ROCKFORD, Michigan — Wednesday’s DCI Midwest Premiere presented by Fruhauf Uniforms, Inc. served as a resounding kickoff to the 2024 Drum Corps International Tour.
At the Rockford, Michigan, event, Boston Crusaders earned a substantial margin of victory atop a lineup of five World Class competitors — all of which earned finalist positions at the conclusion of 2023. Northern Lights represented the Great Lake State in the SoundSport division as the night’s leadoff act, finishing with a Silver rating.
View all results and the scoring recap from the DCI Midwest Premiere
Here’s a breakdown of the opening night competitive results:
1. Boston Crusaders » 73.000
With its debut performance of “Glitch,” Boston Crusaders opened up a significant lead on the field of competing corps, and earned a sweep of all captions, aside from a second-place ranking in the “content” portion of the percussion caption.
The Massachusetts corps outscored second-place Phantom Regiment by just under three points, which is comparable to the gap of 2.85 that separated the two corps at their first meeting a year ago.
Imperfection is the art of Boston’s 2024, “Glitch”
As for Boston Crusaders’ individual quantifiers, the corps’ debut score in 2024 checks in a few points shy of its 2023 opening number, 77.150, but that came a bit later on the tour schedule, on July 1.
2. Phantom Regiment » 70.150
Phantom Regiment took home second place in all captions other than percussion Wednesday night; the Rockford, Illinois corps came closest to outscoring Boston Crusaders in general effect, with the two separated by 0.8 points.
While Regiment's opening score broke 70 points for the second-consecutive season, it checked in a bit lower than last year’s debut tally of 71.300, earned at the same event.
3. The Cavaliers » 68.250
The Cavaliers’ caption scoring breakdown was arguably the most volatile of the night, with subcaption scores ranging from second to fifth place.
Introspective “Beneath the Armor” to usher in new era of The Cavaliers
In the big picture sense, the corps’ gap of 1.9 points behind Phantom Regiment was a bit smaller than it was at the outset of 2023; the two were split by 2.45 points when they first met head-to-head last summer.
Fresh off taking home 2023’s Fred Sanford Best Percussion Performance caption award, The Cavaliers posted strong percussion scores, finishing 0.3 points behind Boston Crusaders while outscoring the night’s overall winner in percussion content.
While one general effect judge had The Cavaliers in last place out of the five competing corps, the Green Machine still took third in the caption overall, to go with another third-place finish in overall visual, and second in overall music.
4. Blue Stars » 66.650
Blue Stars’ scoring output was one of the night’s more notable competitive storylines. After finishing two placements behind Colts at the end of 2023, the Wisconsin corps jumped ahead of its Iowa opponent to open the new season, by a margin of 1.25 points.
Look at the stars 🤩🤩
Posted by Blue Stars Drum and Bugle Corps on Wednesday, June 26, 2024
Blue Stars finished fourth in all overall captions, while scoring fifth in visual proficiency, and taking third place in color guard and third from one of two general effect judges.
5. Colts » 65.400
Fresh off of back-to-back appearances at the DCI World Championship Finals — and an all-time best final score and placement last season — Colts opened up the 2024 season with a comparable opening mark to 2023.
Colts will traverse through changing landscapes with “On Fields”
The Dubuque, Iowa corps kicked off last season’s tour with a score of 65.300, just one tenth below its 2024 debut number. While Colts landed behind the Blue Stars, the opening-night gap between the two was significantly smaller than last year’s margin of 4.6 points.
All five World Class corps from Wednesday’s event will appear, joined by Carolina Crown, Friday in Muncie, Indiana. Northern Lights’ next DCI Tour appearance is slated for the SoundSport International Music & Food Festival presented by Jazz Wealth, August 10 in Indianapolis.
View the 2024 DCI Tour Schedule
