The most underrated shows of the last decade

[Dmlkmen]

I like the Top 5 of 2001.

Especially Blue Devils (Awayday Blue) and Cadets (Juxtaperfromance). Phantom Regiment from that year is honorable mention, as I am still amazed by the arrangment and playing of that Bartok piece.

Phantom Regiment 2004 (Music of Astor Piazolla)- Maybe a dropoff to many, after 03- but the closer, and the push into Adios la Nino is a great moment. Along with the ballad (Oblivion), its one of my favorites of the decade from them.

Also:

2005 SCV

2002 Crossmen

2006 Academy

[va9590jm]

I think it was 2006...Crossmen

I believe it was the "radio" show. One of the "new" Crossmen shows I have come to like since they made the move to San Antonio.

06 was the radio show, but it was the last year in Pennsylvania before the move to San Antonio.

Phantom Regiment 2004 (Music of Astor Piazolla)- Maybe a dropoff to many, after 03- but the closer, and the push into Adios la Nino is a great moment. Along with the ballad (Oblivion), its one of my favorites of the decade from them.

Agreed. I love this show, one of my favorites.

[Rifuarian]

Phantom 2000 -- The Masters of Mystique: Usually comes up this sort of thread, but deserves to be mentioned again. Extraordinary music that could perhaps be revisited in the distant future. I would also put Phantom 2004 into the same category.

Madison Scouts 2003 -- Gold, Green, & Red: The Music of Benoit Jutras My favorite Madison show of the 2000s.

Crown 2003 -- Bellissimo: Propelled them back into finals, and began their rise to the top. Design-wise a vast improvement over anything they had done before, and foreshadowed even greater shows to come. When I saw this show in Louisville at the beginning of the season I predicted they would be DCI's next 1st-time champion. I stuck to that position even when the Bluecoats started to heat up, and I look forward to it coming true.

Magic of Orlando 2003 -- Silver Voices: Simply a cool show. 2003 was one of the years where I enjoyed the bottom fourth of the finalists as much as I did the top.

Southwind 2004-2007 -- The Mummy; A Distorted Imagination; Duality; InTheLoop: The show titles are not particularly promising . . . The Mummy sounds corny, the other three are typical of the vague and insipid themes that our non-finalist (and many of our finalist) corps have been churning out ad nauseam. And some of the guard uniforms were memorably bad. But underneath all that are four of the most entertaining and well-designed shows to have hit the field in the past decade. They members may not have always had the chops to execute what was given to them, but they never failed put on a sparkling performance. When corps in the 15th-last place range seemed like they were trying to put on the dullest shows imaginable, Southwind offered a breath of fresh air. I really miss this corps.

Blue Knights -- 2000-2010: I'll go ahead and include 2010 since BK will most likely be overlooked once again. The older fans on here often complain about today's corps having no discernible identity. Well, this is one corps with a very clear idea of who it is and what it wants to do . . . produce some of darkest, angriest (yet subtlest), most BA shows this decade has seen.

Cavaliers -- 2000-2010: Calling this decade's winningest corps "underrated" might be a hard sale, but I don't think the Cavies have been getting the credit they deserve, particularly in recent years. "Innovation" is a word that's frequently tossed around in drum corps. The Cadets are called innovative, when all they've really done is introduced to drum corps elements that have already existed for years in the band world. The Blue Devils, in recent years, have been called innovative . . . merely for performing WGI-style shows. On the other hand the Cavaliers have showed us something that can be found nowhere else in the world of pageantry, and have done so while staying within drum corps' strictly defined boundaries. Even though the formula has grown a bit stale, they are the decade's most innovative corps by far, and deserve to credited as such.

Edited May 24, 2010 by Rifuarian

[GMichael1230]

Man lots of shows get lost or forgotten along the way, but here's a few of my most underrated shows:

2006- Blue Devils- Godfather- One of my favorite shows, but Cavies and Phantom were just magical that year!

2004- SCV- Scheherazade- Sorry for spelling, but this show was awesome- Still wished they hadn't had the down ending, but none-the-less.

2000- SCV- Bartok/Barber- Adagio for Strings, Adagio for Strings, Adagio for Strings.... maybe one of my all time favorite music books that's kinda gotten forgotten about over the years.

