TexasPRfan

Wow things have been super quiet on this thread and from Regiment themselves. The optimistic in me thinks the are going to have a huge impact year. We shall see! Anyone have any updates on camps, auditions or anything?

That show from Phantom in '09 was a visual, guard and design disaster. But conversely it also had awesome music book that is still a fav of mine. They deserved that placement, and the constant changes to try to salvage the visual design did not help. It was waste of a phenomal talent level that summer. Thinking about '26, I'll take a SWAG. 1. Bloo 2. SCV 3. Boston 4. Phantom 5. BD 6. Crown 7. Blue Stars (and not far behind) 8. Cavaliers 9. Blue Knights (a big jump in performance) 10. Troopers (transition from the wildly popular shows of the last 4 years will hinder moving up) 11. Colts 12. Spirit (and they just might pass Colts, good show designs 2 years in a row and talent rising)

It's on the 2nd page of Forum now. Linked from the DCP News Feed. https://www.drumcorpsplanet.com/2025/12/our-top-25-favorite-drum-corps-shows-of-the-21st-century-so-far/

Well, sadly, most of my favorite Cadets shows are from the 80s & 90s - same with SCV & Scouts

Now here's my Top 25 PERSONAL Favorites, with a dose of Honorable Mentions (music & emotional impact weigh heavily with me): 1. Blue Knights '14 "That One Second" 2. Phantom Regiment '08 "Spartacus" 3. Santa Clara Vanguard '18 "Babylon" 4. Bluecoats '24 "Change is Everything" 5. Phantom Regiment '10 "Into the Light" 6. Phantom Regiment '07 "On Air" 7. Carolina Crown '08 "Finis" 8. Blue Devils '04 "Summer Train Blues Mix" 9. Phantom Regiment '03 "Harmonic Journey" 10. Blue Stars '08 "Le Tour" 11. Phantom Regiment '24 "Mynd" 12. Bluecoats '22 "Riffs & Revelations" 13. Phantom Regiment '11 "Juliet" 14. Bluecoats '14 "Tilt" 15. Boston Crusaders '00 "Red" 16. Blue Knights '15 "Because" 17. Cavaliers '00 "Niagra Falls" 18. Cadets '01 "Juxtaposition" 19. Phantom Regiment '05 "Rhapsody" 20. Carolina Crown '15 "Inferno" 21. Boston Crusaders '17 "Wicked Games" 22. Phantom Regiment '06 "Faust" 23. Blue Devils '14 "Feliniesque" 24. Bluecoats '18 "Session 44" 25. Blue Devils '17 "Metamorph" Honorable Mentions: PR '01 / Cavies '04 / BD '00 / Cadets '15 / Crown '09, '13, '12, '11, '07 / Boston '24 / Troopers '22, '15 / Crossmen '18 / Blue Stars '09 / Academy '16 What are your rankings? Happy New Year Everyone! Harvey

I enjoyed the podcast that was posted here recently. Made me think of my own favorite top 25 shows from 2000-forward. Hard! Before I share I thought I'd post what ChatGPT came back with to the prompt - the top 25 DCI shows of the 21st Century - Fan Popularity. The points made for each are astoundingly accurate (though I don't agree with these rankings): 1. Phantom Regiment 2008 – Spartacus The most universally loved modern show Standing ovations before the closer even ends “THIS. IS. SPARTA.” energy forever 2. Cavaliers 2002 – Frameworks Perfect score + insanely clean drill Fans still notice new details 20+ years later 3. Bluecoats 2014 – Tilt Didn’t win — didn’t matter Arguably the most talked about show ever 4. Santa Clara Vanguard 2018 – Babylon Percussion dominance, raw aggression “Let’s go SCV!” chants everywhere 5. Bluecoats 2016 – Down Side Up The show that made casual fans go “wait… what?” Hugely rewatchable and accessible 6. Cavaliers 2006 – Machine Crowd went feral every night One of the most recognizable themes ever 7. Carolina Crown 2013 – e=mc² Brass fans adore this show The crown win everyone felt was overdue 8. Blue Devils 2014 – Felliniesque Polarizing but massively discussed Love-it-or-hate-it popularity still counts 9. Phantom Regiment 2003 – Harmonic Journey Emotional, nostalgic, and deeply loved The gold standard of “classic” Phantom 10. Cavaliers 2000 – Niagara Falls Early-2000s Cavaliers at full swagger Still gets loud reactions at watch parties 11. Blue Devils 2017 – Metamorph Fans respect the insane cleanliness Not emotional — but endlessly impressive 12. Bluecoats 2015 – Kinetic Noise Electronics done right (according to fans) The opening hit alone lives rent-free 13. Cavaliers 2004 – 007 Maximum fun, zero explanation needed One of the best “entertainment” shows ever 14. Santa Clara Vanguard 2004 – Scheherazade Beautiful, dramatic, and very rewatchable Especially beloved by old-school fans 15. Blue Devils 2019 – Ghostlight Theater kids + band kids unite Grew in popularity after the season 16. Carolina Crown 2012 – For the Common Good “That Crown brass hit” show Still a favorite among hornline nerds 17. Boston Crusaders 2022 – Paradise Lost Boston’s breakout into fan-favorite status Massive crowd reactions all season 18. Cavaliers 2010 – Mad World Emotionally clearer than most Cavies shows Fans connected hard to the theme 19. Blue Devils 2010 – Through a Glass, Darkly Cult following Appreciated more with repeated viewings 20. Santa Clara Vanguard 2009 – Ballet for Martha Percussion fans love this one Respect-heavy popularity 21. Carolina Crown 2015 – Inferno Visually insane moments Divisive, but still heavily watched 22. Cavaliers 2011 – XtraordinarY Color guard and visual fans adore it Less mainstream, strong niche love 23. Blue Devils 2004 – The SummerTrain Blues Mix Jazz fans keep this alive Crowd-pleasing and fun 24. Phantom Regiment 2011 – Juliet Emotional, tragic, very Phantom Overshadowed, but still beloved 25. Blue Devils 2001 – Awayday Blue Nostalgic favorite Often cited as “underrated BD” Harvey

