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All time shows: Santa Clara Vanguard


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Favorites

1992- Fiddler on the Roof

1997- Fog City Sketches

2012- Music of the Starry Night

Least...I don't really have any

Edited by ibexpercussion
hit semicolon instead of apostrophe
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To me, the uniforms in 2017 were hideous, not to mention the overuse of the horn microphones. Some of the visual design worked for me, but I just couldn't get beyond those items.

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Isn't 1973 SCV the DCI champion with the largest margin of victory? I've not seen it mentioned here. It was, at the time, considered a groundbreaking show. I admit, today, it's hard to listen to. Harsh comes to mind. 

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On 12/6/2017 at 1:37 PM, ibexpercussion said:

Favorites

1992- Fiddler on the Roof

1997- Fog City Sketches

2012- Music of the Starry Night

Least...I don't really have any

92  is an awesome show! It is just a lot of fun from start to finish

Edited by Hook'emCavies
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Top 3:

2005 - the year I was introduced to DCI; never saw the actual video until a month ago, but the power and pacing of that show is what sold me on the magic of drum corps.

 

2009 - I'm always surprised that a fan base constantly asking for more melodic shows and a music program that allows the music to naturally progress would place this show in their least favorites. It is so not drum corps - except for a few 'aha' moments, there's no classic "peel your face off" moments until the company front at the tail end of the production. Just a gorgeous program through and through.

 

2016 - White and red uniforms + pure class. What more could you want.

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On 12/6/2017 at 2:11 PM, dcifan1999 said:

To me, the uniforms in 2017 were hideous, not to mention the overuse of the horn microphones. Some of the visual design worked for me, but I just couldn't get beyond those items.

Surprisingly, I didn’t mind their 2017 uniform being a dino and a fan of their traditional look. I couldn’t get into their music and the 12 mic brass was not to my taste, what I would consider a music GE killer at best, a cheat at worst. The visual was great though 

 

 

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2012 is a favorite for me.  I really enjoyed the balance in the front ensemble with the hornline to add to the overall musical experience (and I have always loved their battery writing).  Adding in Holst and "The Planets" and you got my attention!!

Edited by Wog
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Santa Clara has done some amazing shows over the years, so this is tough.

  1. The top spot goes to the combination of Vanguard's portrayal of Phantom of the Opera. When the corps got permission to perform music from this Broadway hit, which only arrived on the scene in 1987 (maybe 86), I thought it was good that they performed it two years in a row. Both were great shows. I love 1988 for many reasons, but the visual program was better in 1989 and the music arrangements got to the point more effectively. But my vote here is for the combination of the two: 1988/1989.  Both shows were the best presentation of a musical I had ever seen at the time. They still hold up today. The show was tuneful, joyous, dark, and majestic and put people on their feet big time. 
  2. 1985 SCV.  This show is still one of my favorites to this day. The music is glorious, and that opener of Festive Overture absolutely rocks the house.  I think it's the first time that I can remember such a clever uniform change taking place within the flow of the show. Grover's Corners is beautiful and the closing music of Aaron Copland's Tender Land is classic Vanguard. 
  3. 1987 Russian Show.  Following the success of their 1986 show, the 1987 show was one of the best coordinated shows I've ever seen. Once again we get powerful and well-arranged music, we get theatrical use of costumes and great staging, and we get the power of Russian Christmas Music right out of the gate. SCV and Garfield competed as a 1-2 punch all summer and it was a glorious battle of two of the finest shows I have still seen to this day. When we talk about great battles for the top spot at Finals, 1987 is up there as one of the best. Either corps could have won it all. 
  4. 2009 SCV is definitely one of my favorites. Based on Martha Graham's ballet and Aaron Copland's music of Appalachian Spring, this show is simply beautiful, subtle, confident, and it brought the house down with the Simple Gifts closer.  They took 5th at Finals, but I thought this was the best production of the top 5 corps. I thought the Cadets redo of West Side Story was excellent and maybe my 2nd favorite show, and I enjoyed the others, but SCV was the show of the night for me. 
  5. Tough call here, but I will go with 1982 SCV. To me, live, this show was killer. The Rimsky-Korsakov was one of the highlights for me, and the closer with inclusion of Bottle Dance put the crowd into an absolute frenzy. In fact, the crowd was so loud in Montreal that I don't think SCV could hear themselves and it hurt the timing  of the music at the end. I would imagine that was after the gun sounded though, so no tics for phasing. Once again, this show is classic SCV.

 

Obviously their 2017 show was amazing! I thought 1999 SCV was great too. Very dark and powerful.  Their 1998 show was close to winning a title as well, and I know many will love their 2004 show.  You can't go wrong with SCV over the years, but from 1972 - 1992 they were the Gold Standard in drum and bugle corps.  Three additional shows that should be mentioned from that 1972-1992 era are:

  1. 1974 SCV - One of the great champions of DCI. So controlled and musical.
  2. 1990 SCV - Carmen was amazing and I loved every second of it
  3. 1991 SCV - Miss Saigon was also amazing!

I believe they had the highest average placement in the first two decades of DCI competition despite the rise of Blue Devils and Garfield Cadets; and with Vanguard they not only placed high in those first two decades, but they revolutionized field presentation and showed everyone in the activity in the 70s how to put quality shows on the field. 

Edited by jwillis35
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My top 5....

1.  1978

2.  1980

3.  1989

4.  1987

5.  1981

My not-so favorites

1993, 1995

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