The second half of the day featured some of the best corps in all of FAME. The first corps to perform was the War Eagle Regiment, and their show, "La Llegada", was the perfect way to kick off the upper tier portion of the competition. Although their hornline was not as powerful as Crown's, their opener, Malaguena, was electrifying. The chords were beautiful, and the solos were incredible to listen to. Unfortunately, the rest of this show was not as amazing as the opener, and this average performance towards the end stretch led to 7th place finish, and a score of 60.655.

The Commonwealth Crusaders had a disappointing show this season, in my opinion. "A Journey to the Dark Tower" started out as a very competitive show that could put Commonwealth into the finals for yet another season, but midway through the season, this corps fell down in the rankings, and off the map. Still, it was a very impressive show to watch from the stands. Although visually it wasn't anything special, the hornline absolutely killed it out there. Hopefully, this veteran corps can gain some momentum this season, and get back to destroying the competition. The Commonwealth Crusaders got 6th place, with a score of 62.76.

As it got later, and the sun began to set in Houston, the Secret Society took the field with their show, "A New Era". It was a very cool and futuristic show that depicted the rise of Drum Corps, and what it has become. It was very cool to see the progression of the styles of drum corps all on the field. The closer however, was clearly the best part of this show. It showed everyone in the stands what Secret Society thinks the future of drum corps will look like. There were many dubstep type beats, and the visuals as a whole were great to see. Overall, this show was fun, but still fairly average. In the end, this corps received a decent score of 65.3.

Next up to perform was Icicle Influence, with their show, "Snowflakes". As the winter season came to an end, this corps wanted to celebrate the season one more time, while being very elegant and superior. The sights and sounds on the field were fairly clean, and the crowd did seem to enjoy the show somewhat. Still, many people in the stands, including the judges, were tired of seeing winter themed shows, so this may have affected this corp's placement. Still, the judges could not deny that Icicle Influence had a very nice show, and rewarded them with a score of 66.985.

After trailing for much of the season, the Shadowcoats finally were able to get a firm grip on the third place spot. Their show, "Metropolis Fantastic", depicted the rise of a city. Although it was a nice show all around, there is no doubt that the drumline dominated this performance. It was one of the most amazing performances I have ever seen, and it carried the corps to their third place finish. Everyone in the stands was impressed with how clean and nice the drumline sounded, and how the hornline managed to keep up with them throughout the whole show. Taking the Bronze, the Shadowcoats, with a score of 69.255.

In their second season in FMA, and their first in Division 2, The Panthers were one of the most impressive corps of the day. Their hornline absolutely destroyed the competition before them, and had the crowd on their feet for most of the show. Their show, titled "Dreams", featured music from the movie Inception. The hornline was loud and clean, and the drumline had a great performance to back them up, although they were still not as awesome as the Shadowcoats line. The guard was also a force to be reckoned with, receiving the best score in D2. Overall, this show was amazing, but ensemble and GE scores kept this corps from winning. The Panthers settled for Silver, with a score of 79.225.

All season long, the Thunderbirds were overlooked, even while they dominated the competition in Division 2. Nobody expected this corps to rise to the top the way it did, after only making semis a season ago in D3. Now, this corps has proved to the FMA world that they are here, and here to stay. Their show, "Contact", was one of the most powerful, yet elegant, shows of the night. The very best part about this inspiring show was when the corps played Gustav Holst's Mars. It had had the crowd hooting and hollering for more, and blew everyone's faces off. The strongest parts of this show was the GE, both in the music and visual departments. At times, it looked like a D1 corps was competing on the field. Contact will forever be remembered as one of the greatest shows in FAME history, and will be regarded as a classic. The Thunderbirds take the Gold, and the Division 2 Championship Chalice, with a score of 82.74.

