Bluecoats steal the show with ‘Down Side Up’

Publish Date: 24 Jun 2016 - 4351 views

Six World Class corps escaped the Indianapolis summer heat under the roof of Lucas Oil Stadium on Thursday night, as the DCI Tour Premiere presented by French Lick Resort kicked off the 2016 Drum Corps International Tour.

The Bluecoats stole the show in more ways than one revealing their production title 'Down Side Up', on way to taking first place with a score of 69.700. The corps no longer donned the uniforms traditional to their name, instead the color guard and horn line mirrored one another in tight-fitting solid yellow and white, sequentially, with a single blue line looping across their torsos.

The Bluecoats used the Tour Premiere as the stage for their show reveal, not leaking any information beyond a list of repertoire before the corps took the field. Large ramps were placed on the field, allowing performers to play to the advantages of gravity while incorporating dance and free movement with traditional marching.

Just a half point behind the Bluecoats, Carolina Crown took second place with a score of 69.200 and managed to grab first place in both Visual and Music captions. The corps features a large stagecoach as a central element to feature soloists in its 2016 production called 'Relentless', which is billed as a 'classic Spaghetti Western' with inspirations from Shakespeare’s 'Hamlet' and Homer’s 'Illiad'.

After taking first place during the 2015 season opener in Indy, the Cadets finished in third on Thursday night with a score of 66.950. Making their competitive debut with “Awakening,” the corps returned to the field this summer with the all-black uniforms it presented halfway through the 2015 season. With a score of 65.40, the Cavaliers matched their 2015 Tour Premiere fourth-place finish but managed to add 2.3 points to its opening score this year over last.

Celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2016, Phantom Regiment pays tribute to its own vision of excellence with its show 'Voice of Promise' (63.45). The Crusaders finished the night in sixth place with a score of 60.450.