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Mark Abbott's 2nd Weblog
Senators complete European Mission Incredible
This past weekend the Senators travelled to Hilversum, Holland to take part in the annual MMF tattoo hosted by Beatrix Drum and Bugle corps.
Friday 16 September 2005
The corps left Eastleigh bright and early on Friday morning for the trip to Folkestone where the corps would travel on the Channel Tunnel to France then drive on through Belgium to Holland.
The journey over turned out to be a 12-hour trek, the longest drive the corps has done for a long time! Luckily, help was on hand as the ever-inventive back seat produced some memorable bus games included a quiz, which ended up taking 4 hours with the special final “Bonus Round” a crowd favourite.
The coach pulled in at around 8:30 pm Dutch Time. Only 5 hours after the staff mini-bus had arrived! The corps were kindly being put up in Hilversum by Beatrix in their corps hall. The first time they have ever let another group stay there!
The Beatrix set up was very impressive, particularly the main hall complete with over 100 trophies and cups, and the Beatrix Bar with draft beer! Many conversations were had about the possibility of getting a “SenaBar” set up in the Nightingale Centre…
The rest of Friday evening was spent setting up camp in various rehearsal rooms, chatting to the Beatrix members who had arrived to say hello and testing the quality of the local beer. A couple of the Brassline Section Leaders also decided to try their hand (or foot) at a spot of Line Dancing in the main hall, quickly discovering it was a lot harder than it looked. Bet the Line Dancers couldn’t tear up Cuba at 200 bpm though!
Saturday 17 September 2005
Saturday morning was an early start, with shuttle runs down to the shower facilities starting at 7 am. By 10 am the corps were warming up at the Beatrix rehearsal site in preparation for a bit of “Show and Tell” before lunch.
The combined drum-lines when for the record of “Loudest 8 On A Hand In Europe, Ever” and probably broke it, before playing sections of their shows to one another. The horn-lines also played for each other, a couple of chord progressions and also show segments.
After this Beatrix set up and did a run-through of their 2005 show “Hooray for Hollywood” for the corps. A great brass sound from the 30 strong Dutch line led a very entertaining show that is surely a contender for retaining the DCE title this weekend. A highlight of the show is the West Side Story section, containing many of the tunes that Senators performed in one of their strongest shows back in 1995. The Tonight company front brought back lots of memories for a few Senators members and staff.
Senators then took the field to perform a run-through of the 2005 Mission Incredible show for Beatrix. Although a bit rusty from the trip the day before, the run was ok and Beatrix proved a very appreciative audience. The corps then mingled over lunch to compare notes.
Beatrix remained at their rehearsal site in the afternoon, while the Senators drove down to the venue for the evening show, an Athletics stadium in central Hilversum, to spend a couple of hours in ensemble rehearsal there.
After some lunch and bit of a rest, the corps energy was back up to normal levels and the afternoon session in the stadium was fantastic with the corps much stronger than they had been that morning.
The last hour of ensemble was probably one of the best rehearsals of 2005 so far and playing into the stand, already holding some early spectators curious to see a top UK corps, really brought the best out of the performance levels. As the sun began to set and more public started to drift into the stadium the Senators packed up. The stage was set for the evening show.
Now with a couple of hours off, some of the corps returned to the Beatrix hall while the rest stayed at the stadium.
Quite a few Senators found a great Chinese restaurant complete with a subtly rotating floor that confused a lot of people as they looked up and were facing a different direction than when they’d sat down! John Mc kindly took it upon himself to make sure that no-ones food was cold or not tasty enough, I don’t know what we’d do without him… probably have more dinner to eat.
After dinner, with the stadium lights on in the dusk and the strains of brass and drums drifting through the cool evening air, it would have been easy to confuse Saturday night with the fast approaching DCUK finals and there was definitely that feeling of excitement around the corps as everyone got changed ready for warm ups.
It’s not every day you get to warm up to an audience (especially in the brass line) but both the Drums and Brass had groups of people watching their entire programme in the car park before the show. The horn lines final prep, a rendition of Cuba tearing through the still air and bouncing around the estate got everyone’s hair standing on end. A special performance was in the offing as the Senators re-united at the gate to take the field.
A great turnout of European Drum Corps and Marching Band fans had made the trip to Hilversum. Apparently 1200 tickets had been sold prior to the event. As the corps took the field to a great reception the comparisons to “Finals Night” were inescapable. The crown, the grass looking ultra-green under the floodlights, horns sparkling and the new 2005 uniforms really coming into their own.
The evening show was full of energy and bags of performance, probably the most fun the corps have had on the field so far this year. Despite there being no yard-lines and only faint spray hashes, the show was also solid visually and the crowd ate it up with a great ovation at the conclusion of both Cuba and Glory Days.
After the show, Senators made a point of returning to the stand to watch their hosts, Beatrix, also perform their show to its peak. The audience had certainly been in for a treat that evening!
While setting up for Olympic retreat many Dutch fans approached Senators corps members to thank them for coming over to Hilversum and basically letting the corps know they’d been blown away! Some fans even felt they had to tell every line of the retreat block individually, which was really nice for the corps.
After retreat Beatrix and Senators had some joint corps photos taken together and then headed back to the Beatrix corps hall for a party and disco (bearing in mind it was midnight by now, a late night was guaranteed and there was no escaping it!!).
The Beatrix party rounded off the weekend brilliantly, with a lot of Beatrix members coming back to their hall and many friendships made over the local brew. Beatrix learnt a new song as well, which we hope they will enjoy as much as we have.
The total beer count is unknown, but one round at the end of the night was, officially, for 74 beers - Definitely some kind of European record.
Sunday 18 September 2005
Time to return to Blighty. The corps managed to get up eventually, packed and left Hilversum by about 10 am, seen off by the full Beatrix drumline who, thankfully for those suffering, hadn’t started pounding out 8 on a hand yet!
Another long drive back was a LOT quieter than the drive there had been, with just a smattering of songs and Anchorman quotes to keep us going. The corps arrived back in Eastleigh at around 8 pm, shattered, but still buzzing from what had definitely turned out to be once of the best Senators trips ever.
Many thanks to Beatrix for inviting Senators over and putting us up and being such great hosts. I’m sure this weekend will have set many things in motion for future Senators corps to enjoy.
Senators now look forward to beginning their finals camp this weekend and putting the final changes and tweaks into the 2005 show.
The corps has full corps rehearsals Saturday and Sunday, individual section work Monday and Tuesday and full corps rehearsals all day Wednesday, Thursday and Friday before DCUK Finals in Mansfield on Saturday the 1st October. We hope to see you there!
Mark Abbott
