Bands of America is headed back to Lucas Oil Stadium for three full days of music, marching and madness! During the massive 2017 Bands of America Grand National Championship, fifty bands will take the field on Thursday and Friday, then Friday we find out who gets another chance to perform on Saturday morning/afternoon! Once semifinals come to a close on Saturday afternoon, the top 12 will move on to a third and final performance in BOA Grand National Championship Finals!

Here are three bands you CANNOT miss on the first day of prelims, Thursday, November 9. Look out tomorrow for the three bands you can't miss in Friday's prelims!

3:15 PM EST - Broken Arrow H.S., OK

Broken Arrow's absence at last year's BOA Grand National Championship has certainly created quite a bit of hype for the Oklahoma band in 2017. Earlier this season, the band made a dramatic entrance to the BOA St. Louis Super Regional where they warmed up in secrecy at their hotel and walked straight into the dome -- and straight onto the field.

Their 2017 production "Age of Discovery: The Return to Xeno" is turning heads with their drastically different uniforms and the usage of small pedal-carts being driven by the performers around the field. Broken Arrow has won two Bands of America Grand National Champion titles since their first in 2006, one in 2011 and most recently one in 2015.

4:15 PM EST - Union H.S., OK

Union (OK) has already made one long trip up to Indianapolis this season with their visit to the BOA Indianapolis Super Regional. They saw quite a bit of success in prelims and finals, finishing out the weekend in 4th overall with an 87.025, ahead of Homestead (IN), Marian Catholic (IL), and Centerville (OH) -- all three of which we'll see again this weekend!

They will perform their 2017 show "This Bitter Earth" in Lucas Oil Stadium this weekend. Keep an eye out for their color guard this season -- they had two very strong performances in Indianapolis in October and will be looking to step up their game this weekend under the dome. Union (OK) has made it into the BOA Grand National Championship Finals 10 times with over 35 years of involvement in Bands of America competition.

Check out their snare feature in this video we captured at the BOA Indianapolis Super Regional, earlier this season.

5:15 PM EST - O'Fallon Township H.S., IL

O'Fallon Township from Illinois drew the marching community's attention earlier this season when they made their Bands of America debut in the St. Louis Super Regional. The band covers the entire field in a bright white tarp and performs their show without the traditional field markings that marching bands live off of. The covering of the field certainly raises the difficulty and simultaneous responsibility being asked of the performers.

Their show this season is appropriately titled "The White Canvas" and features the music of Philip Glass in "1000 Airplanes On the Roof", "Night On Fire" by John Mackey, and "Black Hole Sun" by Soundgarden. O'Fallon Township (IL) is a consistent BOA Regional finalist and Grand National Championship semifinalist. 

Take a look at a GoPro video from the perspective of one of the many parents that roll out the tarp to cover just a "small" portion of the entire field.

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