Where and when was your first live corps show?

[greg_orangecounty]

1969 Mount San Antonio College 4th of July show.  A local VFW corps performed and did color-pre.  I was already a "snare" so I joined the next day.  After a couple years I joined the Anaheim Kingsmen with the intent of being a snare, except..............Ralph Hardimon & Tom Float were there so my options were limited to cymbals or 3rd baritone. 

 

[keystone3ply]

9 minutes ago, KVG_DC said:

Hmm. Looking at the line up for Fort Wayne in 1980 I might have seen that one.  Honestly I don't recall the year, just that I fell in love with the whole activity instantly.

Are you using fromthepressbox.com? I found my correct dates for 1980 complete with scores. 

[TheOneWhoKnows]

2009 Erie, PA Lake Erie fanfare. I think teal sound was the first corps I saw?

[Terri Schehr]

57 minutes ago, Chief Guns said:

Ms. Terri going off on the bus driver. Lol.

That did happen. I was nice but I said did you know that Ft. Wayne is in Indiana? Even my d###### 19 years old self knows that. 

[Terri Schehr]

1 hour ago, KVG_DC said:

Hah!  Were you come across the 80/90 toll road?  "Hello Toledo!"   Or from the south taking 70 your exit would have been at Indy, hard to miss and get all the way to Ohio there without noticing. 

If you'd have come across and taken US 30 you'd have run right into it.  

I would have been 6 in 1976.  I remember 1981 but I might have been taken to a show that early.  1976 is a bit of a blur and I remember more of the bicentennial stuff we went to that summer. There's a fair chance the drum corps show was part of that but 'bled into' other things of that summer in my memory.  1981 I recall going for the show because it was a drum corps show.

I can’t remember except for the “Welcome to Ohio”.  I’m guessing we were on the toll road. 

[David Hill]

I had fallen in band kid love of drum corps on the strength of the film "Here Come the Troopers," in the summer of 1971. Our band director wanted us to emulate them. Our "Pirate" band did, and won every honor and contest that fall.

But is was August 4, 1973 before I experienced what Wolfgang said so well, queuing up this topic: "Besides, a hornline sounds more in-your-face live than on a screen."

Three neighbors, each of us in a different band section -- trumpet, me; saxophone, and rifle -- drove from Boaz, Alabama to Richmond, Kentucky for Bluegrass Nationals.

I darned near fainted over the Anaheim Kinsmen (5). The Blue Stars won, followed by The Kilties, Madison Scouts, and 27th Lancers, in the top four. Belleville Black Knights, Commodores : ), Garfield Cadets, Cavaliers, and New Orleans Bleu Raeders, finished out the top ten finalists.

Fifty-four years later, my life, and profession, have both been largely influenced by drum corps. (I was a DCI public relations volunteer and Birmingham, AL show director for a dozen years.)

No matter where you started your drum corps journey, and no matter how evolved the activity becomes, I can see, and hear, the corps that made me love them. And Drum Corps International.

[jthomas666]

Birmingham, DCI South, 1981

[perc2100]

8 hours ago, wolfgang said:

Where and when was the first corps show you attended live? Specifying live because some of us grew up in the pre-internet age where streaming and youtube weren't a thing.

Besides, a hornline sounds more in-your-face live than on a screen.

1991 Columbus, OH (technically I think Dublin, OH?).  Went because some friends of mine were marching in the local hometown corps, Limited Edition; fell in love with SCV and their usage of marching percussion & front ensemble timbres in that show blew me away and I became a fan for life!

[leed17]

1987 DCI East Prelims in Allentown…got up in the upper deck in time to see Sky Ryders and VK because seats were general admission. We didn’t even realize there was a prelims show till we got there. Then waited for finals to start and sat on the 15 yard line because we had purchased tickets very late and they were the best available (uninformed newbie back then) 🙂

[MarkHornGA]

June 18, 2002 in Shelbyville, KY.

Went with my high school drumline buddies and spent the entire day watching the Cavaliers rehearse and hit the show that night. Cavies, Scouts, Southwind, and a few others. I seem to remember the Cavaliers did alright that season...