The 1994 Thread

[mfrontz]

The competitive season in 1994 was anything but, at least as far as it came to the battle for Number One. The Blue Devils, with their new uniforms and their 'old is new again' show from Chick Corea's album My Spanish Heart, led from pole-to-pole. 

Did I say 'old is new again?' That seemed to be the theme for all of the shows in 94. Cadets redid 'West Side Story,' Phantom redid 'Death Hunt.' Madison was Spanish again and Vanguard was Russian, Crossmen were still on Planet Earth, and so forth, and so on. While the execution levels of the corps were excellent, maybe DCI as a whole just needed some time to breathe creatively.

But the year may be remembered primarily for two corps who were not on the field of competition. Star of Indiana left the field for pastures in which their members would be 'judged by an impartial audience,' in Bill Cook's words. Those words deserve some more deep thought, even over twenty-five years later.  In any case, they toured with the Canadian Brass in a production they called 'Brass Theater,' which would of course eventually lead them to the hit West End and Broadway show 'Blast!' Meanwhile, the buzz in Boston was the amazing, emotional performance of the 27th Lancers Alumni Corps. It was perhaps appropriate that in a year when the future for drum corps was uncertain, the focus was on the greatness of the past. The heroes of yesterday marched out through the fog of Foxboro, reminding us of all that once was good and could be again.  

Tell us where you were, what you thought, and how you felt in 1994.

Edited April 30, 2020 by mfrontz

[Sutasaurus]

27th Lancer’s reunion performance.😍

[mfrontz]

1994 DCI Productions

(Note: All links are to YouTube videos in compliance with DCP policy. Other recordings may be available on other sites.)

27th Lancers Alumni Corps - DCI Finals Exhibition Performance

Blue Devils - Concord Pavilion, DCI North Victory Concert, DCI Quarterfinals rain-out standstill, DCI Semifinals, DCI Finals (audio only)

Cadets of Bergen County - DCI Quarterfinals rain-out standstill, DCI Finals, 1994 Tour Video

Phantom Regiment - DCI Finals

Cavaliers - Victory Concert Evansville IN, DCI Finals - show ending

Santa Clara Vanguard - Concord Pavilion, Ogden UT, DCI Finals - show ending

Madison Scouts - DCI Finals part 1, DCI Finals - show ending

Blue Knights - DCI Finals - show ending

Crossmen - DCI Finals - show ending

Bluecoats - Mid-Season Run-Through, Underwear Run Finals Week, DCI Finals - show ending

Glassmen - DCI Semifinals Part One; DCI Semifinals Part Two

Magic of Orlando - Rome, NY; DCI Finals Clip #1; DCI Finals Clip #2 

Colts - DCI Finals - Show Ending

Boston Crusaders - DCI Semifinals snippet with bad video quality, but watch anyhow

Troopers 

Velvet Knights - Ogden, UT; DCI Preview of Champions; DCI East

Freelancers - DCI Semifinals (cuts off at beginning of closer)

Carolina Crown - DCI Semifinals show clip

Pioneer

Southwind - DCI Quarterfinals

Marauders

Nite Express - DCI Quarterfinals

L'Insolite

Americanos - DCI Quarterfinals

Blue Stars

 

 

 

Edited April 30, 2020 by mfrontz

[Super Don-O]

The entire top 5 were very entertaining in '94. I especially enjoyed the Cadets and Vanguard.

 

I still have my '94 Vanguard shirt. If it was a person it would have aged out 5 years ago. I wish it still fit...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 30, 2020 by Super Don-O

[IllianaLancerContra]

2 hours ago, Sutasaurus said:

27th Lancer’s reunion performance.😍

They stole the show.  This is why the alumni Corps now play on Friday night.

[MikeN]

1994 felt like, in many respects, a bounce back from the previous season for many corps.

BD of course, reinvented themselves for the first of many times to come.  The "classic" 80's look was gone and replaced with what at the time was a sequined, streamlined head-scratcher.  Of course, it turns out they were right all along, and the new jacket became iconic for a couple of generations of high school and college marching band folks.  I'm sure BD's sudden visual dominance had nothing at all to do with that either.  The music, meanwhile, was single-source, intense and blew the roof off of every show they were in.  It's definitely a show where I felt that there was no choice but for them to win.

That said, Cadets felt solidly locked into second.  Nobody was going to challenge their run-and-gun West Side Story show, but they weren't catching BD either.  This is my favorite of all of their versions of WSS - it's way more complex than the '84 show and doesn't need the bells and whistles of the '09 production.  Mambo is my one of my favorite charts from the whole season.