2001- SCV- New Era- A theme here? I am a big SCV homer, but the 2001 New Era show was cool, the intro alone with the lullaby interupted by the full out corps hit- genius. Short Ride in a Fast MAchine- nuff said!!

2000- BK- Montage- This was by far the best corps my team ever had, and it was a progression of many years of the corps staying together and believeing that they could break into the top drum corps tier. Great drill, maybe Robbie Billings best? Musically well put together, loved the middle section with the ballad then the latin tune and then back to the ballad- Very Cool. Dennis DeLucia had said in a documentary back in '97 or '98 that "corps like the Blue Knights while consistent finalists would likely never be a top 6 corps." It was fun to grin at that statement and watch my buddies enjoy the fruits of many years of hard labor. 2001? Well that's a different story, but I digress!

Crown- 2005, 2006- Can't remember titles of shows, but couldn't we all see the corps growing to what they've become today? The hornlines started to grow into a monster and they became more and more consistent. All the while they endeered themselves to fans and we all became sold. Important to not forget about the corps that put Crown into position to do what they are doing today!

Those are just some of my underrated shows.

Wes Perkins

BK '97 '98

Good choices Wes...I do think, in my opinion 1994 Blue Knights was an amazing show, followed by 1991.

G

[JayM]

The short answer to your question is no; long answer, I started marching in 68, last contest I attended was 83, had a corps reunion in 06, reminisced and spent the last 4 years trying to catch up to a moving target; was hoping 2000 had 36 or 24, I'll order 12 pending exchange rates...05 and 06 are tempting too, what am I going to do? ;-)

2000 is great because just about everyone had a great show that year, especially the top six. I'd even venture to say that 2000 is the last year for that to happen. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if there is any way you can get Southwind on DVD from that year, though I might be wrong about that. Best 13th place show ever.

[lindap]

2000 is great because just about everyone had a great show that year, especially the top six. I'd even venture to say that 2000 is the last year for that to happen. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if there is any way you can get Southwind on DVD from that year, though I might be wrong about that. Best 13th place show ever.

Thank you. I'll take 2000 into consideration. I've sent what I have to a few corps over 4 years; then I treat me with a DVD. I like drum corps and mean no disrespect in the next sentences.

I know someone born on Friday the 13th, the number is lucky to me. If I were to pick 13 13th place corps (no duplicates) over 23 years, I'd be able to watch Colts, Crossmen, The Academy, Spirit, Blue Knights, Southwind, Bluecoats, The Magic, Glassmen, Boston Crusaders, Velvet Knights, Dutch Boy and Florida Wave. I'd catch up and see 7 corps I've not seen before. If this DVD is not doable, is it possible on fan network? I'm considering FN but have to get a faster ISP, gotta get my ducks in a row, ya know ;-)

[cybersnyder]

SCV 2000 "Age of Reverence" is my favorite drum corps show. To show how underrated it is, I was at Finals in 2000 and I didn't remember the show until I caw it on the Fan Network last year. How could I not remember Barber? I love that music...

You know what, I just remembered why I don't recall the performance. When we went to Finals, I didn't know that there was a Vanguard and a Vanguard Cadets. We saw the Vanguard Cadets warming up near a truck that said Vanguard something, so that must be SCV, right? It just wasn't up to the SCV of years before. So when it was time for SCV to perform and my daughter wanted something to eat, I volunteered to get refreshments. SCV wasn't going to be that great this year...

Ok, one of the more stupid things I've done. I missed *the* show for a hot dog and pop corn. Dude!!! I missed it for a hot dog and pop corn and I probably overpaid for the hot dog and pop corn.

[BigPapiBass5]

is it just me or alot of the shows people are saying are underrated are shows that people always talk about and are done by the G7.

[lindap]

is it just me or alot of the shows people are saying are underrated are shows that people always talk about and are done by the G7.

G7 is a PP presentation. It's been 27 years since I've been to a live drum corps show. I want to go to a show in the know!

...and a big thank you to those in this thread that helped me decide what to get next :-)

[troon8]

I've got one. Bluecoats 2006. Speaking from an utterly non-expert POV, I really feel like that was one of the best constructed shows I've ever seen. A minimal bells & whistles show, (aside from the streamers,) that really just gripped me from start to finish with some darn good drill and music.

Edited May 25, 2010 by troon8