Music

Elite Marching Bands Bring the Noise to Cranston

So Rhode Island Magazine ·

We might have the What Cheer? Brigade to hold it down for local, renegade marching bands, but this month some elite marching bands are parading their way into Rhode Island.

During its summer tour, Drum Corps International will be performing at Cranston’s Stebbins Stadium on July 3 as part of the Bristol Fourth of July festivities. This will be the 28th time that Bristol has included the Drum and Bugle Corps Competition in their Summer Music Preview. If you haven’t seen it before, it’s one of the highlights of the Bristol Fourth of July Celebration.

What’s immediately clear in watching these ensembles is that they are not your everyday marching bands. Complex choreography, dancers, costumes and lock-step formations set to music belted from brass instruments and banged out on percussion are all taken to the extreme.

Drum Corps International is celebrating its 45th anniversary of bringing elite marching music ensembles to stadiums across the United States. This summer, the Drum Corps International Tour will feature more than fifty-five corps competing across 110 competitive events in 37 states. Despite the young age of the performers, it is amazing to see the talent and energy that these bands bring to the field and to the packed stadiums where they play, taking traditional arrangements and making them new, exciting and relevant.

Adam Hogue, Providence Monthly, Drum Corp International, Stebbins Stadium, Fourth of July, Bristol, Drum and Bugle Corps Competition, Summer Music Preview, cranston, bristol fourth of july, marching bands, marching band competition