Succesful first edition of French national DCF event

An enthusiastic audience cheered for the 6 corps performing at DCF first national festival in Saint Quentin - France, last Saturday, September 10th. Inside the huge sports hall Pierre Ratte of Saint Quentin, Showband Amis Réunis ('United Friends'), Edelweiss Drum and Bugle Corps, Showparade Creutzwald, Showband USA, Show and Marching Band La Vaillante and the international guest Jong Irene from Ede - the Netherlands, made the crowd stand on their feet at the conclusion of the festival, around midnight.

A full show with a professional announcer, sound and lights effects made the musicians perform with involvement, and the crowd loved all of them. For the overture, all brass performers from the corps gathered to play 'Fanfare for an Occasion', with timpani, cymbal and drum players, and a huge horn line of nearly 80 members. Just after this, was there was the arrival of the national colors: two color guards seated on the back side of superb motorbikes, proudly holding their French flags.

The six drum major entered the arena and were introduced by the announcer Marc Sancerre. After the introduction, the announcer opened the first national DCF festival.

First to appear: Showband Les Amis Réunis from Saint Quentin, from the northern part of France. A small corps of 11 members with a great sound! They surprised the audience and fans because of the way they handled the music from their repertoire 'Cinémusique'. Good music, great balanced sound, no doubt about it: small can be beautiful. And above that the show was entertaining and well executed. Thunder of applause for them, a great reward for the talented musicians.



Second in the order of appearance: Edelweiss Drum and Bugle Corps from Tours, from the centre-western part of France. These high skilled musicians with several students in music in their ranks had some problems with the sound balance, as a result of the unluckiness they encountered earlier: the corps was stuck in a traffic jam in the suburbs of Paris for one and a half hours, and even the organisation was afraid they could not make it. They finally arrived at 7 PM and were very stressed. There wasn't time for rehearsal or tuning. So they performed in very bad conditions. Their program 'Marching Seasons' showed great musicality, especially for the keyboards player. One piece was executed with 'black light', which had a really nice special effect on their show. Hot and perfoming drum line of a high technical level: certainly the best drumline in France from a technical point of view. The show was good, but there were several mistakes and a real lack of practice. Too bad, because the corps showed a great creativity especially with props and good effects. The very small hornline (7 members ) was brave but virtuall drowned by a too loud percussion section due the tremendous echos of the sports hall. Edelweiss did not deserve all these problems that prevented them to be themselves and to show what they usually are able to produce... Nevertheless, the audience loved them.

Third, a typical french 'batterie-fanfare' style corps entered the field: Showparade from Creutzwald (the north-east of France, close to the German border). Using valveless brass instruments, entering in a square formation, audience thought they were going to see a concert performance. But when they played the first note, the corps exploded in a non-stop sequence of changing patterns on a high tempo beat. They performed well, very well, showing the evidence that natural sound instruments are no problem for good musicians to perform an entertaining front-facing show. Well balanced repertoire 'La Fanfare à l'Unisson', with pieces like 'Intervention', 'Aquitania' and 'Rhythms and Blues'... They finished their show 'à la Blue Brothers' in a funny way. All musicians wearing black glasses and a black gangster style hat, with a loud final shout "Yeah!". The audience rewarded them with a big applause.

After a short break with fresh drinks (it was very hot in the 'Palais des sports' that night), the fourth French corps was ready to go: Showband USA from Hellemmes (suburb of Lille, north-west of France). A marching band with drums and color guards only. A lot of corps with this formation are found in France, but this one is a top corps. Effectiveness, musicality, it was all there. These young men and women are already used to perform at indoor competitions in Holland and France. They have a good feeling for show. Their program 'Disney Wonders' was well prepared and very entertaining. High skilled and pretty color guards, a huge front ensemble, strong effective drum line and a talented young lady as drum major. The show was run like a story... melodies from Disney took the audience to the world of dreams: Aladin, Mary Poppins, Cinderella, and we all were waiting 'for the prince to come... Great show, popular pieces of music! Bravo USA!

Then Jong Irene, from Ede - the Netherlands, entered the floor. Young girls and boys (cadets) are in fact members of the feeding corps for the famous senior show corps Irene, one of the top marching bands in The Netherlands. Great music, entertaining show with a perfect marching. These teenagers (maximum 16 years old) were amazing, and their show was received very well by the audience.

And then the 'Saint-Quentinoise' audience was ready to warmly cheer for their home corps: La Vaillante Show and Marching Band. Of course, this corps was playing before their own audience. This band is used to tattoos and exhibitions. The hometown made them feel very comfortable on the floor. The crowd was on its feet from the beginning of the show till the end! La Vaillante performed a nice program called 'Les Plaisirs Démodés'. Recognizable tunes for the French people in the audience, like 'Pour le Plaisir' from Herbert Leonard and 'C'est la Fête' from Michel Fugain. The favourites of this festival received a warm applause.

Nice and entertaining show but maybe using a little too much repetitive square and 'block' patterns. A great soprano soloist Nicolas Denimal who charmed the audience has to be noticed. And then there was the drum major of La Vaillante, Bernard Feignier. He was so interactive with the spectators. He asked to clap and cheer, and stepped onto the stand to kiss someone in the audience. Without any doubt THE best drum major of this night. Of course, the home Corps was allowed to perform more and their performance lasted longer than all other groups. But the quality of the music they performed was very good and the sound very clean.

At the end of the event, all corps attended the 'Olympic Retreat'. They played 'Amazing Grace' all together and then the national anthem 'La Marseillaise'. All peoples in the sports palace were standing on their feet. After an emotional 'Last Post' played by Nicolas Denimal, the city authorities came on the scene, represented by the Deputy Mayor of Saint-Quentin. The President of Drum Corps France, Nicolas Dufour (also the producer and coordinator of the show) accompanied by Thierry Plume, Excutive Director of Drum Corps France, came to thank all participants and the audience and gave them a souvenir from the city of Saint Quentin and a souvenir from the first national DCF festival.

Special awards were given to the youngest and to the oldest musician of DCF and who played with their corps this wonderful night: Aline Grundler (9 years old) and Paul Crouvoisier (66 years old), both from Showparade Creutzwald. Then all corps left the arena one by one, and again received incredible response from the audience. For a first national event, we can say it was a real success. Of course, the organisation staff was expecting some more peoples in the stand (and the shows deserved it!). About 650 tickets were sold for the event.

Congratulations to Drum Corps France, we're eagerly expecting the next edition with more corps and more spectators, because from now we know DCF provides high quality groups. The activity is now moving forward in France!