25 years ago this past Saturday night, Montreal's Olympic Stadium hosted the Drum Corps International Finals competition for 1982. So I felt quite the pang of nostalgia as I sat at my aunt's house in Montreal this past weekend, waiting for DCI 2007 results from Pasadena.I recall being overwhelmed walking into Olympic Stadium back then for the first time. Each Top 12 corps was given an opportunity to rehearse on Saturday afternoon on the Stadium field, prior to the show. The corps pulled into the empty stadium, our convoy of buses and equipment truck dwarfed within the vast building. Voices echoed. We saw an unimaginable number of seats in the huge, empty stands. It was almost eerie.
Back then, unfortunately, while I did have a camera, I didn't have a lot time or opportunity to take photos (nor did I have a ton of money for film). Regardless, these are a few of my favourite memories, and while they may look grainy, they are clear as yesterday in my mind's eye.
These sheer blue flags were hidden inside our jackets during the show, and we pulled them out and slid them over our rolled flags while facing backfield just before Even Now started. They were so pretty as they shimmered under the lights. It was one of my favourite parts of the show.
Since I lived that year in the import house with 9 other out-of-towners, we had the cool opportunity of having Bus 8 actually pull up to our house to pick us up for 2nd tour. It was a ton of fun to see a drum corps bus parked on a residential street, loading up corps members right from the house. Our neighbours must really have been surprised!As a teenager, it was hard to see 25 years into the future and imagine recalling these memories a quarter century later. But time really does fly by, and that quarter century has passed. I'm glad to have at least a few photos to go along with these important and defining memories.
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