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We had a great time Saturday night at the Bean Pot Invitational/Tournament of Drums. It was sponsored by the Beverly Cardinals Alumni. They run a scholarship program and the show has been a successful fund raiser for many years. For the first time, Frank Raffa and his crew was able to host the show at Manning Bowl or more correctly, the new Manning Stadium in Lynn, MA. The old Manning Bowl was host to the World Open and many other drum corps shows over the decades. It was a shrine to thousands of drum corps memories not only for drum corps people from the Boston area, but for the drum corps community at large. Even in it's decrepit state in it's last years, everyone had great memories of performing or watching the best of the best over the years. I first attended a drum corps show at Manning Bowl in 1966 and continued attending shows for decades until the last event was held at the old Manning Bowl. (My family was once deeply involved with Fleetwood Records, Drum Corps News and the World Open.)

The old bowl was demolished and a new modern facility was built to replace it. Lynn once again has a fabulous venue for sports and of course, drum corps. All the other issues of the old Manning Bowl have been bulldozed away. Clean, working bathrooms, safe seating, improved parking, better lighting and artificial turf are some of the major improvements.

The Mayor of Lynn, Judith Flanagan Kennedy was at the show and personally welcomed drum corps back to Lynn. She seemed genuinely enthused that Manning Stadium would once again host drum corps shows and even stayed to watch the show.

I and my family want to thank Mayor Kennedy, her staff and all the other folks from the City of Lynn that helped make this event a success. Hopefully, drum corps has returned to Lynn for many years to come.

Thank you Mayor Kennedy.

In my opinion, we all should express our gratitude to the mayor through the mayor's Chief of Staff, Claire Cavanagh. To Send An Email ccavanagh@ci.lynn.ma.us <ccavanagh@ci.lynn.ma.us>

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I have to respectfully disagree about the "improved parking", unless you were one of the privileged elite that was able to park in the tiny lot adjacent to the stadium-the rest of the masses parked where we always have, in one of the merchant's lots that were about 3 or more blocks away. The biggest drawback to the "new" Manning presented itself with the first two shows of the evening-we were blinded by the setting sun while trying to watch what was happening on the field. This hadn't been a problem with the old stadium, because the stands faced a different direction. Unfortunately, there really isn't any way to fix this since the press box and the majority of seating is where it is, pushing back the start time until 8:00 pm or later to avoid the setting sun isn't realistic. Remember the "old days" when the Beverly show was ALWAYS on Sunday afternoon, with a 4:00 pm start time, because it was held at Hurd Stadium in Beverly which had no lights? That would be the only other alternative here to avoid the "sun problem". While the seating is safer, it definitely was NOT designed with "mature" backsides as a consideration; and, much like the old Manning Bowl, a whole bunch of the bench seats were missing numbers-I would have thought with a brand new venue, we would at least have all the seat numbers but perhaps they were trying to retain some of the "ambience" from the old. The bathrooms and the stands proper were a HUGE improvement, but I hope that some lessons are taken from this "first" show at the new stadium and incorporated into any future events. The souvie area really wasn't working the way it was set up. Consider just having everybody set up OUTSIDE the stadium, like they used to do at Stellos Stadium in Nashua. Secondly, move the concession area out from where it was set up-it created a massive bottleneck because that area is so small to begin with, combined with the bathroom locations and people trying to get in the lines for the concession. It is refreshing to see local politicians that try to promote drum corps events in their community, especially when it involves municipal facilities, and I look forward every year to the Cardinals Alumni show-most of all, because in this neck of the woods, it's the FIRST show of the season!

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I agree with the stadium problems noted, but certainly the venue was a huge improvement from the Endicott College field where there was no high view. The sponsors must be pleased with the significantly larger crowd which Manning field accomodates as well. The stands were pretty well packed from my vantage point on the 50 and 17 rows up. I offer my thanks to the Cardinals Alumni for a well run show.

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The stands were pretty well packed from my vantage point on the 50 and 17 rows up.

The number of quality corps, for a change, may have had a big reason.

Edited by Ghost
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What made the old Manning Bowl so great was that the corps was SO close to the stands, and the sound was fantastic. How does the new stadium compare in this respect?

After being there and comparing photos I think the sideline at the new field is about ten feet further from the stands. The front row of stands is a bit lower than the old Bowl. There are no walls at the ends and the stands are straight and even on the back field. In the new stadium did feel there was less echo from the ends and back field. The corps are still fairly close to the stands. There are many other venues where they are much further away.

My dad thought that most corps were not particularly loud and I have to agree. I'm not sure how to compare G lines to Bb lines or if the lines are holding back in preparation for the indoor field at Indy. IMO. It was louder BITD. The different configuration of the venue, the different instruments and not knowing if they were trying to blow the place apart (as was often the case BITD) or were moderating their volume makes it an apples to oranges comparison, IMO.

Visually, I think the new stands are a bit steeper and tend to offset the somewhat greater distance to the sideline. IMO, the new and old are about the same for watching.

Over all it was a good viewing experience whereas a place like Bristol is not.

Put this search string into Google Maps: Manning Field, Lynn, MA.

Photo here: http://photos.imageevent.com/up4479/27thla...manningbowl.jpg

Photo here: http://photos.imageevent.com/up4479/27thla...ngbowl.ashx.jpg

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After being there and comparing photos I think the sideline at the new field is about ten feet further from the stands. The front row of stands is a bit lower than the old Bowl. There are no walls at the ends and the stands are straight and even on the back field. In the new stadium did feel there was less echo from the ends and back field. The corps are still fairly close to the stands. There are many other venues where they are much further away.

My dad thought that most corps were not particularly loud and I have to agree. I'm not sure how to compare G lines to Bb lines or if the lines are holding back in preparation for the indoor field at Indy. IMO. It was louder BITD. The different configuration of the venue, the different instruments and not knowing if they were trying to blow the place apart (as was often the case BITD) or were moderating their volume makes it an apples to oranges comparison, IMO.

Visually, I think the new stands are a bit steeper and tend to offset the somewhat greater distance to the sideline. IMO, the new and old are about the same for watching.

Over all it was a good viewing experience whereas a place like Bristol is not.

Put this search string into Google Maps: Manning Field, Lynn, MA.

Photo here: http://photos.imageevent.com/up4479/27thla...manningbowl.jpg

Photo here: http://photos.imageevent.com/up4479/27thla...ngbowl.ashx.jpg

Right before the demo:

MANNINGBOWL.jpg

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...and during the demo:

Manning_Bowl_011-02.jpg

Are you sure this wasn't the day after BD's "screaming sopranos" in '94???? :tongue:

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