2006 DCI Classic Countdown

[MaxwellNotes]

A great evening. It was nice to see the corps on the big screen and with a good sound system. Very cool..

For me the most memorable moments include:

27th Lancers. I never saw this corps live but have listened to them many times. Great uniforms and some interesting drill happening for that time.

Blue Devils. Wow, even better than I remember! Horns and drums were so great this year. Wonderful program. Nice to see those classic uniforms again. I think these are my all time favorite unis!

Bridgemen. Well, what can I say, they are a classic. One of my all time favorite shows. I laughed, I cried, and in the end, they didnt disappoint. I cant wait to see the alumni this summer.

Cadets, This I think, is the best corps performance I have ever seen. It was so great to see it again and feel the emotion. Drums and horns were wonderful and the performance of those people's lives Im sure.

Madison. Great to see this show again. Power and one of the best marching corps to hit the field IMO. Malaguena is a drum corps classic, and for very good reason!!!

Phantom. By far the best year for this corps and it was great to see the show again. top to bottom the corps performed with strong sections across the board. Wow!

Crossmen, nice to see this show again.

Star, this show, much like the 84 Cadets changed the course of the activity is so many ways. I think I feel the same way about this show after first seeing it. I appreciate it, think it is very cool and well designed, but dont want to see the rest of the activitiy follow in its footsteps. Just because one corps comes out and does something very cool and gets some competitivie success from it doesnt mean that every other corps has to attempt it. I would like going to shows now, more if corps would stick to their identity (Man, am I really agreeing with Michael!!???). Stars show was great but I dont want to see other corps try to pull the same thing off.

Cavaliers. Wow, I had forgotten how much I loved this show! Horns, drums, guard, drill---all fantastic! Great unis and wonderful program. The thing I noticed last night was their attention to detail is amazing. Great job to the staff that year!!!!!

SCV, ? didnt get the program when I saw it live, and didnt get it last night. Great corps and wonderful performance, just didnt get the show.

Crown, good performance.

Bluecoats, nice to see them.

Overall, great night and a lot of fun. I think it is interesting that the 2000s got a far lower percentage of votes than the other decades. This reflects my views on the activity. It was tough coming up with 2 corps from the last 5 years that I really want to see.

Just my thoughts.

[gjramsey]

I attended the Houston showing here. Smaller theater then last year, and was probably 60-70% full. Much better crowd this year, I thought. Really seemed to enjoy the shows with some sarcastic comments thrown in for the earlier corps. Aflac comment for the Bridgemen Bird was pretty good. Cesario had many folks laughing.

First time seeing 75 2-7, and loved the show. I have always enjoyed seeing Rifles, and seeing how precise and in-sync they were always amazes me.

BD 79, I saw this at Finals when I was 13, good show. Precise and clean.

Bridgemen 80. One of my all time favorites. Saw this show many times in the weeks leading up to finals, and loved seeing it on the big screen. As was commented on above, I can also listen to In The Stone all day long. Lots of laughing at the antics, and some seemed to be surprised by the football game at the end.

Madison 88. Last Finals I have been able to attend. (I need to work on that) Best response of the night for the Houston crowd, although Phantom was close. The electricity is still amazing to me after 18 years.

Phantom 89. Just plain classic Phantom!

Crossman 92. Never really watched this show before on the Legacy DVD, but will now. WOW.

Star 93. Great show, but for some reason, I love listening to it more then watching it. I think it stands up well to the test time, and see why people seem to love it more now then in 93.

Cavies 95 - For some reason this show never has hooked me. I love the music, and everything is done so well in the show, but there are other Cavies show I like more.

SCV 99 - Another show that doesn't do much for me, but is amazing how perfect the sound was.

Crown got some laughs from the crowd for the poetry. I love the ending

Bloooo - I was glad to see this on big screen again.

I really enjoy this concept from DCI as it shows the history on the activity and see how much the shows have changed and grown from the symmetric drills of the 70s to the musical precision of today.

[sburstall]

Maybe I can help...

If you can not hear Medea killing her husband and childern in the music, tempo, and the dynamics then I’m not sure there is anything that can help you understand the show.

I didn't get my PhD in music appreciation, so I couldn't hear it.

[john2780]

Curious, how did my corps ('79 BD) place?

I attended my 11 year old's first concert tonight (he plays violin).

Rich,

12. 2004 Carolina Crown -- 368 votes

11. 2005 Bluecoats -- 392 votes

10. 1992 Crossmen -- 470 votes

9. 1975 27th Lancers -- 602 votes

8. 1979 Blue Devils -- 965 votes

7. 1984 Garfield Cadets -- 1,202 votes

6. 1980 Bridgemen -- 1,213 votes

5. 1995 Cavaliers -- 1,528 votes

4. 1999 Santa Clara Vanguard -- 1,606 votes

3. 1988 Madison Scouts -- 1,672 votes

2. 1993 Star of Indiana -- 1,976 votes

1. 1989 Phantom Regiment -- 2,386 votes

26 years later and you beat me again b**bs

John

[goalieguy]

After getting a chance to get my 'beauty'(?) sleep, I can eminate a few observations.

