DCI Rockford

What an awesome day!!!  

This morning, Jeremy and Shannon helped Mr. M and his family move from their apartment to a condo.  They moved all the heavy stuff in the morning, then came back to our house for lunch.  Dawn and the kids arrived just before the guys got back.  Jeremy grilled some brats and burgers, and we all got on the road north.

We stopped at DQ in El Paso for a bathroom break (and maybe some ice cream, too) and decided to divide the boys and girls among the cars.  Addie came in our car, and we hooked her bluetooth up so she could DJ some great musical theatre tunes.  Caeden and Reece took the portable DVD player and watched a Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

We arrived in Rockford, checked in to our hotel, and had just enough time for a quick supper.  

We found a Beefaroo!

These 5 found the cool corner.

As we were leaving Beefaroo, The Cavaliers' caravan was driving by, heading toward the school for the show!

We followed them.

We found our seats in the stands, and the excitement continued to build!  It was the first DCI show for everyone except Jeremy and me.  (We saw several in Fort Wayne in the '90's with our high school band, but it's been a "couple" years since.)

The first corp to perform was the Kilties.  They are a small, all-age, weekend-only corps.

Their show was A Tour of Time: Old Friends. New Adventures, and they were a very small group--even smaller than our high school band will be.

The second group was Legends from Kalamazoo, MI.  They are an Open Class corp.

We enjoyed their show, THE CLIMB.

The next open class group was Music City, out of Nashville, TN.

Their show was The Planets, which is always great music for a marching band show.

After intermission, there were four fantastic world class corps that performed.

The first was Spirit of Atlanta, with their show Out of the Ashes.

Next came The Cavaliers.  They are an all-male corp.

Jeremy and I have been long-time fans of this corps, since one of our friends and fellow high school marching band members was in it during high school.  

Their show Game On was incredible.

It is very early in the season for drum corp competitions, and the skill and precision (and speed!) with which these guys marched and played was just amazing!!

We loved their performance!

Next were the Bluecoats from Canton, Ohio, with their show Kinetic Noise.

They definitely looked amazing, with their gorgeous long blue coats, and the impressive silver gyrospheres that the guard and band members danced, ran, twirled and played around inside!

Maybe Jeremy and I are getting old, but we didn't care for the large amount of digital looping and amplifying in this show.  That said, it was crazy impressive and emotional, and definitely the craziest thing I've seen on a field!

The Bluecoats came in 1st in the competition.

The final corp to perform was the host group, Phantom Regiment, from Rockford.

Their performance of their show, City of Light, was exquisite and beautiful--the costumes, the music, the emotion, all of it.  

After their show, Phantom Regiment took a short break and returned to play a beautiful encore performance for the hometown crowd.  

After the awards were presented, we stayed in the stands for a while so as not to battle the traffic getting out.  When we walked out of the stands, the kids saw Phantom Regiment's drum major and asked him for a picture.  He was very kind to pose with them, and then a long line of others who wanted pictures with him formed quickly behind the kids.

It was a really beautiful and exciting evening of great music shared with wonderful friends!