After a short intermission, in which Aaron, our league founder, was honored for his commitment to the league, and gave his State of the League address, the Dark Knights took the field with their show, "Elysium". Usually, DK is very competitive in D1, but it seems like they spent most of their season fundraising. Overall, it was still a nice show to watch, but it wasn't as exciting as the top 3 D2 shows. The crowd still loved their favorite corps though, and the support that was given to the Dark Knights was downright tear jerking. It was clear that the crowd was cheering mostly for Aaron, and they carried him and his corps. After enduring a tough season in D1, the Dark Knights ended things with sheer power, and the final 20 seconds of their show, which was brought upon by the amazing crowd, were the best 20 seconds of the night. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to get higher then a Bronze, and a score of 70.825.

As Aftershock NZ took the field, everyone in the stadium knew what was at stake. Right away, the show began at a fast pace. The drumline went crazy, and gave it their all. Clearly, Aftershock's drumline gave the best performance of the night. They did so many tricks, and sounded very clean, and almost perfect. The other elements were great as well. There was one set in which the hornline was hidden within the guard, and then they popped up out of nowhere to play a sick chord followed by several runs and licks. The corps was all over the field. They were jazz running nearly every set. I guess thats why the show is called "Flash!". Overall, this fast paced show was very interesting to watch, and it entertained the crowd very much. Despite this amazing effort, Aftershock NZ could not top Arsenal, and their classic show for the ages. Instead, they took the Silver, and a score of 85.71.

Although the crowd of 1,300 people in Reliant Stadium went to see the 20 best corps in FAME, everyone knows who they really wanted to see the most. After leaving GEDC, the newcomers, The Arsenal D&BC took the field, and immeadiately received a thunderous applause. They marched onto the field while playing the classic Also Sprach Zarathustra. Then as soon as the announcer presented the corps, things got super loud. The Arsenal D&BC began their heavily anticipated show, "Solar Opera", and blew everyone off their seats. They gave the best, most powerful winds performance of the night, while also having amazing performances from the color guard and drumline. While listening to the show under the night stars and the brightly shining moon, it felt like the entire stadium was floating in space. It is crazy that the performance had that much power. Overall, this was clearly the most complete show of the night, and will be regarded as one of the greatest shows in FAME history, if not the greatest. This amazing show is what inspired FAME to pay top scientists to develop a starship, and state of the art spacesuits, in order to become the first league to send Drum Corps to space. Solar Opera will forever be remembered as a classic in FAME, and will be the standard that all the corps in the league will strive for. Congratulations to The Arsenal D&BC for an amazing season. This amazing corps took the Gold, and the Division 1 Championship Bowl, and the Overall Grand Championship Crystal Trumpet, with a score of 87.74. Congratulations to Arsenal, and to all corps who made history at Reliant Stadium in Houston by competing in the first ever FAME Championship. May the league prosper for many seasons to come!

:) "they love me, they really love me.." Technically, we've been performing in exhibition while we prepare for our summer tour. We've given audiences a sneak peak of what's to come, but the real show will begin in June (season 44). For now, we are finishing our camps and doing our final audition, and we will make our final picks. Then, spring training will begin. Meanwhile, our staff members are getting some additional training as they prepare for the tour of their life time. Stay tuned. Elysium's going to shake up division 1 soon :)

Im looking forward to it

Great review Alex! I always enjoy reading your write ups. Keep up the good work.

On a side note, last season's production from Aftershock NZ, entitled "Flash", was based on a flash mob theme. Our opener of Cheap Trick's 'I Want You to Want Me', left the audience wondering where rest of the hornline was at the very beginning, as only the percussion section, color guard, baritones, and contras took the field. This was our surprise opening for finals week. The opening statements of the show were two soprano soloists, staged on the spectator side in the stands in each corner, then a mellophone soprano duet on the 50 in the stands. Then the percussion kicks in with their hard driving rock beat, accompanied by the lower brass on the field. As this slowly builds, the rest of the hornline reveals themselves, sitting amongst the spectators, filing down to the front sideline as they hit the power chords right in your face. It wasn't the easiest thing to pull off as we did have phasing issues at first rehearsals, but with staff ingenuity, it all finally came together for finals week.

A bit of a risk we thought, but we delivered the high standards as expected from Aftershock NZ.

Of course we love you Aaron....

Outstanding work there Alex! Thanks for the Arsenal love.

We hope to blast some more faces next season!