Last night ten amazing drumlines battled it out inside the Everglades High School gymnasium at the second seasonal Miramar Battle of the Drumlines. I was lucky enough to host this event which has grown from what it was last season tremendously. And now, here are the results.

The first drumline to take the court in competition was the The Royal Spades Indoor Ensemble. The group that founded ROYAL came into the competition looking to dominate with their show, Invictus. Unfortunately, the show was not one of the highlights of the day. The musical performance was ok, and there were many interesting and fun runs that kept the crowd into the action, but the visual aspect of the show was not on par with the rest of the groups performing. Royal Spades came in 4th place with a respectable score of 50.48.

The next group to perform in front of the excited crowd were the Jags. The line's show titled "8-5" was an exciting one to watch. Visuals were very nice. Their caption scores were average, but the general effect in both the music and visual categories carried them to a bronze medal finish, with a score of 52.705.

The hosting line, The Panther Pride Drumline, was up next. The crowd went wild for the hometown favorite, and all in attendance loved the show, which is titled, "Life of Beat". The show depicted the progression of different musical beats and phrases.The line took the best Musical Performance and Visual Performance captions in Division 2, but a lack of good GE kept them from winning. Panther Pride got the silver, with a score of 53.06.

The last drumline to perform in Division 2 was High flying aviators, and their performance rocked the house. Their show, "Caesar", follows the life of the great Roman emperor, all the way up to his assassination. The very energetic finale is what got this amazing up and coming line the Gold Medal. They finished with a score of 54.885.

After a quick intermission, the Division 1 competitors began to take the court. The first line to perform was The Fracking Flamingos, with their show "...". This show was a bit confusing at times, and was hard to follow. Much of the time, the people in the crowd were scratching their heads trying to figure out what was going on. Maybe that explains the show title. It was an interesting show, with a creative concept, but it was not enough for a top 5 finish. They finished with a score of 58.32.

Right after The Fracking Flamingos wrapped up their performance, Thunder Indoor took the court with their evil and scary show, "Apocalyptic Dreams". This show was fast paced and was an instant crowd favorite. Still, the judges saw mistakes all around that prevented this show from getting a higher score. The end result was a score of 59.955.

With high expectations, Black Beat NZ was up next. Their show, "Super Size" was clearly worthy of the name. The crowd loved the musical phrases that the line had to offer, but the show lacked in visual pizzaz. Visual performance held this line back. Black Beat NZ came in 4th with a score of 61.95.

Pandora was the next drumline to take the court. They were the only ROYAL D1 representative, and they represented well. Their jazzy show, titled "Guardians of groove", had the crowd dancing the entire time. It was one of my favorite performances of the day, and was very solid all around. Pandora took the bronze medal with a score of 63.6.

The second to last line performing was Hoosier Rhythm, and boy did they amaze the crowd. The show "Slant" was one of the best shows of the day, and completely blew away everyone in the stands. Both the drumline and pit had very demanding parts, and the visuals were outstanding. Line formations were constantly being slanted in all directions. However, despite how great this performance was, there was still one last line that had to take the court. In the end, Hoosier Rhythm couldnt get the gold, but settled for a nice silver medal with a score of 76.17.

Finally, the last drumline took the court, and immediately received roaring applause from the crowd. Thunder, the most popular line in the competition, performed their show, "Shout! III". Perhaps one of the best known shows ever, Shout! II, has finally gotten the sequel it deserves. Thunder is back and is badder than ever. The show was just plain loud and powerful, and everybody loved it. The finale was the highlight of the day, when all the drummers just went with everything they had, while yelling at the top of their lungs all the way up until the last hit. With a thunderous applause, Thunder received the Gold Medal with a score of 77.28. Congratulations to this season's Grand Champions, Thunder, and to all who competed.

For a full recap, please visit http://www.fantasymarchingarts.com/event/27256

Very nice Alex. I would love to see more directors put some effort into their own events like this. This is truely an inspiration and an awesome write-up. Keep it up.

On am side note, would you be interested in doing commentary for FMA. PM me and we can discuss. The more dedicated commentators we have, the easier it would be to get things accomplished.

Nice write up m8

Thanks!

I like the description of my show