British invasion to finish at epcot

[casinocolin]

http://attractionsmagazine.com/blog/2011/04/23/the-british-invasion-leaving-epcot-after-15-years/

 

[Netty]

shame, we seen them a couple of yrs ago and the americans loved their beatles renditions, i personally didnt like the other songs they sang..
well lets hope queen are the next group there!

 

[casinocolin]

shame, we seen them a couple of yrs ago and the americans loved their beatles renditions, i personally didnt like the other songs they sang..
well lets hope queen are the next group there!

Yes that would be an idea replacement

 

[bicker]

While I'm sorry to know we probably won't see them again, I'm glad that they're moving on to new things.

 

[Claire L]

Shame to see them go, but hoping for a good replacement

 

[bicker]

Thinking about this a little more, I rather wish they took a different approach than actually replacing The British Invasion:

I'm not sure quite how they could have accomplished this, but I feel that location is a problem, here; specifically that Canada is too close to England. Sometimes I felt, when both bands were performing, that the whole afternoon was essentially "too noisy" in that portion of the park. It just seemed too programmed to me, and I'd rather have had one band, performing for 15-20 minutes per hour, and leave the rest of the time with the background music.

In the end, I'd have rather seen Disney use The British Invasion's retirement as an opportunity to establish an ongoing pop music band presence elsewhere in the World Showcase, somewhere "not close to" either Canada or Morocco (where there is another ongoing rock band presence, in Mo'Rockin). Besides addressing my location issue, it would also mean we'd get something we haven't had before, which is always a good thing, instead of a second instance of something we have had before, which may or may not pale by comparison. (I can just see the first few posts after the new band starts performing: "They're not as good as The British Invasion." I'm sure we'll see that from some folks even if the new band is better. )

Like I said I'm not sure quite how they could have accomplished this, because the choices would end up being Italy, Germany, China, Norway and Mexico. While all these countries obviously have their own, current pop music, replacing The British Invasion would necessarily involve music that the predominantly American audience would recognize as such. Germany perhaps could do it, but quite frankly, Americans don't think of Germany when they think about pop music. There have been a handful of cross-overs, but not many - nothing like England or Canada.

Mexico actually would have been a great idea, imho, from the standpoint of pop music. They could have gotten a band that covered songs by Mana, Gloria Trevi, and Latin popular music from the 1990s and 2000s. There have been loads of cross-overs over the years, and Latin popular music has very substantially affected the popular music of the United States.

Unfortunately, there really isn't enough space in Mexico (anymore) for a big crowd, that a band like that would attract. The space where Mariachi Cobre performs is okay for the novelty of traditional music, but it wouldn't be large enough as a pop music venue.

 

[loobzuk]

bit sad - I remember by DD dancing to their music on our first trip in 2005 - she had just turned 4 and they actually applauded her and said thank you to 'the dancing girl'. Be intersting to see the replacement.

 

[wayneg]

Not something we have actually stopped and listened to, been on in the background but never felt the need to stop and watch so don't mind them changing myself.

 

[CarolynU]

I for one am very sad. My son used to work in the UK Pavilion, and I spent many a happy time sitting listening to the BI while I waited for Simon to be assigned his break. When I return to Epcot now hearing them brings back great memories, so I will miss them a lot.

 

[Cyrano]

Heard/saw them a couple of times but never saw the need to stop. Hope the change is an improvement.

 

[ohana7]

We always said we would stop and listen but we never did. Too busy racing to test track

 

[Tammy Stringer]

That's sad news - we always try and fit in a listen to British Invasion whenever we are in Epcot.

One of my fondest memories of the Millennium celebrations was of my daughters singing along to Hey Jude when we celebrated the UK's New Year's Eve/New Millennium celebrations before enjoying a yard of ale in the Rose and Crown - (that was Kev I should add not the girls ).

Tammy

 

[wayneg]

A bit more info on the new band http://www.wdwinfo.com/news/Theme_P...d_to_replace_Epcot_s_The_British_Invasion.htm

 

[poggs]

Sounds great. Simply replacing one excellent band playing covers of classic british music with another.

Most people wont even notice.

I simply loved sitting in the garden with a beer and listening to the band playing beatles and other classics. With this announcement, that wont change

 

[pigby]

My son used to work in the UK Pavilion

Wow DD would kill to be able to do that - how did he manage to get that opportunity.

We too will be sad at the group will no longer play - DH especially was really looking forward to seeing more than one of their sets this summer - hopefully the new band will be good thoigh.

 

[Tony Toon]

Wow DD would kill to be able to do that - how did he manage to get that opportunity.

DD worked as a waitress at the Rose and Crown from July 2009 until August 2010 and absolutely loved every minute. (she has found it hard to adjust to being back here mind you and misses the World badly - ).

Her uni did not participate in the College programme so she applied to become an International Cultural Rep through yummyjobs.com They've recently had a closing date for applications but another one will be coming along soon (probably end of June) . She had to submit her CV first of all, was then selected for the next stage and was given a phone interview. After success at this stage she was then invited to attend an interview in London and from there got the fantastic news she was heading to WDW. From application to arriving in WDW probably took about 13 months. Gave me the excuse to personally deliver food parcels every 10 - 12 weeks.

Mrs TT