NationStates Jolt Archive

Stadium Announcer Gail Royer: "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the opening event of the inaugural Alliance of International Drum & Bugle Corps Associates World Tour, here at Vanguard Stadium in Bluth Corporation's wonderful capital city of Newport Beach. We have for you tonight six of the world's top drum & bugle corps, hailing from both Bluth Corporation and Zwangzug. The corps performances will begin momentarily, but first allow me to remind everyone of some basic courtesy. It is requested that everyone remain in their seats while a corps is performing, and aside from appropriate cheering please remain quiet and respectful of both the corps on the field and your fellow fans who wish to hear its performance. Please do not use flash photography during a corps performance, and making audio recordings without express permission of the Alliance of International Drum & Bugle Corps Associates is strictly forbidden.

"Now, for tonight's lineup. The performing order tonight has been chosen by random draw, as will be the case at all further AIDBCA World Tour events. In performance order, the six corps are: Wild Foxen, representing Zwangzug; Live Wires; representing Zwangzug; Southern Sound, representing Bluth Corporation; East Coast Highwaymen, representing Bluth Corporation; Haydensky, representing Zwangzug, and Brigadiers, representing Bluth Corporation. Wild Foxen's performance will begin momentarily..."

(three hours later, after all corps have finished performing)

"Ladies and gentlemen, the competition portion of tonight's program is concluded. We will begin awards presentations shortly. Will all competing corps please assemble on the field in performance order?"

(the corps begin marching in)

"Representing Zwangzug, Wild Foxen!"
"Representing Zwangzug, Live Wires!"
"Representing Bluth Corporation, Southern Sound!"
"Representing Bluth Corporation, East Coast Highwaymen!"
"Representing Zwangzug, Haydensky!"
"Representing Bluth Corporation, Brigadiers!"

"Please give another round of applause to these corps. These groups have worked hard and been beaten into the ground all night, and this is their first reward of many, just being able to perform tonight. They really deserve it, folks.

"Now, for the caption awards. The award for High Marching & Maneuvering goes to...Haydensky! The award for High Auxiliary goes to...Haydensky! The award for High Bugles goes to...Wild Foxen! The award for High Battery Percussion goes to...Live Wires! The award for High Sideline Percussion goes to...Southern Sound!"

"And now for the overall awards, in reverse order of placement. In sixth place, with a score of 52.28, is Wild Foxen! In fifth place, with a score of 52.98, is East Coast Highwaymen! In fourth place, with a score of 53.09, is Southern Sound! In third place and receiving a bronze medal, with a score of 53.13, is Live Wires! In second place and receiving a silver medal, with a score of 53.35, is Brigadiers! And in first place and receiving a gold medal, with a score tonight of 53.81, is Haydensky!"

"Haydensky, you may assemble for your encore performance!"

(Haydensky performs its encore)

"Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes tonight's program. We hope you've enjoyed tonight's performances, and we look forward to seeing you at our next stop on the tour, 12 days from now at Watchman's Memorial Coliseum in Unitas Valley!"

A score recap is available at http://wikistates.outwardhosting.com/wiki/AIDBCA_World_Tour_I

The Alliance of International Drum and Bugle Corps gave its first performance in Newport Beach, Bluth Corporation. Zwangzug's corps performed well, winning four of the five caption awards and two of the three medals.

"High bugles? Darn right they were!" joked a sideline percussionist from Wild Foxen, the first group to perform, in reference to the medal won by the sixth-place corps. "Those arpeggios?"

Haydensky, based outside Arlington, was the dominant corps, garnering awards for Marching and Maneuvering and Auxiliary, and taking the overall gold medal. Their color guard's flags seemed translucent at times, but they shifted to rifles for Achenar's Theme in the encore, having played Sirrus' during the main performance. "All we need to do now is make music," said the half-serious drum major. They'll get their next chance in Unitas Valley, as the tour has its second performance.

SCORES FOR: July 18, Year 67
Venue: Watchman's Memorial Coliseum
Location: Unitas Valley

High Marching & Maneuvering: Haydensky
High Auxiliary: Haydensky
High Bugles: Brigadiers
High Battery Percussion: East Coast Highwaymen
High Sideline Percussion: Southern Sound

Sixth place: Wild Foxen (53.23)
Fifth place: Southern Sound (53.51)
Fourth place: Live Wires (54.42)
Third place (bronze medal): East Coast Highwaymen (54.54)
Second place (silver medal): Haydensky (54.80)
First place (gold medal): Brigadiers (55.59)

Recap available here (http://wikistates.outwardhosting.com/wiki/AIDBCA_World_Tour_I#July_18_.28Watchman.27s_Memorial_Coliseum.2C_Unitas_Valley.29).

