A Lapsed Fan's Guide to DCI 2022, Part Two
The second part of a three part series covering what has changed since the last competitive season of DCI
Tonight is DCI’s Tour Premiere live from Ford Field in Detroit, as well as the first of two theatre shows, again presented by Fathom Events. It’s the first time that a lot of the Midwestern World Class corps are going to be performing at a DCI show this season, and there’s also the welcome additions of the Crossmen and the Boston Crusaders. If you missed Part One, you can find it HERE, but let’s get into the second part of this series that’s designed to catch you up if you’re checking back in for the first time since 2019.
WHO’S READY FOR THE NEXT STEP?
So with the volatility of staff throughout the activity, that’s opened the door for a lot of organizations to do things they may have dreamed of 3 years back, even if it wasn’t within their grasp at the time.
After polling the GEM Staff, the corps that our experts think are most likely to see a big increase in scoring success are The Cadets, the Madison Scouts (editor's note, Scouts brass arranger Daniel Montoya Jr. is Owner and Founder of GEM), and the Phantom Regiment.
All three of these corps’ moves since 2019 were detailed in part one, but let’s talk about what they did last year.
The Cadets program was titled “Shall Always Be”, and featured old favorites including “Appalachian Spring”, and “Rocky Point Holiday”, in addition to Peter Allen’s “Everything Old is New Again”. It was well received by the drum corps community as a whole. They also went back to their traditional West Point uniforms, which worked well with their retrospective show. The brass program was also head and shoulders above 2019’s show “Behold!”, which left a lot of fans with a lot of optimism for 2022. This summer’s “Rearview Mirror”, based on “On the Road” by Jack Kerouac, will certainly show if they’re back on the road to success.
The big story around Madison last year was that it was their first field show as a gender inclusive corps. Their show was “Between the Lines”, inspired by the beginnings of Latin Jazz. Source music ranged from traditional Mexican folk songs to classical pieces such as Für Elise, and drew influence from the musical styles of Havana, Mexico City, and Barcelona. Many fans regarded it as a return to form for the Wisconsin based organization, after 2019’s “Majestic” didn’t quite reach the competitive success that they were hoping for. Madison’s 2022 program is Installation 85, and will feature a couple familiar tunes, but the rest of the source music has never been heard on the DCI field before. Will it bring them back to Saturday night? That’s yet to be determined. Will they bring crowds to their feet at every show? Almost certainly.
Finally, the Phantom Regiment brought back their 2003 production “Harmonic Journey”. With a music book that was largely similar to the original production, as well as a visual package that was updated to fit the times, it was a smash hit for the fans that wanted to enjoy live drum corps for the first time in two years, as well as those who wanted to revisit one of the most iconic shows in Phantom’s history. This, along with their staff changes, were a large part of the response to the corps in 2019 placing outside DCI’s top 10 for only the third time since 1976, but the second time in a row. “No Walk Too Far” has a very strong Phantom vibe when it comes to their music book, with a lot of very sweeping orchestral moments, including the famous Fifth Symphony by Gustav Mahler to close it out.
WHAT’S THE NEXT “UNCONVENTIONAL” FEATURE INSTRUMENT
So, other than a few vocalists, which have become fairly commonplace in DCI, we only have one announcement (so far) of a wild and different feature instrument. The Troopers released a sound file over social media of a ballad featuring Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters” and Ennio Morricone’s “The Ecstasy of Gold” from The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly. The solo instrument during this movement is an Electric Cello. Early feedback from social media was overwhelmingly positive, with the obvious exception of the crowd that isn’t exactly wild about non brass and percussion instruments being involved in any way with DCI. But let’s be real. What’s changed since DCI added the rotary valve that they actually were happy about?
WHO’S BACK ON THE ROAD TO INDY (BUT ALSO WHO ISN’T)
Okay. So as far as we know, the majority of the contingent from 2019 is planning on returning. This includes BD, SCV, and Carolina Crown, finalists who chose not to attend the Celebration in 2021. Beyond that, the big additions are on the Open/International Class side. The Calgary Stampede Showband from Alberta will be crossing the border to perform at Open Class and World Championship Prelims, marking their first trip since 2018 down to DCI. The Battalion from Salt Lake City, Utah will make their Open Class Championships debut, after finishing their season in July every season they’ve been a member.
