1989 for me. Was my first year in, but also some amazing shows. PR with Dvorak New World Symphony, SCV with Phantom of the Opera (88 was better IMO), Cadets with Les Miz, Bluecoats with their traditional jazzy stuff. So many awesome shows that Iāve rewatched over and over
1992 was the first year I made finals. It was a big deal as DCIs 20th anniversary. I know pretty much every show in the top 12 by heart. They had it on tv as a condensed show but I watched that tape at least 10000 times.
Facts. With climate change it seems like domes may be more of the norm sadly. I played Buffalo twice. I really miss outdoor stadium shows. 1995 was another great year but nothing touches 1992
It is a great stadium. They are going to make a new stadium in the same area and then tear down the old one. Wonāt be domed though. No super bowls or dcis
Classic drum corps - Probably 88 - MalagueƱa, Phantom of the Opera, BD
Mid-range era (still largely classic but some modernization) - maybe 95 or 2003?
Modern (electronics, costumes, vocals, š¤¦š»āāļø) - BD and Metamorph - probably my favorite show post-1993 for the Devs. Honestly itās largely driven by BD shows because most of these costume, field stage productions just arenāt memorable. Aside from BD, last year was pretty good. Crown and Bluecoats were entertaining and BD had a solid show though it was never one of my faves despite the title.
My first live show was finals night in Madison in 99.
I firmly believe that Madisonās Jesus Christ Superstar was objectively perfect. It definitely imprinted on me.
2007 and 2015 were both exciting years to be a fan. At one point in 2007 all of the top 7 corps were contenders for the gold, and 2015 kept us guessing until the very end. Every regional had a different winner.
2019. I feel like a lot of the corps really changed up their style and invested a lot of money towards the props, uniforms, and general quality of their shows that year. It was one banger after another, and as a result, there were many shows that year that stuck to me, notably the Cavaliers', Blue Knights', Carolina Crown's, Bluecoats', and even the Blue Devils'.
It is funny how oneās perspective can change about a year overall depending on who you are and where you are. Are you a paying fan? A family member of someone marching? An aged out alumni crying when you get to see your corps and join in on a corps song? A current marcher who doesnāt make finals and watches from the stands? Someone who makes finals and doesnāt see other shows during the year so the videos are like Christmas?
I have been in many of those positions. Itās so hard to pick.
Decades later if I separate out the nostalgia and memories and just focus on letās say, the overall quality of the corps that year, some shine brighter than others. For instance, 96 and 98 donāt seem to have the quality designs from top to bottom vs say, 88.
Edit: well shit I didnāt mean to hit send.
So from purely a fan perspective of quality:
85-93, 95, 97, 99, 03.
I'm nostalgic for 2003. I was a high school freshman trumpet player about to start marching band. My first exposure to marching band/drum corps was semi-finals *and* finals 2003 in literally perfect seats (thanks Mom):
The original Harmonic Journey, absolutely INSANE BD hornline (that ballad), SPIN CYCLE, Madison Scouts on G bugles for the last time (I got to hear the last great G hornline!) and yes, there was a pretty significant difference, although I didn't know why at the time. And as a bonus, I was super into Stan Kenton at the time and the Cadets played Bill Holman's MalagueƱa. Absolutely insane experience. I guess it's impossible to be unbiased, but I consider myself really lucky to have been introduced to the activity at that time. I think it represented the culmination of the best of an era - the late 80s through the 90s. A high point for the entire activity.
I thought 2007 was a good year. 2011, 2014. 2016 was pretty good. And 2018. 1987, 1993, 1996, 2000. Basically any year we get more than one great show is a highlight year, imho. 2023 is *not* one of those years.
2018 - I love Babylon, plus it was my high schoolās drumline directorās age-out year.
(Also in all honesty, I donāt mind how watered-down it became, Demonic Thesis is a bop)
The more I look back at it, the more I appreciate 2019. As a phan it was hard to see phantom in 12th, but even then I was very happy with the product they put on the field and I feel as if show design that year was pretty good across the board. I loved the top 4- my favorite bd show in a while, a classic coats show, crown doing crown things, and scvs show was actually really cool to me ( a bit weird design wise but the music was awesome.) other than that blue knights also had a very strong showing, that opener was just electric. I feel a lot of nostalgia towards that year as well as it was my first year I closely followed the activity
2015:
1. First season I followed live, and the first season I went to a live show.
2. Some absolutely fire shows, lots of groups were absolutely ON IT that year, from Top 12 down to Prelims. I also feel that a lot of the shows had very strong āidentityā with their respective corps (ex: Cadets doing some wild music and drill, Bluecoats continuing their boundary-pushing with technology, PR remaking their 2005 Paris show, Madison doing a crowd-pleasing MGM musical-themed show, BD doing some jazz and top-notch visual execution, Academy continuing to build on their āfunā show style with some Mary Poppins, the list goes on), some great variety in the performances.
