Wow, no one wants to discuss VANGUARD?

[bkbass98]

Well ####, now imma get in on this! Real talk - SCV fanboy for life. 91 Miss Saigon blew me away and I was hooked through thick and thin from that point on. I followed Ralph to Denver and marched BK under the combo of Ralph Hardimon/Mike Stevens (life is good man), but SCV will always be my spirit animal corps.

I don’t know how to break down my favorite shows by them. There are the shows that are my favorite overall productions of theirs, and there’s the MOMENT shows. So, heck with it, it’s my list.

Favorite SHOWS:

1. 2013 - Les Mis - it’s my favorite drum corps show of all time. Certainly my favorite I ever got to witness live at finals. 10 years have passed and I have never once tired of watching/listening to this show…and I do both a LOT.

2. 1988 - Phantom #1 - my previous favorite drum corps show of all time, though Star 93 was probably 1A all those years. Didn’t get to see this one live (sucks because a kid from Missouri didn’t discover drum corps until after 88/89 Finals!) but it has always been the gold standard for me of what a perfectly balanced, nuanced and emotional show should be.

3. 1997 - Fog City Sketches - second best opener in SCV history (more on that later). As someone mentioned earlier, I was all in on SCV with La Mer in 96. You could tell they were coming. I first saw 97 early season that year, and when they hit the end of On the Waterfront it was like the ground had moved beneath me. The whole crew I was there with just lost our #### minds.

4. 1999 - Inventions for a New Millennium - so tough for me to place this above 98, because that 98 line is just other worldly. But someone else mentioned ITT seeing this show and feeling it was something special, and another poster asked why. Well, my $.02: first off, the rebuild had been leading up to this. 95 (dear lord why) to 96 (beautiful elegant return to form) to 97 (see above) to 98 (won drums, shoulda won it all though I’ll concede that Cadets vis program was next level) and finally to 99. So the anticipation for what they’d come out with was already insane. I somehow got a bootleg cassette of them playing Canyon at a late spring camp. I was absolutely mesmerized and couldn’t wait to see how they worked it into the middle of the show since it seemed ballad like to me (it was a grainy recording). Then I got to see them at the first regional, and they…start the show with the Phillip Glass? Completely cornered off save for one quad drummer and the guard circle? From the jump, the show had…it. The “It” Factor of that show is off the charts. It never, ever loses the attention of the listener/viewer. ***Side note: RIP forever to our brother Art. I’m so proud Rey got to march that night and win that gold for the both of them.***
 

5 - 1991 - Miss Saigon - the OG for me, I couldn’t leave ‘em off the list.  SO hard not to include 18, 90 or 87. However…

 

Favorite MOMENTS/CHARTS:

1 - 87 - Russian Christmas Music. The GOAT. Best 3 minutes in DCI history.

2 - 18 - all of the Body is a Cage sections, but of course it’s the POP that makes the show.

3 - 90 - end of the show, hornline runs off the field and plays the final chord of the show from halfway up the tunnel. *chef’s kiss*

4 - 98 - quad spazz out dance. Should probably be #1 if I’m being honest. Also, I heard that #### snare break probably 50x that summer. Never heard a single tick. Some of the most exposed, ballsy drumming I’ve ever heard.

5 - 01 - NEW. ERA. NEW ERA. NEW-NEW-NEW NEW ERA.

 

Ouroboros belongs somewhere on one or both of those lists up there, but that’s all I got. 

[kdaddy]

57 minutes ago, wolfgang said:

Thesis:  Myron Rosander's best SCV drill was the 1999 Championship year. Discuss.

This would be true if 97 didn't exist.

Or if he didn't use the same amazeballs drill move twice in the same show in 99.

[Jurassic Lancer]

2 hours ago, Tony L. said:

 

I come not to bury Vanguard, but to praise it!  So, perhaps we should talk about Vanguard.  What are you favorite Vanguard shows?

Personally I loved 1997-1999.  They literally took everything I was listening to and made it so amazing.  1999 I saw them very early in Oregon and I knew when I saw it that the show was extra special and definitely championship material.  And you?

Simple 1974

[DSpruce]

Grandpa joe when/where did you march and what instrument? Vibing we are age contemporaries purely curious.

[90svet]

1 hour ago, wvu80 said:

I actually liked 1988 better myself, more emotional in the company front Music of the Night.  👍

The 1989 show was cleaned for two years so by finals, it was pretty smooth. 😎

What's the explanation of 2 years' shows being so similar?

[Grandpa Joe]

21 minutes ago, DSpruce said:

Grandpa joe when/where did you march and what instrument? Vibing we are age contemporaries purely curious.

High school. 🤣 I never could afford to march, really. Poor family in a poor rural community.

[Jeff Ream]

2 hours ago, wvu80 said:

I actually liked 1988 better myself, more emotional in the company front Music of the Night.  👍

The 1989 show was cleaned for two years so by finals, it was pretty smooth. 😎

my thoughts exactly

[Jeff Ream]

my top SCV....

79

85

87

88

91

93 ( under rated gem)

97

98

99

01

03

04

09

14

17

18

Edited August 9, 2023 by Jeff Ream

[NJbirder]

99 is my favorite drum corps show ever. And the repeated drill but with the performers in different spots is amazing to me. From note one to the end, a masterpiece of music and drill. 

[Vuitton]

9 hours ago, wvu80 said:

The 1989 show was cleaned for two years so by finals, it was pretty smooth. 😎

The 1989 was hardly an identical show to 1988 and no one in the corps marched the same drill, or played the same music, or did the same guard work.

The advantage they had was recrafting a show they had done the year before. That's where they got a jump start. The members of '89 still had to work extremely hard during the year to refine their performance.