Blood Drums 2018

[BoddaH1994]

I understand that there are a lot of other Haunt threads, but I feel like it would be a reasonable PSA to talk about the new Blood Drums in its own thread. There is much to discuss, both good and bad, but I must admit - mostly good.

As I touched on in the Early Haunt Reviews thread, the lights for this show may be the best improvement for all of Haunt this year. Not only does it add a lot to the show, but it also creates an amazing visual throughout the rest of the park. The spotlights pointed up can be seen from as far away as Kings Island Drive.

The fire spinner is miles ahead of the girl they’d had in the past years. There’s a lot more to that aspect of the show including spinning, poi, fire eating and fire breathing. It’s a show in itself!

I attended with a friend last night and talked him into watching “the first few minutes” of the show mainly so he could see the lights. We ended up misreading the time so we were quite a bit early and got a spot on the fence. We were both so blown away that we stayed for the entire show.

The real question is one I posed earlier: why isn’t the fire spinner (you know, the star of the show) on some sort of riser? Literally if you aren’t right on the fence then you almost entirely miss it. The first time I saw the new show I stood back about 40 feet and thought they were insane for having three guys apathetically beat on stuff for several minutes at a time. I had no idea that the fire spinner was out front (and I’m 6’1). I get that there are some safety obstacles involved with that, but come on - there are solutions out there, and this isn’t the first year of having something like this.

I must say that Blood Drums is a must see this year but you have to get there early - no less than 10 minutes early - to truly experience the show.

Did you get to see Blood Drums yet? What did you think?

 

[Gannersdaddy]

We caught shows yesterday and today.  We have been watching them since October 2014.  Here is my 2 cents worth

The STAGE

The stage is new and changed from previous years.  The drummers are higher up than in the past.  They do come out the ground a little bit and are not visible unless you are right up front.  This is mainly for the interaction with the audience, which is great.  I will agree that the fire dancer is hard to see from the back.  The bad part is the location of the stage in general.  If it were in the amphitheater, this could be solved.  Maybe a thought?

I was hoping that they could have left the screens up that they had earlier in the year as well.  It could have only enhanced the show.

The MUSIC

It is a remix of Street Drums Corps last 2 albums along with a couple of bridges in between.  If you have seen the shows the last 2 years, then you will know the songs (Fire, Wrecks, etc).  There is no real break in the show, like in the past.  It goes full on for around 20 minutes.  I asked Bryce (the crazy hair one that also did the County Show and Winterfest Drummers show) about it.  He told me it comes from from SDC.  I am sure that they will add their personal touches as the season goes on.  It only makes it better

The CAST

Geoff and Krystl are gone this year, but Bryce (who I kid with about living in a room somewhere on International street) and Kyle are back.  I have not caught the names of the other two yet, but the drummer was in the Winterfest show.  Calling @MDMC01 for names.

The SHOW

I am hoping it was just a glitch, but the first show yesterday had no pre-show music to pump up the crowd (it did last year).  The other shows had some, but it was not what I would call getting pumped up music.  Maybe its just me.  I will check on this more.  As I mentioned before, its 20 minutes of go.  I found myself shouting, singing, and tapping right along with it.

As for the fire dancer, he does bring some new tricks to the table.  The fire stick was pretty good to watch.  I did see more tricks on the Cathedral Chain Fire (the flaming balls on chains) that I had not seen before, but they seemed stiff and forced.  I am sure that this will flow better as the shows go.  He was also doing some pretty cool fire breathing stuff yesterday but he was not able to do them today.  Something about the accellerant on the pavers.  I hesitate to say it was an upgrade, but more something new.

Something to note: the times have changed from last year as well as the number of shows.  I confirmed with Bryce and he said they will be like this the rest of the season.

OVERALL

It looks to be a good season for Blood Drums.  It is a combination of old and new, and it this case, it is a good thing.

My RECOMMENDATION

Catch a show, but show up at least 15 minutes early to get a good view.  Ideally, depending on crowds, 20 to 30 minutes would be best.  As the season goes on, they will only get better, add in more tweaks, etc.  Sunday shows are 4, 5:30, and 6:30.  After all shows is a meeting and greet except the last one of the day.  Also, it has been weather dependent in the past, so something else to keep in mind.

