"Niner-two" & this show literally changed my life. Flipped on PBS and I heard it and was stunned. Never had picked up a musical instrument before. 3 years later (teens with mania's, you know) & I was trying out for a local junior corp. I was sitting on the field talking to a rifle girl and said to her "then I heard niner-two by the..." and she finished for me, "27th lancers on tv! That's what got ME into flags!". 1 amazing summer corp romance later and I was a man. THANK YOU, 27th Lancer's!!!
Lots of respect for 27. Competed with them in 1980 as a member of the Spirit of Atlanta. 27 drum line pushed us to keep the intensity up all season. Was sad to see them fold. Memories.
81 Scout here. These guys drove us all year to execute to perfection. We knew how hard they worked, and we could not slack at all to stay ahead of them. It was a fantastic year.
27 in '81 was so entertaining. I loved their show. They are ever with me with fond memories. I had the pleasure of seeing them a couple times that year, at Butler I think and at Montreal. Had the scoring been GE-based and not the tic system, 27 would have placed much higher at Montreal. 1981 27th Lancers are one of my top favorites of all time.
The Lancers got me into drum corps too. Living in Boston summer of '81, got a tip and took the T to check out their rehearsal at the Revere Beach parking lot. My jaw dropped. Ended up returning most nights, and joined a corps in the midwest the following year. The video is from Whitewater, WI. Guard drops didn't cost them the title, they had no penalties on the Montreal Finals recap. 4th overall: 5th in brass, 6th in GE, 3rd in percussion, 4th M&M. That GE score was a travesty. Brilliant show.
Also a travesty: the drum sound on this video. Trust me, these guys were CLEAN. Check the AIO video to get a better sense of it, which also features the Danny Boy closer added after Whitewater.
This is dci East.....I marched this show....I know the dirt..this is Whitewater...I loved this show, but being in the guard from the horn line was a blast!! 27EAST
Who were the rifle choreographers and instructors during this era? Thinking 79-81. Those rifle lines were absolutely ridiculous. I want to know who to thank for them.
George Zingali and Peggy Twigs and the girls in the rifle line wrote tons of the choreography themselves. They were amazing to watch at rehearsal. And they were all babes. I was a 16 year old boy at the time. My goodness.
I still have the eight track recording of this from '81 and other corps. The 27th Lancers played this show and Niner-two several years later when DCI finals were in Boston and almost sounded as good. I have listened to this show hundreds of times! The Corp I was in did not make it to Madison, so I did not see this specific show live. They were awesome in Montreal and other places that I was able to see them! They came in 5th in finals.
This show and 82 still make me cry every time. And I was 3 years old & never saw it live. At Santa Clara, these shows were required viewing. Foam, intahvuhl. And edge of ahhhhhc! Talk about Boston Strong! Thx 4 posting from out West;)
I marched SCV in the mid-80's as a lead bari (started in DC in '79) and I would play '81 2-7 on my Sony Walkman (remember those?) at high volume during bus rides to the stadium to get me "in the zone" prior to a show. IMO Crown Imperial by '81 2-7 is still the best opener ever fielded after all these years, even more so than 2013 Carolina Crown or '87 SCV. It is in-your-face drum corps with an "awsomossity" factor that is off the scale, and what really pulls it together is the MARCHING tympani section that, if I had my way, should be voted into the DCI Hall of Fame just because there hasn't been anything like them since. If you listen to the Finals recording the tymp section is just masterful as the hornline plays backfield. I am so glad I got to see this live in Montreal, I was hoarse I was cheering so hard. For you drum guys, listen to the "drum tag" at the end of opener and see if you tell where it came from.
+ExBuickRacer Glad you enjoyed the tymp line - I was their instructor from 79 until we stopped the split tymp line. The guys in that line were awesome to work with!!
If ever there was a year for 27 to have won, it was 1981, but SCV was just a little more awesome. :) I have a tape from the 81 championships that I cannot play anymore from listening to these guys so many times.
+Peter Stachelek 27 had the most difficult show that year. however, drops didn't help and it needed to be just a "tad" (really, just a tad) cleaner. I think if they had another week of practice, they would have won it. this was their most difficult show of all their shows.
+Warren Moore - Agreed! Blue Devils and 27th were part of a show at my high school in 81, just about two weeks before championships in Montreal, and even though I'm a huge Santa Clara fan, I pick 27th to win it all that year. You are very right, they just needed to be a "tad" better.