The crowd at the Regal in Brooklyn Center, MN was probably about 1/2 full, so in that regard I was a bit disappointed, but the addition of the Eden Prairie site must have had sone influence.I recognized a few MBI regulars and friends, but a lot of these folks were obviously fans (old AND young) I did not have the privilege of knowing.

I realized early on that this was not your average drum corps crowd. No pre-show yelling, no major responses to big parts of the show..I found myself being extremely controlled watching the older shows, trying not to look too much like a drum corps geek who knew most of the shows either musically or visually. A few of us BLOOOO'ed at the end of their show (I suppose that might have been that Tom, Ann and Dan Jones were there (their daughter Katie marched last year with Coats and will be returning) If I understood them, she was on her way to Canton for a camp.

I had not seen '99 SCV..HOLY S**T!! That is as frenetic as I can ever remember them being. Fabulous show. Crown was really good, except of course for the narration.

I will go to my grave feeling that the largest visual crime of ANY drum corps broadcast EVER is the '84 Garfield drill building into the front in the closer wasn't seen from upstairs. Now I can understand that if the people in the truck/booth/box thought it better to show a low angle shot from near the pit was more appropriate..BUT !!! As a 'normal' member of the male persuasion, the blonde keyboard player was gorgeous, but she got more camera time than the drill...(geezer rant off now)

I hope that those who came to see this got a bit more education than they expected. A few posters mentioned VK and Surf(?) as showmen-type corps, but you got to see the original last night...I only hope the alumni corps tries a few things this summer..GO BRIDGEMEN!!!

All in all, a very nice production. Kudos to Tom Blair and his crew for a very nice job..

Pat

[TrishDish1002]

I was at North Brunswick, NJ. It wasn't PACKED, I mean - there were some empty seats but I thought it was a pretty decent sized crowd who threw the concession people for a loop during the 15 min. intermission! LOL

Mostly Bridgemen and Cadet crowd and those corps got the biggest response (obviously - they were the 2 NJ corps in the countdown!) Lots of local DCA people there as well.

I had a great time watching those shows - most of which I had the pleasure of seeing live over my drum corps career - really made me see what's kept me going in this for so long :)

Great seeing a lot of old friends too!

My favorites (and they were my favorites at the time too) - Bridgemen, Cadets, Cavies, Star, Crossmen and Crown!

Edited April 28, 2006 by TrishDish1002

[overthehillDM]

The show was great from start to finish!

It was a bit strange seeing yourself up on that big screen, when you were only 20 years old!!!

I found myself feeling pretty emotional, also. Not just during the Bridgemen performance, but during ALL of the corps' performances. I just LOVE drum corps, and the intensity on everyone's faces on that huge screen was just phenomenal!

Thanks, DCI!!!!!!

Absolutely loved Phantom!!! Their 1st-place finish was WELL-DESERVED!

Enjoyed just about everyone's performance, but some of my favorites were: Blue Devils, Cadets, Carolina Crown, and Bluecoats!

It was great sharing the experience with my Bridgemen brothers, & sisters, and it was nice to see some old friends, as well!

BRAVO!!!!!!

[shawn craig]

Crown. i didnt really like the show when i saw it live in 04. all i rembered was the one black guy yelling FREEDOM. but i really enjoyed it.

He gets best vocals from the last 2 years! He also can spin that rifle!

[dcpguy1111]

Maybe I can help...

During the Classic Countdown a teenage girl behind me stated, "I just don't find this exciting." The show is not meant to be "exciting." It taps into the emotions of "the dark side." The show attempts to connect to the feelings of despair, sadness, hate, anger, and vengeance. The show also throws out the DCI mentality of "RFL" and places emphasis on clarity and quality of sound at ALL dynamic levels for the percussion as well as the horn line. This combined with clean feet and clean drill at breakneck speeds.

On Star’s MySpace website there is a clip called "93 Closer to the end”

Star's MySpace Page

If you can not hear Medea killing her husband and childern in the music, tempo, and the dynamics then I’m not sure there is anything that can help you understand the show.

Well some people are just too pedestrian to be able to find Star 93 entertaining. I was amazed by it (not just technically, as in I found it very entertaining) since I first saw it in, what, 10th grade? Guess that's just me though.

[Medeabrass]

First off, I hope everyone at the Houston show can forgive me. I was the one that kept whining about the sound quality/volume. I've given them 3 times to get this figured out and the sound quality and volume has sucked each time. A home theater system sounds 1000 times better.

The motivating reason for me to go to one of these things is to get to hear drum corps on an awesome system. I understand the technical limitations on the older stuff but there's no excuse on the newer stuff. You know things are bad when you can hear the neigboring movies over drum corps!!!

FWIW, the manager told us that they were instructed to play show on a "9" and that a normal movie is on a "5." They said the problem was with the product they were sent. Atleast they were able to turn the volume up the previous 2 times after many complaints from several of us. I can't see myself spending another $12 on a product that doesn't measure up what I could get for free at home.

Let me qualify what I've said by saying that I appreciate that DCI has done this but for this to continue to be successful, they're going to need to figure out these technical difficulties.