 

[BoddaH1994]

28 minutes ago, Gannersdaddy said:

We caught shows yesterday and today.  We have been watching them since October 2014.  Here is my 2 cents worth

The STAGE

The stage is new and changed from previous years.  The drummers are higher up than in the past.  They do come out the ground a little bit and are not visible unless you are right up front.  This is mainly for the interaction with the audience, which is great.  I will agree that the fire dancer is hard to see from the back.  The bad part is the location of the stage in general.  If it were in the amphitheater, this could be solved.  Maybe a thought?

I was hoping that they could have left the screens up that they had earlier in the year as well.  It could have only enhanced the show.

The MUSICIt is a remix of Street Drums Corps last 2 albums along with a couple of bridges in between.  If you have seen the shows the last 2 years, then you will know the songs (Fire, Wrecks, etc).  There is no real break in the show, like in the past.  It goes full on for around 20 minutes.  I asked Bryce (the crazy hair one that also did the County Show and Winterfest Drummers show) about it.  He told me it comes from from SDC.  I am sure that they will add their personal touches as the season goes on.  It only makes it better

The CAST

Geoff and Krystl are gone this year, but Bryce (who I kid with about living in a room somewhere on International street) and Kyle are back.  I have not caught the names of the other two yet, but the drummer was in the Winterfest show.  Calling @MDMC01 for names.

The SHOW

I am hoping it was just a glitch, but the first show yesterday had no pre-show music to pump up the crowd (it did last year).  The other shows had some, but it was not what I would call getting pumped up music.  Maybe its just me.  I will check on this more.  As I mentioned before, its 20 minutes of go.  I found myself shouting, singing, and tapping right along with it.

As for the fire dancer, he does bring some new tricks to the table.  The fire stick was pretty good to watch.  I did see more tricks on the Cathedral Chain Fire (the flaming balls on chains) that I had not seen before, but they seemed stiff and forced.  I am sure that this will flow better as the shows go.  He was also doing some pretty cool fire breathing stuff yesterday but he was not able to do them today.  Something about the accellerant on the pavers.  I hesitate to say it was an upgrade, but more something new.

Something to note: the times have changed from last year as well as the number of shows.  I confirmed with Bryce and he said they will be like this the rest of the season.

OVERALL

It looks to be a good season for Blood Drums.  It is a combination of old and new, and it this case, it is a good thing.

My RECOMMENDATION

Catch a show, but show up at least 15 minutes early to get a good view.  Ideally, depending on crowds, 20 to 30 minutes would be best.  As the season goes on, they will only get better, add in more tweaks, etc.  Sunday shows are 4, 5:30, and 6:30.  After all shows is a meeting and greet except the last one of the day.  Also, it has been weather dependent in the past, so something else to keep in mind.

 

Do you see what I'm saying about how the fire dancer should be on a riser?  That would make the show so much better and not excellent for 40 people and confusing for 300 others.

Here's something I caught on video.  This could have gone far, far worse if it had gone a different direction.

https://youtu.be/QmZkV3FKoMw

[Gannersdaddy]

9 minutes ago, BoddaH1994 said:

Do you see what I'm saying about how the fire dancer should be on a riser?  That would make the show so much better and not excellent for 40 people and confusing for 300 others.

Here's something I caught on video.  This could have gone far, far worse if it had gone a different direction.

https://youtu.be/QmZkV3FKoMw

%bZRmpZSRCeqyiM5St72NA.MOV

I see what you are saying about the platform.   We are one of the 40 in front when we catch the shows, LOL.

Yeah, as I mentioned, while he did do some things that I have not see before with this (again, you have to be up front to see them), these do not look to be his strong suit.  It could have been very bad.  Think if he was on a riser and one flew in the wrong direction.  The whole Amphitheater is sound better.

[BoddaH1994]

16 minutes ago, Gannersdaddy said:

I see what you are saying about the platform.   We are one of the 40 in front when we catch the shows, LOL.

Yeah, as I mentioned, while he did do some things that I have not see before with this (again, you have to be up front to see them), these do not look to be his strong suit.  It could have been very bad.  Think if he was on a riser and one flew in the wrong direction.  The whole Amphitheater is sound better.

I hesitate to say that an amphitheater would be better for Blood Drums since we had fire spinning in Skeleton Crew and it was numbingly boring.  The fact that you can feel the fire makes a big difference.