Phantom Regiment expanded on their '93 show concept a bit and came back with brighter, tighter and faster charts, and to me a vastly improved battery.  They also knew what the audience wanted, and the crab step closed the show out with a bang.  And that guard - wow.  The '93 show might have been more "classic" Phantom, but '94 kind of moved them slightly out of their comfort zone, and it was pretty awesome.

Cavaliers pushed a little harder into classical and wind ensemble literature, and while 4th is nothing to sneeze at, it just *felt* like the corps was drifting a bit.  It was not a terribly engaging show, and Sensemaya in particular might have been one of the strangest openers played in all of DCI at that time.  The closer also felt like a massive swing-and-miss and didn't fit at all with everything else.  History shows they righted the ship after, but as much of a Cavaliers fan as I am, this is... not my favorite show.

Vanguard veered hard back into theatrical production, and The Red Poppy is a bright, massive show that feels like it shouldn't be played in small stadiums.  (I feel the same way about "The Bluecoats")  Everything about it just looked "big."  Russian Sailors Dance was the highlight of this one. 

Madison Scouts put on the first of three Latin jazz shows, and I think this is the one everybody sleeps on.  The visual production was stellar - the whole drill, like SCV, just "felt" big, with a ton of field coverage.  Malaga, of course, set everyone on fire, but their arrangement of Cuban Overture is a classic on its own.  If you're a more recent Madison fan, check this show out - it's worth it.

(more coming)

[mfrontz]

21 minutes ago, MikeN said:

1994 felt like, in many respects, a bounce back from the previous season for many corps.

BD of course, reinvented themselves for the first of many times to come.  The "classic" 80's look was gone and replaced with what at the time was a sequined, streamlined head-scratcher.  Of course, it turns out they were right all along, and the new jacket became iconic for a couple of generations of high school and college marching band folks.  I'm sure BD's sudden visual dominance had nothing at all to do with that either.  The music, meanwhile, was single-source, intense and blew the roof off of every show they were in.  It's definitely a show where I felt that there was no choice but for them to win.

That said, Cadets felt solidly locked into second.  Nobody was going to challenge their run-and-gun West Side Story show, but they weren't catching BD either.  This is my favorite of all of their versions of WSS - it's way more complex than the '84 show and doesn't need the bells and whistles of the '09 production.  Mambo is my one of my favorite charts from the whole season.

Phantom Regiment expanded on their '93 show concept a bit and came back with brighter, tighter and faster charts, and to me a vastly improved battery.  They also knew what the audience wanted, and the crab step closed the show out with a bang.  And that guard - wow.  The '93 show might have been more "classic" Phantom, but '94 kind of moved them slightly out of their comfort zone, and it was pretty awesome.

Cavaliers pushed a little harder into classical and wind ensemble literature, and while 4th is nothing to sneeze at, it just *felt* like the corps was drifting a bit.  It was not a terribly engaging show, and Sensemaya in particular might have been one of the strangest openers played in all of DCI at that time.  The closer also felt like a massive swing-and-miss and didn't fit at all with everything else.  History shows they righted the ship after, but as much of a Cavaliers fan as I am, this is... not my favorite show.

Vanguard veered hard back into theatrical production, and The Red Poppy is a bright, massive show that feels like it shouldn't be played in small stadiums.  (I feel the same way about "The Bluecoats")  Everything about it just looked "big."  Russian Sailors Dance was the highlight of this one. 

Madison Scouts put on the first of three Latin jazz shows, and I think this is the one everybody sleeps on.  The visual production was stellar - the whole drill, like SCV, just "felt" big, with a ton of field coverage.  Malaga, of course, set everyone on fire, but their arrangement of Cuban Overture is a classic on its own.  If you're a more recent Madison fan, check this show out - it's worth it.

Any thoughts on the second six or non-finalist corps?

Also, I await with bated breath your comments on BD '95. 

[jwillis35]

The summer of 1994 was a solid one for DCI. As the OP stated, it felt like a lot of shows came back to earth a bit. Much like in 1993, where Star and Cadets mostly destroyed the field, it was the Blue Devils who did much the same thing in 1994. The question as the season progressed was not who would win but rather how would the rest of the top 12 shakeout? 

The Blue Devils were terrific in 1994. Like most years in those days they always have fabulous brass. That was never a question with BD. Their music selections were all Chick Corea pieces woven into a show titled "My Spanish Heart."  The music covers all kinds of moods and styles and is certainly one of the better musical packages BD would produce in the 1990s. My favorite BD shows of the 90s are 1) 1994, 2) 1991, 3) 1993, 4) 1990 (Tommy), and 5) 1997 (Casablanca). The others are very good but these were my favs, and 1994 really hits the spot. 

