Liahona

Fair point. Most members today are already slathering on SPF 50, and hats during daytime blocks are pretty much part of the deal now. The newer wrinkle is UPF gear... shirts, sleeves, sun hoodies, etc. We didn’t really have that BITD. Heck, we didn’t even have personal water jugs. It was one big sideline cooler like the ones you see getting dumped on NFL coaches, plastic cups, and the strong hope nobody caught something biblical. But yeah... drum corps is still drum corps... an outdoor summer activity. You reduce the risk where you can, but you’re not putting the whole corps in beekeeper suits...LOL

Once you explain a show too specifically, you can box yourself in. Fans start watching for whether the corps “delivered the stated concept,” and judges may hear that same explanation in critique and start holding the design to it.

Now this show has my attention already. That composer list feels like SCV could be coming out swinging. A lot of tension, color, pulse, and room for those moments where Vanguard just grabs you by the throat. If they lean into it, this could be dangerous in the best possible way.

I used to maintain this thread in prior years and ran into this same issue. First, copy everything from your current first post and paste it into **Notepad or another plain text editor** so you have a backup with the hidden formatting stripped out. **Do not paste it into Microsoft Word.** Word preserves and can add formatting behind the scenes, which defeats the purpose and may carry the problem right back into the forum post. Notepad saves only the plain visible text. Then edit the original first post. Highlight everything in the edit box with your mouse and hit Delete. You may need to repeat that a few times, scrolling through the editor and making sure absolutely nothing remains, including blank-looking lines or stray hidden formatting. Once the editor is completely blank, **save the empty post before adding anything back**. That step is important because it confirms the corrupted underlying content has actually been cleared from the original post. If the empty post saves successfully, rebuild the post gradually using the clean text from Notepad, saving as you go. Also, the corps logo images used in my older threads were hosted on my server, and your current thread is still accessing those same images now. I can provide clean replacement image links if needed.

DCI is just a weird animal. It’s not only tickets, sponsors, events, and spreadsheets. It’s politics, tour headaches, safety issues, old wounds, new ideas, fragile egos, and fans who have opinions about literally everything... LOL

I kind of agree with both sides, which probably means I’m being useless here lol. The older version definitely sounds like more of a “tour”... More shows, more cities, more chances to actually perform the thing you spent all summer building. But fewer shows probably also means the members are getting a different experience now... more time to clean, more time to add changes, and maybe less of the brutal grind that older tours had. Not saying one is better... it just feels like a very different kind of summer now.

This alum is NOT a fan of Sweet Caroline either...

This feels like a smart move on several levels. From a marketing standpoint, the “Preview of Champions” angle is a strong hook. Having both champions together before the national tour really gets rolling gives these shows a clear identity instead of feeling like simple standstills. It also makes sense from a corps cost standpoint. BAC is already coming out of Castleton, so this adds value without creating some unnecessary long-distance travel hit. And honestly, the East has felt a little thin in recent years when it comes to early-season drum corps presence. This helps strengthen that part of the map, gives local NE fans something meaningful close to home, and builds some local energy before everyone gets pulled into the bigger national tour. I like it!

I’m honestly really looking forward to hearing how the King/Bach move affects the brass sound. It isn’t about “fixing” anything. I’m just curious whether the new horn line adds a different color or depth to an already great brass program.

I’m most interested in hearing more about what the three-year guard vet mentioned in the video as a new style.

Sadly, I agree. I can see Crown’s position with so few shows left in the Northeast. But when every corps makes that same calculation, the region just keeps losing more and more shows. The Cadets folding has only compounded the problem.

If I recall correctly, The Cadets usually had one of the most insane schedules BITD. In 1990, I performed in 28 shows with BAC, and that included a Canadian final as well. So even the heaviest schedules today are about a third less than what we were doing back then.

By my count, for judged performances before Finals week, the heaviest schedules are Blue Stars, Cavaliers, Colts, Troopers, and Madison Scouts at 19. SCV and Phantom are at 18, followed by Bluecoats and BD at 17. BAC, Crown, and Crossmen are at 16.