This was whitewater not finals. One way because it was sent to me to post, the other ways are obvious. The changes. In 1981 by finals they changed spitfire (ending) to Danny Boy. Plus an arrangement change after ninertwo. Also, they (DCI) did not unfortunately publish finals in 1981 due to issues. I do have prelims somewhere may have to dig it up.
Unfortunately, we (horn staff) urged Zingali to make the drill easier for the horn line to play, instead of the Drill he wanted to write and our GE M&M scores suffered. Had we NOT included 2 exit numbers, "Greatest Love" and "Danny boy" we would have scored higher in General Effect. That WAS the best horn line when I was with the Corps. 78-81
I miss this corps and competing against them. Thanks, Mr. Bonfiglio for combing the original corps to give us two-seven. Y'all were an institution within the small world of drum and bugle corps and are missed even today by a lot of us. My corps also died, and they are sorely missed by many. The Revere 27th Lancers, the Hutchinson Sky Ryders: so many wonderful youth groups like them are gone today, replaced by a handful of very wealthy corps who have few local kids in them. The whole purpose of this activity was to take troubled teens off the streets when they were out of school and could get into trouble. Early corps were run by Vererans organizations and lots of Catholic churches in inner cities. Now every show is a parade of super-human, super-skinny all stars and the local kids who used to benefit from corps each summer are left in the stands watching because they are not a university music major. Rest in peace, Drum Corps. You were a great thing that made some money, and then you sold your soul to companies who want to use the kids to market their gear. The end came with Bb/F marching band horns. Today DCI is a three dimensional catalog of wares aimed at the high school band director demographic. Things were not as polished as they are today, but FAR MORE kids were involved and they probably took away far more benefit from the activity than the kids of today. It was much harder on the road back then. Shows were longer. Tours were longer. The numbers of performances per tour were higher. The conditions were much harsher. And no one died from that harshness. In fact, most of them turned out to be better, stronger people for the experience. DCI today is just advertising using kids who pay for the chance to be used. Even the instruments are now semi-disposable. It is a thinner and less colorful experience for the kids today. I know this from decades of first hand experience. Yeah, the product DCI sells it better, but who really cares? DCI should not be about money and corporations. That is my personal opinion. It is based on four decades of experience in and around the activity as a marching member and an instructor. If you do not agree with it I would love to meet with you in person over a few beers and discuss it, corporate intrusion, who is being served by the activity, money, money and money. I will buy the beer, too. This activity has lost itself over the years. Hoppy is the devil. Peace.
Well said. Tie in today's corps must haves: Synthesizers, wireless amplifiers, wireless mics, speakers, mixing boards, 8 -12 Xylophone/Marimbas, stage set pieces (Props), Trombones, French Horns, Tubas, vocalists....how can a local organization ever expect to field a world class level Corps without investing millions? it truly amazes me how after 40 years of DCI, the activity is now down to about 25 world class corps. I'm really curious about the open class numbers, and whether or not they're growing or decreasing, as the investment in the future of the open class is an investment in the future of the world class. I'll take the beer and conversation anytime.
very well said The activity gave alot of street nasty little bastards, lol, an avenue where they could escape the street corner and still come off tough and hard, only in a structured musical scene that was second to none in military bearing and discipline, pretty neat to see back then. It sure softened to the extent that there is little or nothing to differentiate it from any marching band these days. I count myself lucky in seeing the years when you got goose bumps from the sheer ferocity of the vibe that corps used to put out. , The kids play great nowadays, as successful technique spread across the land, but am i supposed to get excited about 150 dancers on a football field, umm no. However i guess its still cool that a small number of elites have fun doing it now, its just so far removed from its roots, that no master level of playing could get me into what this morphed into, and that plain sucks...
For those not paying attention..this is DCI Midwest not finals. IT is mid way season and they are kicking butt They could not have been more brilliant. They changed alot of their show and had the best horn line. IMO. I'd like to see someone play Don Ellis all the way through. The song at 13 as someone asked is Don Ellis...niner two. Look him up playing then come back and watch this kick butt arrangement. :) And your welcome.
