proved successful, helping to end World War II.

Seventy-five years ago, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization — the alliance of the U.S., Canada and, now, 30 European counties commonly called NATO — was founded.

This year, the 2024 Virginia International Tattoo will honor the 80th anniversary of D-Day and the 75th anniversary of NATO with more than 800 performers from nine nations playing music and paying tribute to the show’s theme: a Celebration of Freedom.

A traditional military-style tattoo, the musical event will feature military bands performing choreographed celebrations of patriotism. Its director and producer, Scott Jackson, said the show this year will emphasize the extent to which the D-Day landings in 1944 and the liberation of Europe led to the founding of NATO in 1949.

“Because,” he said, “the NATO alliance is as important right now as it’s ever been, particularly with the war in Ukraine but also with how many challenges the world is facing — the challenges free countries are facing.”

Local World War II veterans have been offered VIP seating to watch the live tattoo. Several veterans will be included in the narration and videos that’ll be displayed in the arena.

The show’s music selection will reinforce the imagery found in the soldiers’ stories. The tattoo will open with composer Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man.” Commissioned during World War II, the song was meant to help uplift the spirits of the American people. A grand finale will begin with the theme from the HBO series “ Band of Brothers,” which was about the hard-fought exploits of a paratrooper unit, the Easy Company of the Army’s 101st Airborne Division, during World War II.

But not every entertainment will stick strictly to this year’s theme. There will still be tons of straight-up, unadorned Celtic culture on display. The Virginia International Tattoo annually brings Scottish dancers to town, and this year, it formed its own group.

The Virginia International Tattoo Highland Dance Company is composed of dancers from the United Kingdom, Canada and the U.S., including one member from Roanoke. As part of one of its first-ever performances, the company will use swords while dancing to the theme of another HBO-made fan favorite, “Game of Thrones.”

“They’re going to do a sword dance with a full brass band production, and then with bagpipes, the highland dancers and swords, I think it’s going to be one of the real show stopping moments of the tattoo,” Jackson said.

A performance by the Swiss group Top Secret Drum Corps is expected to be another highlight. With more than a billion views on social media, the group holds the title as the most watched drumline in the world.

“They’re kind of the rock stars of the tattoo world.”

International and U.S.-based groups that are expected to appear this year include:

Australia

51 ACU Swan Regiment Drums & Pipes

Scots College Pipes and Drums

France

XV du Pacifique Army Rugby Team

Germany

Musikkorps der Bundeswehr

Multinational

Virginia International Tattoo Highland Dance Company

Netherlands