Garinger High School's Blue Funk Sound Machine has a new stage: American Legion Memorial Stadium. The East Charlotte marching band is now the official Game Night Band for Carolina Ascent FC, performing at the professional women's soccer team's home matches throughout the season with the kind of high-energy music and choreography that has made the group a fixture of Charlotte's parade circuit.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools announced the partnership in a post from its official account, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools wrote, celebrating the Blue Funk Sound Machine as the Game Night Band for Carolina Ascent FC and calling on fans to catch the band keeping crowds hyped all season. The Blue Funk Sound Machine officially debuted in the role during the team's home opener against Tampa Bay Sun FC on August 29, performing pregame, halftime, and postgame shows with league-approved instruments, according to the Soccer Sheet.
Turn up the volume! 🎺⚽️ The Garinger High School Blue Funk Sound Machine is officially the Game Night Band for @CarolinaAscentFC!
— Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (@CharMeckSchools) September 4, 2026
Catch them keeping the crowd hyped at home matches all season with high-energy music and incredible moves. So proud!https://t.co/1i8iYKNWz1
A Fundraising Boost Tied to Every Ticket
The arrangement carries a financial upside for Garinger as well. Ticket sales made through a designated team web portal send a portion of proceeds directly to the school's marching band program, per Carolina Ascent FC. For a program that, like many high school bands, relies on fundraising to cover instrument upkeep and travel costs, the built-in revenue stream from matchday attendance offers a steady source of support tied directly to fan turnout.
Carolina Ascent FC plays its home matches at American Legion Memorial Stadium, a renovated 10,500-capacity venue in Charlotte's Elizabeth neighborhood just outside Uptown. The stadium, which originally opened in 1936 and underwent a major reconstruction completed in 2021, also serves as the primary home field for the Charlotte Independence men's professional soccer team and periodically hosts local high school sporting events, according to TicketSmarter.
A Band Already Known Across Charlotte
The Blue Funk Sound Machine was not a newcomer to big stages before this partnership. Known for its high-stepping style and energetic drumline, the band regularly represents East Charlotte at major regional showcases, including the annual Novant Health Thanksgiving Eve Parade, which draws more than 100,000 spectators, and Johnson C. Smith University's homecoming parade, per Marching.com. Garinger High School itself sits on a 63-acre campus at 1100 Eastway Drive, serving a large and diverse student population within Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.
The band's new role comes as Carolina Ascent FC builds serious on-field momentum. The club claimed the Gainbridge Super League's first-ever Players' Shield in its inaugural 2024-25 season for finishing atop the regular-season standings, and in August became the first team in league history to record 30 regular-season wins, with head coach Philip Poole also becoming the first manager in league history to reach that mark, according to the Gainbridge Super League. The league, formerly known as the USL Super League, is a top-tier Division I professional women's soccer competition that debuted in August 2024.
Filling a Long Void in Women's Pro Sports
Carolina Ascent FC's ownership group includes majority owner Dan DiMicco and the woman-led Empower HER Fund, and tennis legend Martina Navratilova joined as a minority owner in August 2025 following the club's Players' Shield championship. The franchise represents the first women's professional sports team based in Charlotte since the WNBA's Charlotte Sting, which played in the city from 1997 until folding in 2006, filling an 18-year gap in top-tier women's professional sports in the city.
Garinger has been in the local news cycle for other reasons this year, including reporting on a CMS board decision approving an option to lease land beside the campus for a 99-year teacher housing deal. The school was also among five CMS campuses named in anonymous threats last year. Against that backdrop, the Blue Funk Sound Machine's new spotlight offers a different kind of headline for the East Charlotte school, putting its students front and center at a rapidly rising professional sports venue rather than in a story about safety concerns.