The two most striking additions to the World Championship weekend are also the two corps that are looking to become the first ensembles since the Magic of Orlando in 2002 who aren’t a part of DCI’s highest division to break into finals. Blue Devils B and Vanguard Cadets are returning to Indy for the first time since 2018, and looking at what’s been reported when it comes to membership, they’re primed to not only be fighting it out at the top of Open Class, but also potentially break the top 12. Both are corps that have knocked on the door of finals before, with BDB reaching 15th in 2016 and Vanguard Cadets placing 16th on multiple occasions. With the long competitive layoff, and the drastically different competitive field they’re returning to, the sky's the limit for these corps.
A very interesting subplot is the fact that the parent organizations of these two corps are the only two perennial top 12 corps to not field a traditional drum corps show at all. Even Carolina Crown, despite not taking their show to Indy, still did move-ins as well as a performance. This is especially a challenge for the Blue Devils. For a good portion of their time in DCI, especially in recent years, they’ve relied on a very high average age of members. The side effect of that is that likely, there will be very few members returning who performed with BD in 2019. Will this have an effect on the culture and experience associated with the most successful corps in DCI history? If anyone can figure it out, I’d wager it would be them.
For corps who aren’t returning, there are multiple corps who were with us in 2019, but who will not be in Indy for 2022. Among these are multiple Open Corps who have either decided to roll back operations in a rebuilding effort, or for whom this is an off year for Championship Weekend due to a rotating schedule. This is not uncommon, especially after the past 3 years. What is uncommon is that two World Class corps will not be participating at all this season, much less during the final weekend.
The Seattle Cascades announced at the end of April that they will not be participating in the summer tour due to a variety of reasons stemming from COVID. Realistically, they’ve been facing many of the same challenges that most corps are dealing with, including but not limited to low turn out at auditions and lack of interest for a variety of reasons, whether it’s COVID related, or less members coming from the ranks of other corps cut lists. This took many by surprise as they’d been as aggressive as anyone else in social media recruiting, making multiple pushes to get prospective members up to Washington for a camp, even up to a couple of days before the cancellation was announced. Hopefully this is a good strategic move and we can continue having Drum Corps coming from the more sparsely populated Pacific Northwest.
Now let’s talk about one of the biggest offseason storylines for DCI since the spring of 2018. In January, allegations were released on Reddit about improper behavior over the summer of 2021 at Spirit. We will not be going into detail about this, as this has been discussed and debated widely around the various gathering places and message boards. That being said, what most people have taken issue with was how Spirit reacted when informed about the allegations. There were, according to the victim, extended stretches without updates and significant frustration on the victim’s part that when legal action was asked to be taken, it was delayed until well after tour.
These factors indicated some significant disconnect between the administration of Spirit and the current public sentiment of fans and marching members. As a result, Spirit decided to take the summer off to figure out what comes next and take any appropriate steps needed to make sure this doesn’t happen again. In mid May, they released a video outlining the steps they’ve taken and are planning on continuing to take to ensure the safety and well-being of all members in the future. Hopefully they rejoin the tour in 2023, stronger and safer than before.
This was the most public indicator of a movement that has been growing inside DCI since the Hopkins article. With the growing usage of DCI’s whistleblower process in 2019, as well as members feeling more empowered to share their negative experiences, a number of people that behaved inappropriately were not invited back to tour.
When combined with a significant turnover at lower corps level admin staff, due to a large amount of those roles being held by former members a year or two removed from marching themselves moving on with their professional lives and not having anyone to replace them, this has had a huge impact on a lot of the corps when it comes to finding people to do a lot of the jobs those former marching members traditionally held. This has led to many corps finding themselves in need of extra drivers, support staff, and logistics personnel that just aren’t there in the same way they are used to. Some corps have even cut back on their tour, or gone through the process of making things more sustainable and efficient, thus producing a stronger product down the road.
Part three is live right now!
Saturday Night Lights is currently GEM’s Managing Editor. He has been involved in the Pageantry Arts for over a decade, as a performer at the highest level, an instructor, and a fan. You can find him on Twitter at @SatNightLites. He currently lives in Florida with his partner and their two dogs.