davefan66

Saw the Imperial Regiment sign, kinda blew me away. I marched with the feeder corps for the few months they were doing it. As for the audience, I should have stated it is not only in Buffalo. Any show I have gone to over the last 5 years or so that is not a regional or finals seems to have the same problem. These guys do a great job with the show, so I expect another great effort next year.

First, the scores: 1. Blue Devils - 97.05 2. Crusaders - 90.95 3. Troopers - 84.20 4. The Academy - 83.05 5. Spirit - 82.3 6. Cascades - 76.70 7. Pioneer - 75.30 Review - in order of appearance: Exhibition: Preston Scout House: Neat old time drum corps. Good music, high stepping, uncomplicated field show. Nice to watch. Optimists Alumni - Nice old style military uniforms. Good music. Played very well. Mighty St. Joes - Good corps. Seen the every year for the last 5 + years and they were much better than usual tonight. Played well and got the crowd excited. Empire Statesman - First competition type corps of the night. Played very well and a pretty good show featuring Wizard of Oz. Some nice effects like the wicked witch melting in a sea of smoke. Marine Drum Corps - Played well. Good music. Seemed kinda lacking in marching which I thought was weird. Didn't keep straight lines as well as I thought they would. Did a nice job and arrangement on Aquarius. Competing corps: Cascades - Nice show. Actually went very fast, was surprised they were done. Marched well, but kinda weak musically. Pioneer - Good show. Seems to me to better than they have been in the recent past. Music and marching done well. No real wow moments for me. Spirit - Music had depth and was played well as an ensemble. Nothing memorable for me except for the annoying voice over stuff. Amplified some loud clanging that actually made me jump in my seat is was so overpowering. Then some spoken word stuff "Icon, icon, forging icon". Don't get it other than they seemed to be making some Spirit insignias on the field out of wood. Flat, boring to me. Not the usual Spirit high energy stuff. Very good drum line. Cascades - Very good and entertaining. Don't remember any specifics other than it was good music played very well. Troopers - Much better that the last few years I saw them. Played musically very well. Loud. Played well as an ensemble. Entertaining show. Funny at the end when the DM had his gun stolen by the guard member. Crusaders - Very good show. Symphonic sounding. High energy. Some strains of "Conquest" at the end. Lot's of good color, uniforms looked great under the lights. Great drum line. Excellent guard. Blue Devils - Loved the mirrors in the beginning. Seemed kinda out of place at times racing them around the field. Very loud, symphonic, awesome as an ensemble. All disciplines were excellent. Amazing horn line, especially with some fast tonguing about 5 or so minutes into the show. Drums played well and the guard was very good as usual. My biggest problem with them was looking forward to "La Suerta De Los Tontos" and didn't recognize it at all...don't even know if they played it? As an overall review on my first, and sadly last show of the year. Not a big fan of amplification, hate the weird sound effects of the corps added--ie: glass breaking and drill sounds (Spirit). Hate spoken word stuff over the speakers. Seems the corps in the bottom of the scoring used that stuff as much as possible, while the top corps didn't use it as much. All the corps were entertaining, just varying levels. Think the new bugles are a bit less loud, but sound a bit warmer to me. Seems also, the corps are using the entire field, and doing a great job playing from sideline to sideline without many phasing issues. Ralph Wilson Stadium (home of the NFL Buffalo Bills!) is an excellent venue for drum corps. Plenty of parking, excellent acoustics, not a bad seat in the house for drum corps. My biggest problem is the other fans. I know this is a locally run show that depends on marching bands from local high schools for bulk ticket sales. But man, these kids can't keep quite for anything. Loud and obnoxious. Also, Buffalo is an old drum corps area with many old time members kicking around. These people also can't keep quite for the life of them. Why do I have to ask people to please quiet down during the corps performance? I mean, if you are talking about an cool thing that happened, that's fine, these people are talking about stuff from their daily life out loud. That's what I love about going to finals, or a show like Allentown, those fans understand and respect the corps and other fans. As usual a very well run show with some good corps. My hats off to the crew from Drums Along The Waterfront for another excellent effort.

I am absolutely disgusted by the proposal. Amps, electronics and all the tricks GH has rammed down our throats has ruined this activity. To those in charge. Please save this activity, and bring it back from the brink. GH has his own agenda, and until people see it, we are headed for disaster.

Man, I remember that parachute move. Saw it at the 1977 NT Open in North Tonawanda, NY. My first year watching corps, thought it was the coolest thing I ever saw. Little did I know what I was in store for!

So DCI is on the hook for ESPN to do it if it happens? Wonder if they will try another outlet after the contract ends.

Hello, Anyone know if the DCI finals will be broadcast? Can't seem to find this info anywhere. Thank you in advance.

I agree with your point on electronics and especially vocals. Those two things have done more to turn me off the activity than anything else in the last 15 years. Although I would prefer music I know, music I don't that is played well with energy and passion you can feel from the field works for me. Intense energy, passion and shows the average non-musical major fan can understand would help reach out to fans who are leaving the activity. Also toss in some type of promotion, like ESPN to bring DCI to the masses.

DC World publishes every year how many active corps there have been by year since DCI's inception. Just looking at those numbers would suggest the activity is not as strong as it once was. The difference is, as DR. NIK pointed out, that there are vastly fewer local Drum Corps. I remember marching against dozens of corps just in the New York, Penn and Ontario area. I believe it is mostly due to lack of members. Over time fewer kids were interested in playing an instrument and marching. Just look at the local High School bands. The lack of members caused many, if not all, the corps in my area to fold in the early 80's. I often wondered if it was caused by DCI themselves and the decrease in local circuits causing financial hardship on corps that to compete in DCI, had to tour more extensively. I know of a local corps that traveled to Denver for finals, lost a bus and as I recall never financially recovered. All that being said, I also believe corps shows have become a bit less accessible to the common fan and they've become bored. I know that's true for me.

I was able to witness most of the shows from the Star years, and as time passes, I do miss them greatly. Yes, there were many fans who as Star climbed to the top, were a bit jealous saying they were the best corps money could buy. What the Star situation was, is anybody's guess who were not directly involved with DCI management or Bill Cook and Star. Word was at the time, true or not, that Cook had enough of DCI and wanted to do things his way. No one close to the situation will talk about what ultimately happened, probably for the best. I will say this about Bill Cook. He did many, many things for DCI from a financial and management standpoint. He still helps out from time to time, if memory serves did he not lend his buses to a Corps recently who needed transportation? Anyways, he has always done what he thought was best for his Corps and what was best for his marching members.

It used to be at least 1/2 to 3/4 of the top 12 was worth watching/listening to. Now, I'm happy if I get into 3 of the top 12. Let me say this. The corps these days, versus the 70's, are incredibly better in marching and musicianship, along with the music itself having more depth. Just can't get into it. Just to sterile for me. As an aside, every time I hear this "spoken word" amplification stuff, it make me dislike DCI more. Just my 2 cents.

Remember my mother asking "why are they boooing them?"

From personal experience, DCI has become boring. I miss when I could barely keep myself from jumping up during the show with excitement. Corps these days are too busy playing to the judges and forgetting about the fans. I've followed DCI since 1977 and can attest to the increase in musicianship of today's marching members. Technically, todays corps are amazing compared to "back in the day", but they woefully lack excitement. I don't need music I know, or has been played every year for the last 10 years. What I need is a show that is played with raw emotion, played with commitment, played with excitement. I don't blame the members, but the instructors who don't give these kids the vehicle to display there talent.