NORFOLK— The Virginia International Tattoo will open its stint at the Norfolk Scope tonight and helping to commemorate the 250th birthdays of the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Marine Corps.
The Virginia International Tattoo was created in 1997 as an annual celebration of patriotism and international goodwill. The concert sees over 800 performers from all over the world and includes military bands, drill teams, massed pipes and drums, Celtic dancers, choirs, and more.
The Virginia International Tattoo is the largest tattoo in the United States.
Preparation
Scott Jackson, producer and director for the tattoo since 2002, has helped the event become what it is today.
Tattoo performers from around the world begin arriving to the Hampton Roads area one week prior to the show. With instrumentalists, dancers, a crew, and a massive choir, Jackson learned early on in his tattoo tenure that group work is essential to running the show.
“Putting the tattoo together is like I have an enormous train with 1,000 cars that’s coming from California to Virginia and I’ve got to get it all the way from California to Virginia in the fastest way possible,” Jackson said. “It’s really inefficient to get that train here by taking one way. Anything that gets in its way will slow it down. I really have to break the tattoo up into parts.”
Jackson’s crew includes a team that handles everything relating to pipes and drums, a band team that includes a music director and a drum major, a show production team that deals with moving props throughout the show, a team dedicated to sound, and a team dedicated to lighting.
“You can work miracles with a well-rested, well-fed cast and it’s really hard to get anything done with a not well-rested, well-fed team,” Jackson said.
Planning for the 2025 show began just a few days after the 2024 show wrapped.
“Quite literally, a lot of stuff we are doing in this year’s show is stuff we envisioned doing in last year’s show. There’s no better time to be thinking about tattoo than when we’re at Scope seeing the tattoo the year prior. There is nothing else in my life that is quite like this event,” Jackson said.
Once Jackson and his team get the show staged and set for the current year, Jackson often sits in the audience and takes notes on his laptop for the next year’s tattoo.
“I really try and look at what groups would be great to have, what are some things or a theme that will work, are there new staging ideas that will work. I start a storyboard of sorts while the current tattoo is going on,” Jackson said.
In January, the Virginia Arts Festival hosts a planning meeting where leaders from each group at the tattoo attend and begin the process of following Jackson’s storyboard and theme.
“My job is really to know what we want to look like, but to also get a team to understand that vision as well,” Jackson said.
2025 Tattoo
With just days to hold practices, marching instruction, and a dress rehearsal, the tattoo opens tonight at the Scope Arena.
In 2025, the Virginia International Tattoo’s theme celebrates the 250th birthdays of the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Marine Corps.
“Our Army, Navy, and Marine Corps were all founded in 1775. Being here in Hampton Roads, we have a huge presence of the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps. We thought what an awesome way to start the celebrations of the 250th birthday of the country with honoring the 250th anniversary of the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps founding,” Jackson said.
During the show, the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps bands will perform. The groups will also perform a special echoed rendition of Taps at the end of the show.
“It is very, very powerful having 800 people performing together. Most of us as Americans, if we’re lucky, we hear one bagpiper now and again. But at the tattoo, you’re going to hear 120 all together. It’s very emotional, there is something about a bagpipe that just stirs your soul. When I work on the tattoo, I always try to remember to plan a few moments that just bring goosebumps,” Jackson said.
Performers in the 2025 tattoo include Australia’s OzScot Australia Highland Dancers and the Pipes and Drums of the Royal Caledonian Society of South Australia, Canada’s Delta Police Pipe Band and Royal Canadian Air Force Pipes and Drums, Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force Central Band, Norway’s His Majesty the King’s Guard Band and Drill Team, and United Kingdom’s Major Sinclair Memorial Pipe Band of Northern Ireland.
U.S. acts include the Camden County Emerald Society Pipes and Drums, Granby High School Naval Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, Hampton Roads Police Honor Guards, Mesa Caledonian Pipe Band, Norfolk Fire-Rescue Honor Guard, Old Dominion University Concert Choir, Tidewater Pipes and Drums, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Band, U.S. Navy Drill Team, U.S. Marine Corps Band Quantico, U.S. Marine Corps FAST Company, U.S. Navy Fleet Forces Band, and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra Chorus.
“If you come to the tattoo, there is going to be moment that you are going to experience something that was on your bucket list but you just didn’t know it was there. Something is going to strike you in a way that you’ve never been struck before and you are going to be so glad you are there,” Jackson said.
Other Tattoo Events
While the nightly concert performance draws folks from all over the world, there are many other free tattoo related events that take place in Norfolk.
The Tattoo Hullabaloo takes place nightly, beginning at 4:30 p.m. on the Norfolk Scope Plaza. Groups will perform drill routines, drumming exhibitions, and dancing. There is also a nightly Tattoo Hullabaloo International Drumming Showcase that takes place at 6 p.m.
On April 24 at 5 p.m., the tattoo will kick off with a Norfolk NATO Festival flag raising ceremony. All NATO member nations flags will be displayed and the U.S. Fleet Forces Band will perform.
On April 26 at 10 a.m., the day kicks off with the 72nd Annual Parade of Nations. The parade features over 100 units including U.S. and international bands, military units, and community groups. Following the parade, the Norfolk NATO Festival International Village opens at Town Point Park. There will be international music, arts, and cuisine. At noon on April 26, the Virginia International Tattoo American Pipe Band Championships will begin on the Scope Plaza.
Thoughts Ahead of the 2026 Tattoo
With the 2025 tattoo underway, Jackson has shifted to thinking about next year’s show. With American’s across the nation celebrating the semisesquicentennial, Jackson plans to pay homage to the country.
“2026 is a really big year for the country. I’m of an age where the bicentennial in 1976, I was in elementary school and it was a huge thing. I still remember that. All year, school was geared towards celebrating that 200th birthday. We know that in 2026 we want the tattoo to be focused on the United States birthday,” Jackson said.
The 2025 tattoo opens tonight and runs through April 27. All performances begin at 7:30, except for April 27 which begins at 2:30.
Tickets are on sale now through the Virginia Arts Festival. For more information or to buy tickets, visit vafest.org/tattoo.