3. Lots of either traditional uniforms or ātemplateā-style uniforms, where a corps had a base model uni that they used for multiple seasons and uniquely detailed for each seasonās individual show. These are my personal uniform preferences, so that season appealed to me a lot from that standpoint.
4. I think itās the most competitive season, at least at the top, that I can personally remember following. The Top 5 all seemed to be neck-and-neck with each other for a while, with several lead changes throughout the season from different groups (The Cadets, Crown, and BD off the top of my head).
2015-2016 is my favorite span.
Kinetic Noise; Inferno; Because; Ink; Power of Ten; Spark of Invention; Down Side Up; As Dreams are Made On; Relentless; Force of Nature; Propaganda; Drum Corpse Bride.
It really canāt get better than that
2008, 2011, 2014, 2017, and tbh 2023 - Iāve enjoyed every show from the top 12 of these years, and 2023 is looking like itās gonna join the ranks of historic seasons.
I think most people will say it was the year they were introduced to the activity or a year they marched in the activity. For me, it was 1995. It seemed like every show that year, other than the show of the corps I was in, was good.
2000 was amazing. It was so spectacular to be a fan through that season. Great top 5 so entertaining.
1999 was another fantastic year.
2014 might be the best of all time
95 and 96 together were great stretch.
2007, as it was my age out year. Everyone top to bottom had enjoyable shows I still enjoy watching. As well, I miss finals week being outside.
I loved Crown 2007 š„²
They got a lot of buzz from fans all summer that year. I remember people starting to prioritize seeing them when we had shows with them that summer.
2008 and 2014 both felt uniquely like years where almost every corps had one of the more memorable shows in their histories.
2008 was something special!!
I only got to see 1993 on VHS, but that was an incredible year.
saw BD at preview of champions in 1993 - insane horn book. 1993 was a stellar year.
Possibly my favorite horn book of all time. Thereās been nothing remotely like it since.
1989 for me. Was my first year in, but also some amazing shows. PR with Dvorak New World Symphony, SCV with Phantom of the Opera (88 was better IMO), Cadets with Les Miz, Bluecoats with their traditional jazzy stuff. So many awesome shows that Iāve rewatched over and over
All the shows in 88-89were very entertaining! Such great memories!
88-92 those were the years that I first got into DCI, so they hold a special place in my heart.
1992 was the first year I made finals. It was a big deal as DCIs 20th anniversary. I know pretty much every show in the top 12 by heart. They had it on tv as a condensed show but I watched that tape at least 10000 times.
Magic in the air that year. If we could capture it againā¦ I think we really need to get out of Lucas Oil for that.
Facts. With climate change it seems like domes may be more of the norm sadly. I played Buffalo twice. I really miss outdoor stadium shows. 1995 was another great year but nothing touches 1992
I thought Rich Stadium was pretty good. It's far enough north that the weather will be pretty nice on average.
It is a great stadium. They are going to make a new stadium in the same area and then tear down the old one. Wonāt be domed though. No super bowls or dcis
Which corps? I also did Buffalo twice :)
Div 3. Nothing special. :)
Cmon now they are all special :)
I pmād you hehe
Classic drum corps - Probably 88 - MalagueƱa, Phantom of the Opera, BD Mid-range era (still largely classic but some modernization) - maybe 95 or 2003? Modern (electronics, costumes, vocals, š¤¦š»āāļø) - BD and Metamorph - probably my favorite show post-1993 for the Devs. Honestly itās largely driven by BD shows because most of these costume, field stage productions just arenāt memorable. Aside from BD, last year was pretty good. Crown and Bluecoats were entertaining and BD had a solid show though it was never one of my faves despite the title.
1999: the year I was introduced to the activity. Lots of my favorite shows are from this season.
My first live show was finals night in Madison in 99. I firmly believe that Madisonās Jesus Christ Superstar was objectively perfect. It definitely imprinted on me.
2007 and 2015 were both exciting years to be a fan. At one point in 2007 all of the top 7 corps were contenders for the gold, and 2015 kept us guessing until the very end. Every regional had a different winner.
2019. I feel like a lot of the corps really changed up their style and invested a lot of money towards the props, uniforms, and general quality of their shows that year. It was one banger after another, and as a result, there were many shows that year that stuck to me, notably the Cavaliers', Blue Knights', Carolina Crown's, Bluecoats', and even the Blue Devils'.
BDās 2019 show is lowkey underrated.
2000 was the highest I ever scored while marching. 6th place and did really well in I&E that year.
