DCI Atlanta

On July 31 Donna and I traveled to Atlanta for the Drum Corps International Southeastern Championship in the Georgia Dome. We have attended many drum corps events, but this was our first indoor show. Part of the experience of an event is being outdoors, so I sort of missed that, but I must admit that being cool and not having to worry about bad weather were quite nice ... especially considering the horrendous storm that passed over Atlanta around the time we got there!

This was one of the major shows of the season, and all 23 corps in competition were there. That fact, along with it being only 2 weeks until finals, made this event almost as good as being at finals. 23 shows in one day are a lot even for die-hard fans, though, so we arrived around 5:30 and caught the top 15. All of the corps put on incredible performances, with some creative shows and very clean execution; being a judge would be a tough job indeed. We had a great time watching the shows, and during intermission we checked out the corps' merchandise booths set up in the walkway and picked up a couple of items.



The Madison Scouts marched 20 tubas! That is the most I have ever seen a corps march. They performed a cool show based upon Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue."




The Blue Stars performed a creative show based upon the life of Harry Houdini, complete with a vanishing act at the end.




Tubas!


The Cadets marched onto the field to the playing of "Procession of the Nobles" by the trumpet players up front using herald trumpets - very cool!


Most all corps use silver-plated instruments, but Carolina Crown used gold-lacquered instruments this year - quite nice for a change.


My all-time favorite corps, the Santa Clara Vanguard.




The corps that went on the win the championship, the Blue Devils.


This was a great event that we'll have to plan on attending again next year.