I just scooped one up. 🙂 And that post was a blessing. In a horrendous weekend in 2019 I almost lost my life at the hand of my ex and they burned my house. I lost my ENTIRE audio and video collections of DCI back to the 80s through 2019. I've been able to recover most of it - missing only the DVDs for 2008, 1998, 1986 and 1981. Not having the 2008 DVD was killing me. And guess what, in that jump to Ebay for that music I saw a 2008 DVD for sale & grabbed it! I am now a very happy man about that. I am NOT happy about this move by DCI AT ALL, way too matter of fact and disrespectful of a devoted fan base, not mention how the vast majority of us discovered Drum Corps. And I think a poster here was right - as AI bots evolve, the chances of things sticking around on YouTube get less and less. Then what medium will kids find out about DCI? I won't call this a nail in the coffin, but it is another piece of bad news for outreach and reaching people who have never come across DCI.

Camps are getting close. Any news?

I would agree with this 100% from my own experience. Whenever I show videos to newbies or casually interested friend or family - or bring them to shows - I hear that 99% of the time. The only 2 shows that have kept that from being 100% are Babylon & Mind. I constantly hear, what happened to the sustained melodies, great drill and covering the field, that's what I love. I think it's easier for the hard core fans to adjust and enjoy the props and forced stories than it is the casually interested that you WANT to become more interested. That's just my 2 cents, and I'm sure many others disagree. Literally everyone I've shown what I considered to be the most accessible shows from 2025 Finals (Blue Stars, Troopers, Crown, Phantom & Boston, has said the same thing - I didn't understand what they were trying to do and there wasn't one piece of music that I remotely recognized. One even asked, do the music arrangers all have ADHD now? And most do not like the props, staging & proliferation of body work AT ALL. The most common reaction - why are they doing that. They look so much better when they are marching. Don't get me wrong, I still found a lot to love about many shows, but I'm a die hard loyalist and super fan.

Yes, this. My entire grouped looked at each other in the stands after Crown finished their inferno show on Saturday and said to each other that they just gave the trophy to BD, leaving their best show on the field on Friday night. it's a shame to this day as that was an amazing show. It was a GOOD example of the best corps on the field THAT night (BD) winning.

My thoughts exactly... I think there's another step forward this coming season.

Thanks for an amazing show and summer, Regiment! You made us feel things in amazing ways. I can't wait to see what you do next. Members, thanks for pouring your hearts out for us. Harvey

Completely disagree with this. Phantom Regiment is growing year over year since Covid and continuity of staff is key. The percussion section keeps getting better every year, and at times were as high as 4th in Percussion during the season. To my taste, everything about Phantom's show this year was perfect. Was it going to win? No. But they designed it as a love letter to the fans to make us all think and feel something. And they still broke 94. Not exactly a big step back at all. I'm hopeful that entire team is back intact, and I think they will be coming guns blazing into 2026 and an anniversary year. Harvey

Still have the tickets. Don’t mind selling single show tickets or single tickets.