 

With Star of Indiana leaving the activity for Brass Theater (and eventually Blast!), the Blue Devils were smart to pick-up one of Star's top visual instructors, Todd Ryan. Todd is a former Madison Scout who had been working with Star of Indiana. He helped to bring their marching technique to the top of the activity. This is what he did for the Blue Devils beginning in 1994. BD was strong across the board but it was their overall GE score that made the big difference. They had a .2 lead over Cadets in ensemble captions, and a .1 lead over Cadets in performance captions. Cadets actually won field percussion on Finals night but I think BD still got the drum trophy for the 3-day Finals scores. So Cadets had clearly made it a closer contest in the last few weeks and lost by .7 at Finals. Having said that, it really was BD's year. Their new uniforms were hot and, to me, 1994 marked the beginning of a new era for Blue Devils. 

 

The Cadets, in typical Cadets fashion, started sluggishly and although competitive with most other corps early they would get "housed" by BD in the early season. For fans that may have forgotten, the Blue Devils flew East early summer 1994 to compete in a number of shows and then flew back to the West before continuing their tour. But much like the Cadets in those days they managed to fine tune their 10th anniversary production of West Side Story into a 2nd place finish at DCI Finals and they closed the gap with a very high-powered Blue Devils. The Cadets brass and percussion in 1994 was incredible, especially by season's end. In brass performance they tied BD in brass musicianship and were only .1 under in brass tech. In performance percussion they tied BD in tech and beat them by .1 in musicianship. Ensemble GE, Music, and Visual captions were all close. Overall GE was the difference for BD. Cadets just could not give the show the same kind of life they had with their 1984 show. Of course, I regard 1984 as one of the best shows I've ever seen...period. I was glad the Cadets took a different direction with 94, and all in all it is a pretty cool show with outstanding performance. 

 

For the 2nd year in a row, and 3 out of 4, Phantom Regiment had taken 3rd place. Their 1994 show was another wonderful package, but it probably lacked a little bit of the magic found in their 1993 show. All the music is fantastic. Phantom did very well in Ensemble Music captions but were 4th in field brass (under Cavaliers) and were also 4th in field percussion (also under Cavaliers). Death Hunt was good but never felt like it was the best ending for this show. Other than that I really have few complaints about Phantom in 1994. I loved the opener and the Debussy and their talent was certainly on display. 

 

I'll post some more about other shows later, but I wanted to say a few words about the top 3.

[MikeN]

(part 2 - for some reason DCP does not like long posts from me...)

Blue Knights knocked their show selection out of the park.  Trittico had enough complexity to showcase their musicians, while the music was engaging enough to keep the audience entertained and interested.  Watching them, it felt like the corps was growing up a bit, and might have found their wheelhouse.  (Yeah, yeah, shows what I know, considering '95.)

Crossmen went one too many times to the well.  Trilogies, even conceptual ones, don't work in DCI - 3 years is too far ahead to predict.  Vanguard tried that too in the 2000's by announcing their next three shows, and that didn't last either.  The performers did a fine job with the vehicle, clearly, and it felt like the audience appreciated it, but it did also feel like the corps was spinning its wheels a bit.

Bluecoats "Blues" show was a more sophisticated set of charts, but I don't know if the corps really broke any new ground here.  That said, I'll listen to it again anytime.  I love Things Ain't What they Used to Be, and they have a great arrangement of it.   

Glassmen - no more Tostitos-Bag-Design jackets = yay.  Western wear = ... . I'd love to have sat in the design meetings for this one.  The show is the equivalent of a road trip in an 80's family van.  Captain's chair, full carpet, looking out the window while listening to the radio.  I have to admit, even as a Glassmen fan, this one does not make my playlist.

While Magic of Orlando's '94 show took the '93 concept and cranked it up, I kind of prefer the charts they played the year before.  You can't argue, however, with the massive jump in quality.  At the time their costuming was considered a must-see.  Today we'd just say "huh.  Winter Guard."  They definitely earned their spot in Finals. 

Colts really underwhelmed me this year.  The show felt like a throwback compared to everyone around them, but it's a testament to their quality that they made top 12.  For me, they improved leaps and bounds in the latter half of the 90's, but we're not there yet. 

Mike

[MikeN]

Sorry for the multi posts - final thoughts.

Boston got hosed.  This was a *really* tight show from start to finish, and I think they outplayed the Colts across the board.  Should have been a finalist, I feel.  Argh.  Honestly?  Troopers also should have challenged for a Finals spot.  Their program was rock solid and the brass in particular sounded excellent.     

Finally, just as an aside, I loved VK's musical book in '94, even if it wasn't the most precisely played program ever.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think anyone's tried stuff from Nightmare Before Christmas since. 

Like I said, mostly overall this felt like a rebound from the '93 shows where most designers (relatively) lost their minds.  A few corps still managed to push the envelope, but the evolution stalled a bit.  Especially in the bottom half, this didn't feel like an all-time lineup.

Mike