This is the most exciting drumcorps show that's ever been, in my opinion. I had the great pleasure of seeing it live that year. 1995 was a great year for drumcorps.
To much technology is what made DCI lose its touch. Only the person and their instrument skill and nothing else. Now days DCI is just a glorified High School Marching Band.
7:02: As awesome as this show was, it wasn't particularly innovative for its day. Because the Scouts at the time weren't really attempting to push the envelope from a creative standpoint. They were trying to put together balanced shows that were both competitive *and* entertaining. For innovative, check out Phantom Regiment and (especially) Star of Indiana from 1993. Star, for good and ill, redefined what you could get away with in a drum corps show. 12:08: Watch for the guard member breaking his flagpole.
Hi there Guardgirl!!! Education time. So this corps I was able to see live in (I believe) Nashville, Tennessee that year. Since you cannot be over 21 this was my final year I could compete in DCI Jr. Drum Corps. Madison was HOT all that year and I couldn't tell you the various placements, but they ended up 5th. The Cavaliers from Rosemont, IL. took home the championship for the 2nd time in three years. Madison (from Madison, Wisconsin) had 3 under their belt, the last one in 1988. Let me make this statement first. Hearing a drum corps LIVE and hearing them through the audio mixing and the mics from back in time technology outside of a studio is very different AND contained. And, this was an open air stadium. Since this was before 2000 the hornline was playing primarily on key of G horns which were higher register instruments. Everything else was pretty much standard and typical. What made this corps special was its sheer, raw, in your face POWER and its crowd pleasing show. They were an all male corps (The Cavaliers are the only ones left. It was a boy scouts thing for both) until 3 or 4 years ago, but this made a difference with the power generated throughout. They were also quite clean which gave them a scoring edge, but sacrifices are made when you brought a certain amount of "entertainment" into your show. And yes, this was a Spanish based show (they ended with the song Malagueña, a Madison favorite). One thing you couldn't tell was how crazy hype the crowd was!! They were yelling and screaming throughout. There were at least 4 standing ovations where thousands stood up and in the end the crowd was actually able to match the sheer power of the corps with a raucous standing ovation. (By the way the strings on their hats had a bead in the middle that the drummers and pit musicians bit down on to keep them in place. It was just a thing they did to take the edge of playing huge shows off.) In terms of decibels this show probably ranked in the top 5 in history going back to the founding 1972 year. B-flat instruments are not meant to generate that kind of power/energy. Also, the marching was outstanding. White shows more, is their traditional color and they had to be on point with the Madison heel and toe!! I believe that if this corps was not judged in a bias fashion they would have been at least 3rd. I am quite sure there are scoring sheets online.
Small correction, the closer was Malaga, Malaguena was the closer for Part Dos. Also for Guardgirl, while I wasn't there, I have heard from others that the audio recording in '92 was terrible and a lot of the quality of horn sound was lost, but it didn't help the recording engineers that the crowd was almost as loud as the corps during the final company wheel and push.
. Gotten old!!!! I can tell you that the audio tape I still have sounds wonderful. I haven't worn it out, but I also haven't heard it in about 10+ years!!!! It has been a tradition of mine to go back and listen again to all of my tapes back then that's how they were recorded. Then cds came and I switched. So glad to have marched AND have those memories, experiences.
3:07 You wildin'. I will say it was more impressive because it came straight out of someone's head to the field. But the refinement of drill through technology definitely gives today's drill an edge.
