DCA Crowd

[Fran Haring]

04 the only corps that came close to large crowd reaction to Empire was Renegades. In 2005 I would call it a 3 way tie between Bucs,Cabs and Empire for crowd reaction.

No doubt the home town fans of Rochester love their Statesmen and the Statesmen fans will follow them wherever finals.

Ed, I'll agree to disagree with you about 2005.... Bucs owned the crowd in Scranton that night.

Honestly, when it comes to the Empire Statesmen and audience reactions..... IMO, even if there are zero fans from Rochester in the seats at a given show, the Statesmen are going to generate one of the biggest, if not THE biggest crowd responses, simply because of the type of show they do.

[melligene]

Ed, I'll agree to disagree with you about 2005.... Bucs owned the crowd in Scranton that night.

Honestly, when it comes to the Empire Statesmen and audience reactions..... IMO, even if there are zero fans from Rochester in the seats at a given show, the Statesmen are going to generate one of the biggest, if not THE biggest crowd responses, simply because of the type of show they do.

You don't suppose it's because they (Statesmen) play to the fans do you..? Music people recognize, so to speak. Just sayin...........

[Andyroo]

Ed, I'll agree to disagree with you about 2005.... Bucs owned the crowd in Scranton that night.

Honestly, when it comes to the Empire Statesmen and audience reactions..... IMO, even if there are zero fans from Rochester in the seats at a given show, the Statesmen are going to generate one of the biggest, if not THE biggest crowd responses, simply because of the type of show they do.

Wow!!! I think you've hit upon a new concept, Fran. Entertain the crowd!

Let's see now.... Corps A puts together a show meant to entertain the (paying) audience - and then performs it extremely well....

Corps B puts together a show meant to prove to a small group of judges how incredible creative their staff is, and then performs it well....

Is it any wonder that Corps A is going to get the crowd's response - and a good placement on top of that?

[K2SMA]

Here's your DCA history lesson. This is about the 70s, when some of you were still in diapers.

DCA championships were held at Aquinas/Holleder Stadium in Rochester 1969-1976 (except 1972). It was a U-shaped football stadium, seating ~20,000.

Prelims and Finals were both held on Sunday. People came early, and stayed until the last drop was drained. The sport of DCA tailgating originated in the coarse-graveled parking lot.

Beer was sold, not only at the concession stands, but also hawked in the aisles. Genesee Cream Ale was the most popular brand.

True DCA aficionados did not remain long in their reserved seats. They congregated, by the hundreds, at the fence in front of the track. In close proximity to the front sideline, which was unencumbered by any pit instrumentation.

The hawkers zeroed in on this pack, realizing that sales of Genesee Cream Ale would be brisk.

One might describe this fist-pumping horde as "rowdy", but they only served as a catalyst to incite the rest of the DCA congregation.

The stands were packed, back to the finish-line endzone.

And the atmosphere of DCA used to be anything but "subdued".

1971 was my first DCA Championship and I remember this "scene" quite vividly. If you listen closely to the recordings of that show, you can hear what are now called "shout-outs" to individual members of the different corps from the crowd along the fence. And during some corps, you can even hear the vendors yelling "Cream Ale here..." (New York's drinking age was 18 at the time and some of us were a few weeks short of that!) But I would never consider this rowdy "horde" as "disruptive". With the understanding that our society has changed, such behavior would never be tolerated today. Given today's security demands and the need to assure that no fan's enjoyment of the championship is infringed upon, I do find it a little bit sad that that enthusiasm - or at least that enthusiasm displayed vocally - is gone from this activity. DCA has become more professional and a more marketable commodity. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. As we grow older, we tend to subdue our emotions. Crowd response is noticeably different today. And I couldn't imagine Fran saying something over the PA at Finals like "Don't sit on your hands, my goodness!"

[Jeff Ream]

But did Reading get a good crowd reaction as well? My point wasn't that Empire won't get a big crowd reaction (or even the biggest), but that it has hurt some of the other reactions that the Rochester faithful support their corps. I admit that I still react to groups a marched with more than groups a was rivals with, back in the day.

Empire gets pretty good crowd reactions everywhere they go.

Every show has some hometown loyalty issues with cheering, but yet,a s pointed out at Reading, Empire got more cheers than the homeotwn team.

People appreciate good drum corps, and they will show it.

[BOSMarcher]

Ed, I'll agree to disagree with you about 2005.... Bucs owned the crowd in Scranton that night.

Honestly, when it comes to the Empire Statesmen and audience reactions..... IMO, even if there are zero fans from Rochester in the seats at a given show, the Statesmen are going to generate one of the biggest, if not THE biggest crowd responses, simply because of the type of show they do.

My argument was never about the Statesmen and their crowd reaction, but the audience and their lack of a crowd reaction for other groups. I just witness great crowd reactions in the South, but do not see them up north. It is often because those audiences support those groups and do not travel north. If the top 5 came South, I believe they would also get a good reaction from the audience, but I think the audience would also cheer for the southern groups as well. Same think would be said if went out to the Midwest... they would be very inclined to cheer for the midwest groups.

Again, my argument isn't about the northern groups not being able to generate a crowd response without their fans, but that the Rochester loyals and other northeastern people (that make-up the DCA Finals audience) are not as inclined to cheer for other groups.

[BOSMarcher]

Wow!!! I think you've hit upon a new concept, Fran. Entertain the crowd!

Let's see now.... Corps A puts together a show meant to entertain the (paying) audience - and then performs it extremely well....

Corps B puts together a show meant to prove to a small group of judges how incredible creative their staff is, and then performs it well....

Is it any wonder that Corps A is going to get the crowd's response - and a good placement on top of that?

... and yet corps B wins and has a better time recruiting because of their competitive success.

[Andyroo]

... and yet corps B wins and has a better time recruiting because of their competitive success.

No question, you're right.

But please don't forget about the silly little word that my post had in parentheses - PAYING.

If Corps A is the only one entertaining a crowd of "popcorn eaters," how many of them are going to come next year? And if the crowd size keeps getting smaller each year, how long do you think that show sponsor is going to keep beating his/her head against a wall? How long will it be before the "20th Annual D&B Corps Contest" is replaced by the "1st Annual Tractor Pull?"

Corps B may win and may have an easier time recruiting, but if their show is way over the head of the (paying) audience, who cares? Corps B can recruit it's brains out, but if there aren't any shows to perform at....

But then, I've stated my case about the importance of paying customers in other threads, so....

[Fran Haring]

And I couldn't imagine Fran saying something over the PA at Finals like "Don't sit on your hands, my goodness!"

LOL Steve.... wasn't that amazing? That was when Sun was introduced that year.... a rather tepid crowd response, and then the announcer said what you quoted above.

Lecturing the crowd = usually not a good idea. Especially back in those days, when there were some fans there who might literally kill you.

I liked it when the announcers back then...like the guy from 1971 Finals... would introduce Cru as "Rochester's Fabulous Crusaders!!!!"

[Fran Haring]

Again, my argument isn't about the northern groups not being able to generate a crowd response without their fans, but that the Rochester loyals and other northeastern people (that make-up the DCA Finals audience) are not as inclined to cheer for other groups.

We'll agree to disagree on this, then.

I've seen my share of shows in Rochester and elsewhere in the Northeast.... and I've seen many, many, many great crowd responses to corps other than the "home team" at a given show.

Edited September 19, 2010 by Fran Haring