StrikerEZ

Gotta love me a whole lotta Crown.

Can’t we all just agree that this year probably had the best top 12 in a long time? In the few years that I’ve been a fan of DCI, I’ve only really enjoyed maybe 3-5 shows per year. This year, almost all of the top 12 had amazing moments in their shows, if not completely amazing shows. And there were tons of corps outside of finals that did too. Were some corps’ themes a little esoteric? Yes (BD, Crown, BK). But there were also some pretty easy to grasp concepts (Bloo, Boston, Cavies, Blue Stars, etc). And even if you prefer one type of show more than the other, it’s hard to say that any show this year was poorly designed.

Dang. This is hard. I love all of these shows so much (well, besides Cadets 2011, but that’s mostly because I haven’t watched/listened to that show as much). I guess I have to try to rank them though, so here it goes. 1. SCV 2018 2. Phantom 2008 3. Bluecoats 2016 4. Crown 2013 5. Cadets 2011 It’s weird putting Crown that low, but the other shows were just so good. If Inferno had won, it’d probably be second on that list though.

Oh yeah, it really has. There was something to enjoy in every show that I watched this year. It was hard for me to not just list most of the top 12 and tons of the lower corps. XD

This isn’t in any particular order, just my favorite shows of the year. Crown BK Bloo Mandarins Troopers Spirit of Atlanta Honorable mention to Boston’s closer. From when Goliath comes out to the end is just purely epic.

I’ve already watched Spartacus (many, many times actually), but I’ll definitely need to check out the awards ceremony.

I’m gonna assume you aren’t talking down to me and take that as compliment. 😁

Because people have different tastes? Don’t get me wrong, Cavies had an awesome ballad. I just preferred Crown and BK’s ballads.

I'm severely behind when it comes to having watched older shows. I only just became a fan pretty recently in 2016, and the oldest show I've watched all the way through was Star of Indiana 1991. However, with my limited knowledge of drum corps shows of the past, I would've loved to either have been around for Phantom 2008 or SCV 2018. I never got to see Babylon live, and Spartacus is just an insanely entertaining show that's probably 1000 times better in person.

I’d love to see someone do a show about dinosaurs. Just imagine how sick it would be if, at the big hit at the end, the corps formed a giant T-Rex. Then, just when the music is about to resolve into this glorious major chord, they hit a cluster chord and scatter apart from the T-Rex set. It’s because the meteor just hit the planet. I don’t know how you’d show that, but the rest of the idea sounds good to me. I had another idea, but I forgot it. 😞

This probably isn’t gonna happen, but I’d love it if it did. Crown medaling, Spirit making finals, BK getting top 6, Mandarins climbing the ranks. This has literally everything I could ever wish for. I’ll be happy if just one of those things happens. XD

Crown and BK

Wow. Flo really doesn’t do that justice. I would’ve loved to be there, to experience that raw energy live. Would’ve been freaking glorious.

If the design team can make a show as good as they did this year, they’ll probably get fourth (or maybe worse) again. I loved this show to pieces, don’t get me wrong. But at the rate that corps have been improving over the past few years (I loved all but 2 of the shows in finals this year, and there were tons of corps that didn’t make finals that had awesome shows), Crown will need to step up their game if they want to medal (or hopefully win). While I’d love to see another show like Inferno or Relentless, I don’t think this design team would be able to pull it off. They need to go all in on what works for them: slightly abstract shows with insane marching and playing. If they picked a theme that was still abstract, but more relatable, I think they would have a very good shot at medaling. Here’s a theme idea I think would work: Change: something about what it’s like to grow up and become something new. Everyone goes through that in their life, so pretty relatable. They could possibly relate it to the seasons as well. This would also be a kind of meta show, since Crown has been changing a lot lately. Also, maybe they could play Firebird? It’s been awhile since we’ve seen that on the field, and CrownBRASS could easily pull it off. It would kinda fit, since the Phoenix rises from the ashes and all that.

I’m willing to bet that BD will either win or get second. I’m also gonna bet that Crown will medal or win it all. Bloo will either be 3rd or 4th.

So, I'm disappointed that Crown didn't medal. However, even on Flo, that run was amazing! I could feel their energy pumping through those crappy wires that Flo uses. I'm still mad that Flo cut off right before they hit the Crown set. Like, they were two steps away from it too.

Was the singing during Hey Jude from the crowd? It sounded so loud on Flo that I almost thought it was coming from Bloo's speakers....

I wasn’t even a fan yet, and I know that Crown 100% won that year.

My heart would actually burst. I could die happy if that happened.

Man, I wish I could’ve been there for Allentown or Buffalo. I always knew this show had the potential to be awesome, and I’m glad it’s finally getting the recognition it deserves!!! If Crown gets 3rd this year, that’ll be the greatest comeback story in DCI from the last few years. If they get second (or hell, first), I might actually have a heart attack!

I think it’s possible that Cavies could sneak in and beat Crown, but I really don’t want it to happen. I’m too much of a Crown fan. 😂

Oh yeah, I agree. I'm a Crown fan, and I could definitely see a world where the Cavies beat Crown. I just hope that they can clean the drill enough to match their amazing music so they can stay 4th. At this point, a miracle would need to happen for them to medal.

That announcer was hilarious. Also, go Cavies!! Sad that the gap between Crown and SCV keeps getting bigger, but it is what it is.

I mean, I think they have some pretty good musical GE moments, they just don't have the visual to back it up most of the time.

Yeah, we basically agree besides for the music choices. I really like the source music and love how it's been arranged, though. Bucimis is just such a cool song, and Crown's closer is just epic because of that. And Gabriel's Oboe is such a pretty ballad.