Guitarist Jerry Mihay performs during the 2019 version of American Pie: The Magical History Tour.
Tickets, priced at $15, go on sale today for the 38th Annual American Pie: The Magical History Tour concert set for 6:30 p.m. April 27 at Columbus North High School’s Judson Erne Auditorium.
They will be available at the school and also at Mill Race Center, 900 Lindsey St.
The event was launched in a classroom in 1985 by now-retired North history teacher and social studies chairman Ed Niespodziani as a way to interest students in history. It features area high school student performers belting pop-rock classics from the 1950s to the 1990s while backed by a band of polished, professional musicians — nationally touring performers such as Jim Ryser and Nick Niespodziani have been a part of the ensemble in the past — with students filling in as backup vocalists and more as well.
Students also comprise one of the funkiest brass sections around.
In the past, the gathering regularly sold out the auditorium’s 1,000 seats. But organizer and local classic rock musician Jerry Mihay acknowledged that last year’s crowd was slightly off after the pandemic limited the show to video performances in 2020 and 2021. The show is a school fundraiser with proceeds going to various elements of Columbus North.
“COVID hit us pretty hard,” Mihay said. “We want to remind people of what we have been and what we have meant in the past.”
The phenomenon of the gathering has triggered a number of other schools in Indiana and elsewhere to copy it in recent years, with visiting administrators amazed not only by the student talent, confidence, and costuming, but also by the breadth of the crowd ranging from teens to those into their 80s.
“We’re the real School of Rock,” Mihay said, taking a playful jab at the movie with the same name starring Jack Black.
The American Pie name was taken from the 1971 Don McLean classic about the broad impact of the death of three major classic rockers, including Buddy Holly.
This year’s show will include 26 songs and last about tw0 and a half hours. It will open with the instrumental tune “Night Train,” originally from the early 1950s but featured in the original “Back to the Future” film in 1985 and close with an ensemble number, Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock and Roll.”