SCORES FOR: July 27, Year 67
Venue: Lipscomb Bowl
Location: Alameche

High Marching & Maneuvering: Haydensky
High Auxiliary: Haydensky
High Bugles: Live Wires
High Battery Percussion: East Coast Highwaymen
High Sideline Percussion: Live Wires

Sixth place: Southern Sound (54.55)
Fifth place: East Coast Highwaymen (54.84)
Fourth place: Live Wires (56.41)
Third place (bronze medal): Wild Foxen (57.02)
Second place (silver medal): Haydensky (57.36)
First place (gold medal): Brigadiers (57.67)

Recap available here (http://wikistates.outwardhosting.com/wiki/AIDBCA_World_Tour_I#July_27_.28Lipscomb_Bowl.2C_Alameche).

SCORES FOR: August 5, Year 67
Venue: The Stadium at Khlysty
Location: Khlysty

High Marching & Maneuvering: Haydensky
High Auxiliary: East Coast Highwaymen
High Bugles: Live Wires
High Battery Percussion: East Coast Highwaymen
High Sideline Percussion: Wild Foxen

Sixth place: Southern Sound (57.08)
Fifth place: East Coast Highwaymen (58.15)
Fourth place: Wild Foxen (58.53)
Third place (bronze medal): Live Wires (59.02)
Second place (silver medal): Haydensky (59.29)
First place (gold medal): Brigadiers (59.88)

Recap available here (http://wikistates.outwardhosting.com/wiki/AIDBCA_World_Tour_I#August_5_.28The_Stadium_at_Khlysty.2C_Khlysty.29).

SCORES FOR: August 10, Year 67
Venue: Hunnicutt Municipal Stadium
Location: Hunnicutt

High Marching & Maneuvering: Wild Foxen
High Auxiliary: Haydensky
High Bugles: Live Wires
High Battery Percussion: East Coast Highwaymen
High Sideline Percussion: Wild Foxen

Sixth place: Southern Sound (57.91)
Fifth place: East Coast Highwaymen (60.12)
Fourth place: Live Wires (61.23)
Third place (bronze medal): Brigadiers (61.38)
Second place (silver medal): Haydensky (61.48)
First place (gold medal): Wild Foxen (62.75)

Recaps available here (http://wikistates.outwardhosting.com/wiki/AIDBCA_World_Tour_I#August_10_.28Hunnicutt_Memorial_Stadium.2C_Hunnicutt.29).

OOC: Finals format will be as follows:

The top four corps by weighted medal count (gold=3, silver=2, bronze=1) will participate in quarterfinals
The top three corps in quarterfinals will advance to semifinals
The top two corps in semifinals will advance to finals

Zwangzug's corps have continued their successful performances in the AIDBCA tour, helped no doubt by comprising a full half of the participants.

Haydensky have been the most impressive, tying with the Bluth Corporation Brigadiers for most medals garnered overall. They earned a silver medal in each performance to date since the first, in which they earned a gold. Along the way, they obtained caption awards for excellence in Marching & Maneuvering and Auxiliary. The latter has gone more unnoticed, being incorrectly equated with "auxiliary percussion" by multiple media publications in Zwangzug.

"We're the best corps ever," brags a giddy drum major, "if, like, you're deaf."

The only group to best them in Marching & Maneuvering is compatriots Wild Foxen, who won the overall gold in the most recent performance. They played a brisk tarantella for their encore, having also won the award for best Sideline Percussion. Meanwhile, the Live Wires are not quite marching to the grave: they have won the last three awards for bugles, and one bronze medal.

The corps are halfway through the open phase: after five more performances, the top four corps will advance to a finals phase.

SCORES FOR: August 22, Year 67
Venue: Solzhenitsyn Field
Location: Velvet Rush

High Marching & Maneuvering: Haydensky
High Auxiliary: Haydensky
High Bugles: Live Wires
High Battery Percussion: East Coast Highwaymen
High Sideline Percussion: Wild Foxen

Sixth place: Southern Sound (59.30)
Fifth place: East Coast Highwaymen (60.85)
Fourth place: Live Wires (61.09)
Third place (bronze medal): Brigadiers (61.54)
Second place (silver medal): Haydensky (64.01)
First place (gold medal): Wild Foxen (64.27)

Recaps available here (http://wikistates.outwardhosting.com/wiki/AIDBCA_World_Tour_I#August_22_.28Solzhenitsyn_Field.2C_Velvet_Rush.29).

