Is anyone becoming bored w/the Avant Garde shows?

[N.E. Brigand]

I haven't read this whole thread yet, but I would note that people were making similar complaints in 1985 and in 1993. There's a decent summary in one of the History of Drum and Bugle Corps books.

[Cappybara]

I like angry and dark 

[Weaklefthand4ever]

You can't fight perception and people don't generally like change. That's simply a universal truth. DCI is a unique microcosm because it's been relatively stable with the types of performances for a VERY long time and that leads to people who have been around through it's longevity to say "It's always been this way and it was successful so why change it?" But what happens when all of those folks are gone? You HAVE to keep your audience involved and growing. 

I marched in the late 80's and early 90's. I LOVE the late 80's and early 90's. But here's a reality check. I'm 47. My girlfriend is 28. She's seen the shows of the 80's (especially the ones I marched,) and is....well...let's say supportive of them. She understands they're great shows FOR THE TIME. Now compare that to seeing Bluecoats this year which "gave her goose bumps" or BK to which she declared (loudly) "That's ####### HOT!" in Atlanta. It's a different generation of fan that's going to be driving this bus forward. If you want the whole thing to die, then go ahead and keep doing shows that don't appeal to the new base. 

I get bored at times trying to figure out if vertical staging, interpretive dance and electronics make things better than what I grew up on and then marched. But I also get that I'm not the 14 year old in the crowd saying "I want to do that" anymore. If I don't like a show and it gets too "trippy" for me, then try to pull out things from the show that I DO like. I didn't care for BD this year. It was too frantic for my taste. But I appreciate the performers, designers and staff for putting out something that made the current generation of watchers (aka, the next generation of performers) stand up and cheer. 

Edited August 17, 2019 by Weaklefthand4ever

[greg_orangecounty]

20 hours ago, N.E. Brigand said:

I haven't read this whole thread yet, but I would note that people were making similar complaints in 1985 and in 1993. There's a decent summary in one of the History of Drum and Bugle Corps books.

I think it was in Lawrence Kansas, but I recall a group of older men in VFW hats yelling at us “THATS NOT DRUM CORPS!”  This was in the early-mid 1970’s. 

Some things don’t change. 

[jasgre2000]

No