World of Pageantry

Yep, I got bored. I made a big page off my diary site where I review and critique the top tier of every DCI Finals going back to 1989. I list the year, the top five shows, who *I* thought should have won, and then my long-winded comments.

If you're a big drum corps nut like me (and you're really bored), check it out.

http://petrouchka.diary-x.com/journal.cgi?entry=DCI

all i can say is ... VERY WELL WRITTEN:D I havent seen all the shows but the ones that I have I agree on:D especially 2000... I thought should have been cadets straight up.

I agree with a great deal of the review materials, I especially have a whole lot of enjoyment from the reviews of the late 80's, early 90's shows. I am more familiar with those years, and took a brief hiatus from watching from about 1996-1999. I have recently started purchasing the legacy collection from dci, and I started with '99. I agree with your take on the top spot, but I also think that Madison got the shaft in the six spot. I think Glassmen had a good show, but the book was really easy and the brass were consistently out of tune. For pure GE Madison should have been in the five spot, but I would even put them closer to No. 3 possibly catching the Cadets with their wildly un-entertaining show.

supergrogan wrote:I agree with a great deal of the review materials, I especially have a whole lot of enjoyment from the reviews of the late 80's, early 90's shows. I am more familiar with those years, and took a brief hiatus from watching from about 1996-1999. I have recently started purchasing the legacy collection from dci, and I started with '99. I agree with your take on the top spot, but I also think that Madison got the shaft in the six spot. I think Glassmen had a good show, but the book was really easy and the brass were consistently out of tune. For pure GE Madison should have been in the five spot, but I would even put them closer to No. 3 possibly catching the Cadets with their wildly un-entertaining show.

Well, I was in the stands in Madison in 1999, and I was probably the only person in the stands that agreed with the G-Men being ahead of Madison. I wouldn't classify the book as "really" easy, but it wasn't that hard... then again, neither was Madison's. I also wouldn't say the brass was consistently out of tune -- not in person they weren't. However, unquestionably the Scouts had a better brass line. That said, the Glassmen had a VASTLY superior drum line than the Scouts, and a better overall visual performance.

I thought the GMen had a pretty effectual performance, but then, I was familiar with all of the music before I saw their show (which, from what I gathered talking to some of the other fans in the stands, was a rarity -- many of them had no idea who Zoltan Kodaly was).