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First Show You Ever Saw...


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April 19, 1775, Lexington, Ma

The Redcoats

The Grenadiers

The Tories

The Minutemen

5th Regiment a Foot

The Militiamen

Kingsmen

The Bucket Brigade

Paul Revere & the Raiders

I don't remember much about the show, as I was little, it was crowded, and my parents had trouble finding a hitching post for us to park in the Commons Area. As for the outcome, I couldn't find it on Corpsrep, but I was informed later that The Minutemen won this battle, and the Kingsmen came in dead last.

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My first exposure to DCI was in 2010 when a friend took me to see the quarter-finals broadcast. Instantly fell in love with the Cavaliers and Mad World, loved the Crown sound, and really digged the Bluecoats as well. I was totally addicted.

In 2012 for my senior trip I went with my mom and the friend who introduced me to DCI in the first place to Atlanta. We watched the Cavaliers put the dubstep ending on 15 minutes of fame. When we got to the stadium the Crossmen were in the middle of their show that year. I actually can't remember the show name but I remember the silhouettes and that they played Peter Gabriel's Washing of the Water (I think). Since they were the first corps I saw live in competition they have a special spot in my DCI memories. I am still a diehard Cavalier fan though!

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I had listened to many year's worth of DCI Finals recordings, but the first live show I attended was DCI Midwest at Whitewater in 1984.

This was back in the days when EVERY corps attended, all 30-something competed in a morning/afternoon prelims, and then the top 12 competed in an evening finals. I'm sure that kind of sucked for the members, but it was bliss for the fans. It was the night when Cadets infamously had a big pile-up during their closing Z-pull. Even so, I was blown away. I had just performed the original West Side Story musical in a H.S. production a few months prior, so I knew the score very well and how difficult the music was. I couldn't believe there were 128 kids out there marching it.

The second live drum corps show I attended was one that I marched in myself. It's cool to read through this thread and see several people report that the first show they ever saw was one in which I performed.

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April 19, 1775, Lexington, Ma

The Redcoats

The Grenadiers

The Tories

The Minutemen

5th Regiment a Foot

The Militiamen

Kingsmen

The Bucket Brigade

Paul Revere & the Raiders

You saw the early season versions of these corps. They all had completely different shows by the time August rolled around. :smile:

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I must admit that it is all a bit of a fog, but I began attending drum corps way back in the mid 1950's in Patterson, NJ. My dad was a volunteer fireman so seeing corps was nearly a weekly occurrence, as the corps often participated in the parades the fire departments hosted all summer throughout the state. (Departments would compete in dress uniform and marching, so they would sometimes pay the parade fee for a corps so as to have them marching right behind them and provide a snappy cadence!). It was not unusual to go to a parade and see Holy Name Cadets, Blessed Sacrament Golden Knights, St. Vincent's Cadets, Audubon Bon Bons, Hawthorne Caballeros, and St. Anne's Cadets (my favorite -I was so taken with their drum major -she was a goddess in my young eyes!)

Anyway, there would also be shows in Patterson or Clifton, and my parents would often take my sister and me. It was there where I developed my life-long love for DC.

The earliest show I can remember, specifically, is the 1957 American Legion Nationals held in Atlantic City Convention Center and won by the Holy Name Cadets.

Over the years I have seen Drum Corps change in many ways, but I still love it as much as I did when I first experienced it over a half century ago.

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From Hollywood to Dollywood VK 90 with Yellow drums? I thought it was soooo cool!

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June 21st, 1980 - DCI North in Ypsilanti, Michigan

Madison Scouts

Phantom Regiment

Blue Stars

Royal Crusaders

Knights

Pioneer

Saginaires

Ventures

Oakland Crusaders

I went with friends from the band I was in. I was hooked from that day forward.

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1985 - Toledo, Ohio. The rents took me - I thought it was just a 'band competition' they were taking me to. Little did I know how big a part of my life it would become. The Cavaliers "Planets" show blew my mind in all the good ways. Have been raging ever since.

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You saw the early season versions of these corps. They all had completely different shows by the time August rolled around. :smile:

Thats a valid observation. The Redcoats by August decided to scrap their drill formation creation from earlier that season, but it was too late for them by August, as they suffered an unexpected defeat. ( 'still thought the Redcoats had sharper looking uniforms than the Militiamen though. )

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