If this is DCI Midwest '81, this was ONE WEEK before Finals in Montreal, since this was the show used for the DCI 10-year celebration, since DCI did not secure television rights out of Canada ... so those who watched PBS in 1981 could VERY EASILY SWEAR that Madison Scouts won that year, since the Scouts won the PBS televised show ...
this was 27th s best hornline perfect intonation and quality of sound . never overplayed just a big beautiful sound. really got ripped off in brass night of finals. one thing that hurt they were still using the old contras. if they would have been able to purchase the new king powerbores at the time it would have made a big difference. only the blue devils could afford those horns back then.
They had the second set. Sky Ryders owned the prototype set of eight and our director and hornline caption head worked with King on the design, testing several failed variations during camps. The original set were based on eight King 1141 tubas with 19" upright bells purchased from Hutchinson High School. As many off-the-shelf parts that could be incorporated into the design were used. The eight we had were actually four sets of pairs that varied from one another in small ways, like brace placement, piston valve set angle, and even overall length. (Two were a few inches longer than the others, with this being made up in the internal wrap.) I played #6. (They had no serial numbers, just a single digit on the second piston casing, being 1 through 8.) These horns were a lot better than ANY of the production horns, all having been carefully hand built using the heavier concert tuba bells. The production K-90s used these bells for about four years and then they were "improved" (read: screwed up) by removing the bell wire to save weight. (They were terribly bell-heavy.) These were on the field for the 1981 season. Blue Devils and maybe two other corps had them in 1982. (One of the others was the San Jose Raiders. I am not sure who the others may have been. Many corps had them by 1983, though.)
Brian Caissie hi Brian haven't seen you since 82. Do you still have super chops. Agree with you about the 81 hornline. Do you still keep in touch with vin Barry and wedge.
To this day it irks me that this is the performance that gets recorded for posterity to see. CYO or DCI Finals would've been a better indicator of how fun it was to do.
Even with the low-quality resolution from nearly half a century ago, the PRECISION of performance is ASTOUNDING ... marching technique is SO consistent, timing is nearly-impeccable ... and though the quality and fidelity of sound is lacking as well, those who attended KNOW that TRUE drum corps NEVER needed amplification, in any way, shape, form or manner ... NOTHING COMES CLOSE to a G-bugle hornline!!!!! /s/ USMC (Retired)
I saw 27 in the first part of 81 and the latter. During the first half of the season, they had a fantastic closer which the judges loved. Then in the second half, they dumped it in favor of "Danny Boy" which was a terrible mistake. And you can see the absolute absence of George Z's talent after he left to work with Garfield.
8 months late - It was not the Corps decision to replace Spitfire with Danny Boy. iirc right after DCI Midwest 27th was told by DCI that there was no chance we could win DCI Finals so we might as well go ahead and return the crowd pleaser (Danny Boy) to the show.
This was the most complicated show of the 1981 season. If they could have cleaned up the guard and some of the visuals, they could have easily won. Scouts show was much easier, yet clean. SCV had a complicated and clean show, but this was above the rest in difficulty.
In my opinion, we no longer have real drum and bugle Corps. May they all rest in peace. DCI, has turned the activity into a marching band competition, superimposed on a three ring circus. The using all marching band instruments including electric guitars, PA systems to announce what the program is all about, with thousands and thousands of dollars in props screwed all over the field. Drum Corps International, needs to change to marching band International. Call it what it is today. It is definitely not a drum and bugle Corps. Today is March 8th 2023
I agree that it was the best show that year. (How my brother and I loved Monreal that year!) However, there were too many problems execution wise with the guard that cost them the crown. They came in 4th that year after beating the Scouts (who came in 3rd) who beat both Blue Devils and Vanguard at DCI Midwest. This was my favorite year marching. Watch the vid. There are just too many rifle drops.
They would all be, dancing and prancing on the field, in their leotards, and singing to the audience, and the dramas would be juggling, with their arms flailing all over the place, all sorts of body English, trying to look cool. And all we electronic, including organs and pianos. It would be 8, woke, activity.
They had an alumni corp. I watched the RU-vid video. The one I watched was long and showed how they put it all together as well as the show. They had 200+ alumni iirc. www.drumcorpsplanet.com/forums/index.php?/topic/79164-1994-27th-lancers-alumni-corps/
Agreed! All drill and all music. No synthesizers, no props, no American Idol dancing, no storybooks.... just drum corps at it's finest. Look how high SC Vanguard placed just this year with a return to the basics show.
