More than 5,000 people heard thunder in Tiger Stadium Monday night.
However, the thunder they heard was produced by some of North America’s finest high school and college percussionists.
Drum Corps International’s Red Stick Thunder Pageant of Champions made its sixth appearance in Baton Rouge as part of the DCI Summer Music Games North American Tour.
The event was a competition between 10 DCI band corps, which each featured a percussion section, color guard and brass players.
Each band corps played for about 12 minutes and were judged on their music and visual performance on the field.
Following a performance that had everyone in the stadium on their feet, the Blue Devils from Concord, Calif., took home the coveted gold medal at the end of the night.
The Blue Devils are the 10 time DCI national champions but have not won it in the past three years.
Kristina Thompson, Moorehead State University sophomore and soprano player for Southwind, said being in a band corps and traveling all the time has its ups and downs.
“Sometimes it’s really hard to get through the rehearsal hours in the heat,” Thompson said. “But then sometimes it is really fun because you get to perform in front of a crowd that completely gives it up for you.”
Scott Speelman, Drum Corps International contest coordinator, said the entire tour will feature more than 140 corps bands.
Thompson said each corps has a different travel schedule, which means they usually play with different corps each night.
Matt Dudet, high school student from Clarkston, Mich., and percussionist with the Kiwanis Kavaliers of Ontario, Canada, said his corps usually plays six to seven venues a week, but the crowd Monday night was larger than normal.
“We try not to let the venue get to us, but the crowd was big and good tonight,” Dudet said.
Speelman said the corps, who are similar to an all-star type band, are comprised of students under the age of 21.
“These kids are the creme of the crop out of all the music programs,” Speelman said. “These kids have a desire and a drive that they want to do this, they want to work the eight to ten hour days of practice for the 11 1/2 minute show.”
Speelman described the event as “Broadway on a football field.”
“There are so many things to watch,” Speelman said. “You don’t ever want to focus on one section because you will definitely miss something.
Cindy Seghers, Baton Rouge resident and Red Stick patron, said she came to the Red Stick Thunder because she had heard so many good comments about the competition in the past.
Seghers said most of the corps bands had a different style compared to a normal high school band.
“It’s much better overall, I could not believe these were high school bands,” Seghers said. “They sounded fabulous, and I was very impressed.”