SCORES FOR: September 2, Year 67
Venue: Meerschaum Memorial Stadium
Location: Hary Janos

High Marching & Maneuvering: Haydensky
High Auxiliary: Haydensky
High Bugles: Brigadiers
High Battery Percussion: East Coast Highwaymen
High Sideline Percussion: Wild Foxen

Sixth place: Southern Sound (58.52)
Fifth place: Live Wires (62.83)
Fourth place: Brigadiers (63.25)
Third place (bronze medal): East Coast Highwaymen (63.26)
Second place (silver medal): Wild Foxen (64.69)
First place (gold medal: Haydensky (65.19)

Recaps available here (http://wikistates.outwardhosting.com/wiki/AIDBCA_World_Tour_I#September_2_.28Meerschaum_Memorial_Stadium.2C_Hary_Janos.29).

SCORES FOR: September 14, Year 67
Venue: The Royer Coliseum
Location: Trapper John

High Marching & Maneuvering: Haydensky
High Auxiliary: Haydensky
High Bugles: Brigadiers
High Battery Percussion: Brigadiers
High Sideline Percussion: Wild Foxen

Sixth place: Southern Sound (60.84)
Fifth place: Live Wires (62.97)
Fourth place: East Coast Highwaymen (64.36)
Third place (bronze medal): Brigadiers (65.76)
Second place (silver medal): Haydensky (66.25)
First place (gold medal): Wild Foxen (66.70)

Recaps available here (http://wikistates.outwardhosting.com/wiki/AIDBCA_World_Tour_I#September_14_.28The_Royer_Coliseum.2C_Trapper_John.29).

Zwangzug's corps remain successful as the AIDBCA tour continues. In the last three competitions, Haydensky have won caption awards for Auxiliary and Marching & Maneuvering. They have simply dominated these categories, garnering these awards in seven of the eight competitions.

In a more musical vein, the Wild Foxen won all three awards for sideline percussion. They won two gold medals, taking second only to Haydensky, who won the silvers in the other two competitions. The Live Wires, for their part, took a caption award for High Bugles but have not medalled.

Haydensky, Wild Foxen, and the Bluth Corporation's Brigadiers are far ahead of the pack, it's clear, and look set to qualify to the playoffs. The fourth spot remains unclear, with the Live Wires and East Coast Highwaymen each having two bronze medals to date, and the Southern Sound none.

"Their battery percussion, at least individually, hasn't been all that great," comments a Live Wires snare. "But they're definitely entertaining, I'd like to see them do well. Of course, I'd like us to make the playoffs too! Anyone but the Highwaymen, I guess."

There are two more performances left before the playoffs.

SCORES FOR: September 26, Year 67
Venue: Havenco Bowl
Location: Havenco

High Marching & Maneuvering: Haydensky
High Auxiliary: Wild Foxen
High Bugles: East Coast Highwaymen
High Battery Percussion: Brigadiers
High Sideline Percussion: Wild Foxen

Sixth place: Southern Sound (62.12)
Fifth place: Live Wires (64.14)
Fourth place: East Coast Highwaymen (64.95)
Third place (bronze medal): Briagdiers (67.07)
Second place (silver medal): Haydensky (67.72)
First place (gold medal): Wild Foxen (68.89)

Recaps available here (http://wikistates.outwardhosting.com/wiki/AIDBCA_World_Tour_I#September_26_.28Havenco_Bowl.2C_Havenco.29).

Tiebreaker for quarterfinals qualification will be total of all scores throughout the season.

SCORES FOR: October 8, Year 67
Venue: Harlaxton-Barr Stadium
Location: Albemarle

High Marching & Maneuvering: Haydensky
High Auxiliary: Brigadiers
High Bugles: Live Wires
High Battery Percussion: Brigadiers
High Sideline Percussion: Wild Foxen

Sixth place: Southern Sound (63.77)
Fifth place: East Coast Highwaymen (66.76)
Fourth place: Live Wires (66.78)
Third place (bronze medal): Brigadiers (68.64)
Second place (silver medal): Wild Foxen (68.89)
First place (gold medal): Haydensky (70.46)

Recaps available here (http://wikistates.outwardhosting.com/wiki/AIDBCA_World_Tour_I#October_8_.28Harlaxton-Barr_Stadium.2C_Albemarle.29).

QUARTERFINALISTS:
Brigadiers
Haydensky
Live Wires
Wild Foxen

The "regular season" of AIDBCA competition has ended on a high note (literally) for Zwangzug's corps, all three of which qualified for the quarterfinals. Haydensky took the gold at the final competition, winning caption awards for Marching & Maneuvering both times, and played a suitably 8va encore. With 23 medal points, they finished comfortably ahead of their nearest rivals.

Those were the Wild Foxen, who won both caption awards for Bugles, and alternated the gold and silver medals with Haydensky. A point behind them were the Brigadiers, from Bluth Corporation, the host.

