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East of England Invitiational


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Greetings! It's your American in Peterborough, reporting on the East of England Invitational, hosted by the Glassmen from Toledo, Ohio.

Stadium & Such- Once we got our correct seats (all the tickets had your seat number hand-written on them, and by mistake my wife and I had somebody elses' seats written... a pity, theirs were better seats), we were set to enjoy a night of drum corps. The people at will-call were friendly enough, and they guessed immediately who we were without even asking. I guess the Minnesota accent stuck out. Anywho, the stands were small, only going up 11 rows, so I guess our placement in row 8 was pretty good. There was a large metal overhang that extended out past the first row of the stands, which was great for shade and had a neat amplifying effect when the corps were playing. (I can't imagine the sun searing over the grandstand was great for the corps, though.) They did have a bar, and beer was allowed in the stands (didn't partake... after an 8-hour flight that morning, I was tired enough). Smoking was allowed as well, and the three guys lighting up in front of us was the only discomfort during the show. (But, I was amused by the warnings on their packages... Big, black letters on white rectangles that said "SMOKING KILLS".)

ENTERTRAINMENT Clinic- We arrived, had a bite to eat, and sat down for the very end og the Glassmens' clinic. That was their run-through, and my first viewing of their show. I'll give my impressions of their show from their night performance, though. They weren't in uniform, for one. And for another, they looked a little tired during this run, especially their legs (a lot of horn players looked like their feet were made of lead). Still sounded great, though.

After the clinic, the stands were cleared until the show. Stopped by the souvie stands (all two of them), and for 3 pounds I got a Glassmen pin for my corps jacket. Also got a DCUK pin, but for free (the guy told me not to tell it was free, but I just wanted to mention his great hospitality to a foreigner).

And now, on to the show...

Narpes Show Band- These guys had all the makings of a fantastic high school pep band: Sharp, old-school military uniforms, lyres, a drum set instead of a battery, no drill, and swingin' horn (and ww) moves. Their only visual aspect was the baton twirlers, who started off in military-style unis as well (I got the impression that they were a parade group doing a standstill). The baton girls seemed very young. They did have some very entertaining selections, though. Their first was a march, followed up by the batons ducking off while they played "It's So Easy to Fall In Love". The third was an arrangement of "Malaguena" that both my wife and I had played in (surprise!) high school pep band. The batons came back at this point, and they'd done costume changes... More modern, blue uniforms, and they stayed for the last two songs doing more dance-like moves than straight twirling. They played "Bohemian Rhapsody" (sans head-banging part, made me sad) and "What a Feeling". Very fun group to watch!

Stafford Lancers- (20H/11G/9P, 4S, 5B, 3 T/1DM) The repetoire was "War of the Worlds", a movie I haven't seen so I can't say if it was a fair representation of the original soundtrack. The opening flags were cool... simple white with one big red dot on one side and a green dot on the opposite. Peaceful parts of the music, they showed green, the forboding parts red- very effective. There was a nice weaving of Holst's "Mars" throughout the show. Not a whole lot of dynamic range in the hornline. Impacts and low points were lost in the mediocraty of mezzo-blah (2 cents to Leppy Schilling). A potentially cool jam moment was lost because of this and a lack of energy.

Distant Thunder- (16H/10G/8P, 3S, 1T, 2B/2DM) A very nice show with some recognizable "cartoony" movie music, hence the show title "CGI Reality is NOT Our Business". The audience didn't give these guys enough credit for some very good moments... they just sat on their hands. I was confused by the two young sopranos that stood in the pit and did nothing (they looked about 12, and had this been a DCA show I'd had expected them to just be pit-troll screamers... very cool to have a 12-year-old pit-troll screamer).

Forgement Percussion Ensemble- (4P, 2S, 1T, 4B, 4C) A very battery-heavy show with nice little pop-out features and no real medley. In fact, the pit was drowned out more than once. If anyone's ever seen Rocori High School out of Cold Spring, MN during their WGI Champion years (1994 and 1995, I believe, forget which class), this type of show would look very familiar. Uniforms looked like the Brigadiers out of Syracuse.

Black Knights- (15H/14G/3P, 2S, 2T, 3B/2 DM) These guys came out with the show "Infinite Knightmares" and a smokin' hornline. This small group had lots of power and enough finesse for me to know when they were punching it. The pitch bending and sound warping was a very cool effect in the tune before "Nightmare Before Christmas". They had a very small pit for the high demands put on them, thanksfully the passes set down their drums to fill out the pit in the ballad. The corps had some trees on the field that did nothing for effect, and the way that they just did their drill around them (the guard did hide behind them to open the show), it seemed like they were just setting up and obstacle course for themselves. Ditch the trees.

Northern Star- (18H/9G/5P, 2S, 1T, 3B/2DM/5 big props with unknown # of people hiding to operate them) Typically, I'm opposed to gargantuan props, especially on the field. But this is one of those rare cases where the props were so well used and integrated that they truly did add to the show instead of just being some backdrop to march in front of. The guard unis were really neat... clock hands on the front and a cog design on the back. Again I saw a small hornline with a very big sound! (Side note: It was odd to hear all the "tic-toc" vocals with the British accent.) This was a very poignant and moving show, as well. All of the history illustrated with their props was American history, though. The soft ending was a very nice way to cap the performance.

Kidsgrove Scouts- (15H/5G/7P, 4S, 3B/1DM) This was a Latin show with a lot of strong and weak points. Best moment: The 32-count dead silent full-corps gates into a loud-### company front that moved up to a jammin' park-n-bark. Worst moment: The 12-year-olds in the pit hashing the mallet feature... and they were the only ones playing. Guard was a little weak, too, and I hardly noticed them on the field. They definitely beat the Black Knights and Star in brass (phenominal sound), but pretty much fizzled on percussion and visual.

Senators- (27H/14G/10P, 4S, 2T, 5B/1DM) Apparently, these guys are typically the headliner corps. And, as much as I love Queen, they must have either pulled from really obscure songs or just had far too odd/short snippets for it to be a really recognizable Queen show. Beyond the "We Will Rock You" and "Bohemian Rhapsody" intro, it didn't seem very much like a Queen show at all. Nonetheless, these guys showed up with their A-Game. They had it all. Power, precision, and presence. This is definitely what a reigning champion should look and sound like. They were also the only DCUK corps to go beyond the 30s, so the Senators brought out their own markers.

Glassmen- First off, this was much better than the clinic! No doubt the rest and recoup time was good for them, along with the hype of performing in uniform. And another thing I should mention right away: Had I not known the reason behind cutting out in "Ode to Joy", it would have definitely been a WTF moment. I must say that the baroque brass choir sound was fantastically done. The tuba solo seemed to be drowned out a bit, hopefully they rectify that. They didn't use any amps tonight, even though they had some equipment out (I forget if they had them out for the clinic). It seems like there's ten build-ups to the end, a bit unnecessary. And speaking of the end, hopefully that guard member that took a fall is okay.

Encore- At the end of the show, there was a massed hornline performance of "Champion's Crapfare". The crowd called for it to be played again, so it was twice that I had to suffer through it. After, the Glassmen treated the crowd to a great encore performance, and most of what they did wasn't show music at all. A real treat indeed! Imagine the G-Men, front and center against these stands with that overhang amplifying the already in-your-face horns.

All-in-all, a great show! DCUK seems to be on par with DCA A Class, and it was great to watch them. Thanks from the USA!

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