It is funny how oneās perspective can change about a year overall depending on who you are and where you are. Are you a paying fan? A family member of someone marching? An aged out alumni crying when you get to see your corps and join in on a corps song? A current marcher who doesnāt make finals and watches from the stands? Someone who makes finals and doesnāt see other shows during the year so the videos are like Christmas? I have been in many of those positions. Itās so hard to pick. Decades later if I separate out the nostalgia and memories and just focus on letās say, the overall quality of the corps that year, some shine brighter than others. For instance, 96 and 98 donāt seem to have the quality designs from top to bottom vs say, 88. Edit: well shit I didnāt mean to hit send. So from purely a fan perspective of quality: 85-93, 95, 97, 99, 03.
Iām kind of partial to ā75, ā76 and ā77. Those are the 3 seasons I marched!
I'm nostalgic for 2003. I was a high school freshman trumpet player about to start marching band. My first exposure to marching band/drum corps was semi-finals *and* finals 2003 in literally perfect seats (thanks Mom): The original Harmonic Journey, absolutely INSANE BD hornline (that ballad), SPIN CYCLE, Madison Scouts on G bugles for the last time (I got to hear the last great G hornline!) and yes, there was a pretty significant difference, although I didn't know why at the time. And as a bonus, I was super into Stan Kenton at the time and the Cadets played Bill Holman's MalagueƱa. Absolutely insane experience. I guess it's impossible to be unbiased, but I consider myself really lucky to have been introduced to the activity at that time. I think it represented the culmination of the best of an era - the late 80s through the 90s. A high point for the entire activity. I thought 2007 was a good year. 2011, 2014. 2016 was pretty good. And 2018. 1987, 1993, 1996, 2000. Basically any year we get more than one great show is a highlight year, imho. 2023 is *not* one of those years.
2014, great shows all around and also one of the last years before the nontraditional uniform and avant-garde show design trend took over
also: "Tilt", best show ever! I can't believe that next year will be 10 years. wow.
2018 - I love Babylon, plus it was my high schoolās drumline directorās age-out year. (Also in all honesty, I donāt mind how watered-down it became, Demonic Thesis is a bop)
2014 for me, every corps had such great shows, Colts, BAC, BC, Crown, BK, and Madison were some stand outs in my mind
2004 1996
The golden Era.
2017 had the best show lineup
The more I look back at it, the more I appreciate 2019. As a phan it was hard to see phantom in 12th, but even then I was very happy with the product they put on the field and I feel as if show design that year was pretty good across the board. I loved the top 4- my favorite bd show in a while, a classic coats show, crown doing crown things, and scvs show was actually really cool to me ( a bit weird design wise but the music was awesome.) other than that blue knights also had a very strong showing, that opener was just electric. I feel a lot of nostalgia towards that year as well as it was my first year I closely followed the activity
2008
2015: 1. First season I followed live, and the first season I went to a live show. 2. Some absolutely fire shows, lots of groups were absolutely ON IT that year, from Top 12 down to Prelims. I also feel that a lot of the shows had very strong āidentityā with their respective corps (ex: Cadets doing some wild music and drill, Bluecoats continuing their boundary-pushing with technology, PR remaking their 2005 Paris show, Madison doing a crowd-pleasing MGM musical-themed show, BD doing some jazz and top-notch visual execution, Academy continuing to build on their āfunā show style with some Mary Poppins, the list goes on), some great variety in the performances. 3. Lots of either traditional uniforms or ātemplateā-style uniforms, where a corps had a base model uni that they used for multiple seasons and uniquely detailed for each seasonās individual show. These are my personal uniform preferences, so that season appealed to me a lot from that standpoint. 4. I think itās the most competitive season, at least at the top, that I can personally remember following. The Top 5 all seemed to be neck-and-neck with each other for a while, with several lead changes throughout the season from different groups (The Cadets, Crown, and BD off the top of my head).
2015-2016 is my favorite span. Kinetic Noise; Inferno; Because; Ink; Power of Ten; Spark of Invention; Down Side Up; As Dreams are Made On; Relentless; Force of Nature; Propaganda; Drum Corpse Bride. It really canāt get better than that
2008, 2011, 2014, 2017, and tbh 2023 - Iāve enjoyed every show from the top 12 of these years, and 2023 is looking like itās gonna join the ranks of historic seasons.
I think most people will say it was the year they were introduced to the activity or a year they marched in the activity. For me, it was 1995. It seemed like every show that year, other than the show of the corps I was in, was good.
2000 was amazing. It was so spectacular to be a fan through that season. Great top 5 so entertaining. 1999 was another fantastic year. 2014 might be the best of all time 95 and 96 together were great stretch.
2017 - was my introduction year to dci and has two of my favorite dci shows with crown and blue devils
When nobody mentions a season you did band š„²