The real drama was for the fourth spot. Whoever got there was admittedly likely to be outclassed, but the entertainingly different styles of Zwangzug's Live Wires and the Bluth Corporation's East Coast Highwaymen had built up a rivalry. When the performance in Albemarle was over, both corps had won two bronze medals apiece. It would come down to the tiebreaker...The Highwaymen had 600.81 points over the season. The Wires, 602.02. By less than two points over three months, they were through to the quarterfinals.

SCORES FOR: October 19, Year 67
AIDBCA World Tour Quarterfinals
Venue: Vanguard Stadium
Location: Newport Beach

Fourth place: Live Wires (67.10)
Third place: Wild Foxen (68.81)
Second place: Brigadiers (69.28)
First place: Haydensky (71.47)

Live Wires is eliminated; Wild Foxen, Brigadiers, and Haydensky continue to semifinals.

Recaps available here (http://wikistates.outwardhosting.com/wiki/AIDBCA_World_Tour_I#October_19_.28Quarterfinals.2C_Vanguard_Stadium.2C_Newport_Beach.29).

Haydensky and the Wild Foxen, along with the Brigadiers, advanced to the semifinals of the first AIDBCA tour, with the Live Wires being eliminated. Predictable results all around, with the Brigadiers edging out the Wild Foxen for second in the most contested finish. The competition was held in Vanguard Stadium, site of the first competition.

Haydensky's excellence was disparate: the sideline percussion, as an ensemble, got their highest score, while moving around on the field the individual members scored highly in Marching & Maneuvering. (The Wild Foxen's ensemble marching got 82 points, the highest score of the Zwangzug corps).

"A couple bars were essentially...I guess you'd call them 4-to-5s," marvels an Oliverrian horn player in Haydensky. "But the challenge is half the fun."

There will be challenge aplenty as three of the world's most elite corps compete in the semifinals.

SCORES FOR: October 31, Year 67
AIDBCA World Tour Semifinals
Venue: Vanguard Stadium
Location: Newport Beach

Third place (World Bronze Medalist): Wild Foxen (69.14)
Second place: Brigadiers (71.08)
First place: Haydensky (72.65)

Wild Foxen is eliminated, and is named World Bronze Medalist Corps. Brigadiers and Haydensky continue on to finals.

Recaps available here (http://wikistates.outwardhosting.com/wiki/AIDBCA_World_Tour_I#October_31_.28Semifinals.2C_Vanguard_Stadium.2C_Newport_Beach.29)

Haydensky and Brigadiers will continue to the first AIDBCA finals after Wild Foxen, finishing third in the semifinals, was named the World Bronze Medalist Corps.

"Looking at the stuff that's happening on the field," muses a rueful Wild Foxen sideline percussionist, "we're the opposites of Haydensky. In categories like Marching & Maneuvering, where they did the best, they got higher scores individually than as an ensemble. We were better as an ensemble-where it really matters. But of course, that wasn't enough..."

Zwangzug's representation in the final had been ensured when the playoffs began, but Bluth Corporation's sole representative has been impressive in both rounds. Its operatic battery percussion was possibly the most breathtaking moment of the semifinals. The Zwangzug corps, meanwhile, excelled on the marches.

"We're the slight favorites at this point," I think, says the Haydensky drum major in a rare serious tone. Haydensky took first place in both playoff rounds. "But the Brigadiers are on home turf, and I'm guessing they'll find the underdog role just fine. It won't be easy."

There's only one thing for certain looking toward the final: the ending has not yet been written...

SCORES FOR: November 12, Year 67
AIDBCA World Tour Finals
Venue: Vanguard Stadium
Location: Newport Beach

Second place (World Silver Medalist): Brigadiers (73.13)
First place (World Champion): Haydensky (74.50)

Recaps available here (http://wikistates.outwardhosting.com/wiki/AIDBCA_World_Tour_I#November_12_.28Finals.2C_Vanguard_Stadium.2C_Newport_Beach.29).

Haydensky was named World Champion after the AIDBCA tour finals in Newport Beach, Bluth Corporation, in which they competed against Brigadiers. Even its battery percussion-admittedly its weakest element-was on top form, earning over 80 points in the individual section. The success was a rich reward for months of effort.

An emotional rendition of the "Un-Finale" served as an encore, with the underlying message that they will be back for the next edition: Bluth Corporation officials are already organizing the format. One requirement is that competing nations have "bona fide" corps circuits: while Zwangzug certainly qualifies, there is speculation of how serious the circuit is when compared to regular marching bands. The media that can't tell color guard from auxiliary percussion aren't helping matters any, and drum corps has not caught on to the degree some might hope.

Such concerns, however, were far from fans' minds on a chilly November evening, as two of the worlds' greatest groups put on an unforgettable show. Congratulations are in order to the Bluth Corporation for forging ahead despite limited interest: hopefully, this will inspire future competition worldwide.