[Gannersdaddy]

As long as you can feel the heat and not the flames, I guess.  It would lose its personnel touch there though, I will admit that

[Magenta Lizard]

7 hours ago, Gannersdaddy said:

The CAST

Geoff and Krystl are gone this year, but Bryce (who I kid with about living in a room somewhere on International street) and Kyle are back.  I have not caught the names of the other two yet, but the drummer was in the Winterfest show.  Calling @MDMC01 for names.

If you mean the Four Drummers Drumming show, his name is Josh. I knew he looked familiar when I watched the show yesterday, but for some reason I didn't make the connection. It seems so obvious now, since I knew Bryce was in both shows.

I haven't closely followed Blood Drums in the past, so I am not very familiar with the previous fire dancer. For the couple shows I caught Sunday, the new one was really good.  I was very impressed with his skills spinning the long pole with four flames on each end in particular.

I assume a big difficulty in having him on a stage (in addition to the risk of a flaming apparatus possibly making it farther into the crowd) is making something both temporary and fireproof. The stone pavers in the area he works are already showing signs of scorching from only three days of shows. 

It would interfere with the dance party aspect of the show, but a section of bleachers placed in the courtyard, maybe a bit farther back toward the tower, could allow more people to be able to see the dance without being too much in the line of fire. Another option would be some sort of smallish concrete stairs/platform that he could step up onto for at least part of the time to make him more visible. 

[BoddaH1994]

6 hours ago, Magenta Lizard said:

If you mean the Four Drummers Drumming show, his name is Josh. I knew he looked familiar when I watched the show yesterday, but for some reason I didn't make the connection. It seems so obvious now, since I knew Bryce was in both shows.

I haven't closely followed Blood Drums in the past, so I am not very familiar with the previous fire dancer. For the couple shows I caught Sunday, the new one was really good.  I was very impressed with his skills spinning the long pole with four flames on each end in particular.

I assume a big difficulty in having him on a stage (in addition to the risk of a flaming apparatus possibly making it farther into the crowd) is making something both temporary and fireproof. The stone pavers in the area he works are already showing signs of scorching from only three days of shows. 

It would interfere with the dance party aspect of the show, but a section of bleachers placed in the courtyard, maybe a bit farther back toward the tower, could allow more people to be able to see the dance without being too much in the line of fire. Another option would be some sort of smallish concrete stairs/platform that he could step up onto for at least part of the time to make him more visible. 

They had fire spinners during Skeleton Crew in the Showplace, and that’s a wooden stage. 

The solution is out there.

[Magenta Lizard]

^yeah, hadn't thought about that. I wonder what they did there?

[MDMC01]

I'm not sure of the fire spinner's name, @Gannersdaddy. I attended the final show Friday night and therefore didn't get to meet him. Re: the fire guy, he does some really cool tricks like spinning that fire stick on his body and blowing fire like a Charizard. Like I said in another thread, it felt like a "Greatest Hits" type of show, and that's a good thing!

[PatchesC]

Me and my 10 year old hit the 8:30 Friday show. This is our first Haunt visit so can't comment on previous years but I loved it. I'd seen fire shows other times but this was one I'd sit and watch all night. We were in front so kid got a chance to participate which made her even more excited. 

Am I the only one holding my breath when he was fire breathing? Just knowing from watching 1000 Ways to Die what an inhale at the wrong second can do makes me appreciate it more.

[jandyb79]

On 9/23/2018 at 10:57 PM, Gannersdaddy said:

The CAST

Geoff and Krystl are gone this year, but Bryce (who I kid with about living in a room somewhere on International street) and Kyle are back.  I have not caught the names of the other two yet, but the drummer was in the Winterfest show.  Calling @MDMC01 for names.

 

The new members are Dylon Bales (fire) and Josh Blake (drummer). 

[BoddaH1994]

A funny thing happened at last night’s midnight Blood Drums. The show started and was quickly stopped due to a problem with the sound system. Due to this, the cast was left with a crowd full of eager people and no show to give them. They made the best of the situation and did an impromptu preshow with a bit of a percussion beat along with two fire spinners. It was the fire breather and the woman who helps him, which I believe is his wife. 

After about ten minutes they restarted and put on a great show.

https://youtu.be/JJHEzwLhPpA