Lapsed Fan's Guide to DCI 2025
Part One
Another long off-season comes to an end this evening in Muncie, though tonight’s show looks just a little different than we’re accustomed to. Tour Preview is coming to the freshly renamed BOA Summer Camp (formerly the Summer Symposium), where Carolina Crown has been the Corps-In-Residence this week, as they have been for over a decade now.
While we will all be enjoying some fantastic performances either in person at Scheumann Stadium or on FloMarching, one thing that you won’t have to wait on are the scores. DCI.org is spared from a traffic influx for one night as DCI Central Indiana will not be scored for the first time since 2017. While that had to do with inclement weather, this is the result of a slightly smaller show that will feature interviews and breakdowns with designers, more akin to the live broadcast show premieres that have become so prevalent recently, of which we will see two tonight after Muncie wraps up.
Like we have been doing for the past few years, this article will be released in multiple parts, so let’s talk a little bit about the corps you’ll see over the next few days.
SHIFTING GEARS
First, let’s talk about the Cavaliers. The Rosemont, IL-based corps almost completely retooled their design staff this off-season, picking up Rick Subel and Kevin Shah, most recently of Carolina Crown as well as Lindsey Vento, who has worked with several corps but is most noted for her designs in the BOA world with Blue Springs (MO), among other groups, to coordinate the production. Additionally, to write the brass book, they have brought on Jay Bocook, whose work with the Cadets and Blue Knights was beloved, as well as hiring Pete Weber to write the visual book, a move that seems to be largely unheralded but may be one of the most interesting of the offseason.
While their previous staff was well known and highly regarded throughout the community, things just really haven’t clicked for the Cavaliers since the 2021 season, so with this retool, the Daniel Belcher-helmed corps is looking to regain their perennial positioning in the top half of finals. All indications from Adrian College are that there is something special happening this season, with the wild comparisons being that of Boston moving into 2017, but even the most conservative projections maintaining a level of optimism.
A SHORT VIEW BACK TO THE PAST
Forty years ago, when you opened up Drum Corps World to see what corps would be doing that season, finding a corps with a show title was very much the exception rather than the expectation. Nowadays, especially when watching DCI, when a corps does not have a show title, they have a very specific point to make. That seems to be the case with the Phantom Regiment and their 2025 production. While they are certainly utilizing the ever-present props that almost seem to be a prerequisite for a World Class show (last year’s SCV show being a notable exception), the thesis behind this production seems to be that no matter how it’s presented, Drum Corps, and especially Phantom, can be just some excellent music, played, marched, and arranged well.
Seeing their upwards trajectory since coming back from the cancelled 2020 season, it’s hard to bet against this group and this design team. JD Shaw, Tyler Sammons, Steven Estudillo, and Tony Hall, among the rest of the Rockford crew, made a fan favorite with Mynd in 2024. Based on what we’ve seen, 2025 should be no different.
CrownCART
Carolina Crown, the Corps-In-Residence for BOA since 2014, picked up one of BOA’s most awarded and most controversial designers to lead the way in 2025. Wes Cartwright, who has had a remarkable amount of success at the high school level but for whom success at the DCI level has been elusive for the past couple of decades, has taken over artistic direction for their production of The Point of No Return, and the program has all of the musical and visual hallmarks of a Cartwright-ian show. From Music for Prague 1968 to Carmina Burana, there are very few pieces that aficionados of the pageantry arts will not be unfamiliar with, and every aesthetic we’ve seen from the props to the uniforms is very reminiscent of the Broken Arrow run from 2015 to 2022.
Crown has been one of, and possibly the most, talented corps almost every season in the past fifteen years, and they’ve only been able to convert that into one Founders Trophy. This move is clearly intended to get a proven designer to guide them to that elusive second title. There has been a good deal of mystery swirling around Cartwright’s departure from Broken Arrow, his most prominent client, following the 2023 marching season, and with all the rumor comes plenty of speculation. That said, Cartwright isn’t the most controversial figure to be associated with Crown this offseason.
Among the offseason rumors that swirled around, and were largely dismissed as ridiculous, included one that Matt Harloff would be making an appearance on stage at Coachella. Well, that turned out to be true, as he and a selection of members from Crown as well as notable HBCUs such as FAMU performed the introduction to each set that recording artist Travis Scott played at the festival. This is easily some of the biggest pop culture exposure our activity has had since the Cadets had the opportunity to perform in the 1996 Olympics’ closing ceremony, and it led to Harloff making an appearance in a national Oakley’s ad in conjunction with the rapper. The controversy comes with Scott’s role in the 2021 Astroworld disaster, which claimed the lives of ten people in a crowd crush incident. While the police declined to press charges in that incident, it still weighs heavily on his public reputation.
SEND IN THE (a)VAN(t)GUARD
Following their return to the field last year, the Vanguard are looking to capitalize off the success they’ve seen both on and off the field with their production of AVANT GUARD. As they continue to move forward following their season off, they are hoping to continue to move up and challenge the likes of Crown and Phantom. This certainly will be an interesting season for SCV, as they continue to push forward with the percussion heavy identity that they’ve had following the departure of JD Shaw. The Rennick’s influence on show design cannot be overstated, and that was especially present during last year’s Vagabond.
They will also be joined at their premiere show by the Columbians, who, after a very successful 2023, narrowly missed out on semifinals last year and are looking to return back to performing on Friday. Both of these will be featured on FloMarching following DCI Tour Preview
SUNRISE, SUNSET
This year marks the finale of the Troopers’ trilogy of shows about “The Trooper”, and they capitalized on the success they had last year by announcing their production of The Final Sunset almost immediately following the conclusion of last year’s season. This seems to be a pretty momentous year for the Troop, as they have already proven their staying power in the top 12 after leaping in with VorAcious, and now it’s about taking the next step into the upper echelon. They made some significant changes on staff, adding in Andrew Ebert for Visual Design, as well as Molly Favret and Tyler Edrington to consult, all closely tied to Crown, as well as bringing on Josh Brenneis and a lot of the Stryke Wynds crew that previously worked with him at Cadets.
One notable shift for America’s Corps is that they have switched to Silver horns, after being on Gold horns for the past several years. There are people who wonder why that is such a significant shift, but every indication from the Casper based corps is that their sound seems to be even more focused, while still having the signature timbre of a Tim Snyder arranged hornline. You can catch their premiere on Youtube, streamed by Box 5 Media.
LET’S GET IT STARTED
Tonight is the start of a phenomenal slate of drum corps over the next couple of days, with tomorrow featuring the Bluecoats Community Performance and Drums Along The Rockies in Ft. Collins, CO, both streamed on Flo. We’ll talk soon about the ridiculous slate you’ll see in Ft. Collins, but one addition you need to know about is the Boston Crusaders, headed to the west coast for an early faceoff with perennial championship contenders, the Blue Devils.
