Some recent comments on another thread talked about GREAT corps performances we have seen. Made me think that this was worth exploring ... since we have ALL seen great shows over the years.

Think about this ... what performances have YOU seen which were truly amazing and even surprising?

Here are two from the recent posts:

Bob Shreffler said:

I will never forget the first DCI Championship in Whitewater, when Anaheim turned on to win at the end (still the best live performance I ever witnessed).

John Anderson said:

I have two best live performances. Kilties at 1964 VFW Nationals seemed to come out of no where. Boston had come to midwest earlier and topped everyone. Kilties were generally closer to Norwood and had lost to the Racine Scouts (who also didn't make finals).

The other is 1975 Madison at a contest in Evanston on 4th of July. I hadn't seen a contest in a few years and that performance was awesome.

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What did you do in the Corps? drummer; quartermaster 1964-66, ass't drum instructor 1964-70

What years were you a Corps member? 1958 -1963

In chronological order:
1961 Cavaliers
The Dream - 1963
VFW Nationals in Chicago - 1965
Vanguard at VFW Nationals in New Orleans - 1967
Royal Air Reunion Corps at Madison - 2002
Hawthorne Caballeros and New York Skyliners

What did you do in the Corps? Snare drum with the exception of my rookie year when I played tenor

What years were you a Corps member? "B" corps 1958 - 1962; "A" corps 1963 - 1967

1) Anaheim Kingsmen at DCI Finals 1972 - moved from 3rd in prelims to win. Unbelievable drum line performance that night (and little did I know the super-tall guy in the middle of the snare line would one day be my instructor - Tom Float - in Spirit of Atlanta).

2) 1980 Madison Scouts at DCI East - absolutely the loudest horn sound at the end of the show I had ever heard - and I was marching with Spirit at the time! Especially impressive since I was sitting on the BACK stands!

3) 1995 Cavaliers "Planets" show in Alabama - absolutely a seamless performance.

4) 1970 Imperials at Legion State - the first time I ever saw the 'A' corps as a member of the Cadets. I still think that corps was under-rated, and if not for the bus crash, could have begun building into a contender.

5) Special Mention - 1975 Santa Clara Vanguard drum line, at absolutely every show all year, set the standadrd for drum lines.

What did you do in the Corps? Snare; Drum Major; Drum Instructor/Arranger

What years were you a Corps member? 1970-73; 78-79

1. Racine Kilties 1964 VFW Nationals
2. Blessed Sacrament 1963 Dream Contest
3. 1975 Madison in Evanston contest
4. Blue Devils and Madison at 1976 DCI Championships
5. 1980 Blue Devils, Atlanta and Madison at Stillwater Minnesota

The above are all pre-DCI changes to 3 valve B-flat horns.

In recent years, I'd include the 2005 Royal Airs Alumni corps and 2009 and 2011 versions of the Blue Devils.

Some great corps performances noted already in the previous posts!

Here are some of MY memories of great shows...

1. 1958 VFW Nationals... Blessed Sacrament (an amazing show, great drums and music). Reilly Raiders Senior corps .. amazing music and field show. The crowd LOVED both corps.

2. 1960 VFW Nationals - St. Kevin's Emerald Knights. WON the prelims. Great brass, especially french horns. Music amazing.

3. 1963 Belleville Black Knights at VFW State .. what a surprise! Off the line with "Victory at Sea". Great brass and drums. "It Had to Be You", with fantastic sop solo. Almost won that show .. Cavies barely beat them.

4. 1964 Kilts at VFW .. WOW! Has has been said, they really came on and beat the rest!

5. 1972-75 Santa Clara Vanguard .... well, this is just me reacting to those great drum lines! Of course, the corps had some great music and brass those years too .. and remember the "Bottle Dance"?

6. 1975 Madison (any show). Gosh, I judged them many times. They were always great .. what a brass line. Drums good too.

7. 1972 Anaheim Kingsmen ... DCI at Whitewater was amazing!
Moved up from prelims to win with a great show. Drums were amazing ... brass was incredible too.

8. 2002 Royal Airs Reunion Corps at DCI Madison. What a job this corps did to resurrect the RA for this year. A great summer and a wonderful show at DCI. Brought back the "old style" drum corps. Crowd loved it. Sie Lurye would be proud.

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What did you do in the Corps? drummer; quartermaster 1964-66, ass't drum instructor 1964-70

What years were you a Corps member? 1958 -1963

Some great shows were listed by everyone.What are
some of my favorites?

1.Blessed Sacrement's exhibtion at the Senoir Show
at Soldiers Field in 58'the day after they won the
Junoir Show at Hansen Stadium,the way their
uniforms reflected off the lights on the field.
Amazing!

2.Garfield and Blessed Sac at the Dream in 63'
Both Corps were great that day.

3.Maybe some of you will remember our performance
in McHenry in 59'when we should have beaten the
Cavaliers that night and won the contest hands
down as the old saying goes.

4.And also Hawthorne at 58' AL Nationals.

What did you do in the Corps? French Horn

What years were you a Corps member? 1957 thru 1963

Rich and Dave,

Although I didn't see it seems to me that historically there is another great Norwood performance in 1959. Stillwater.

My understanding of that show is that it occurred the evening of American Legion National championships in Minneapolis. The Legion Nationals didn't have a finals. So all the top corps except St Vincents were invited to Stillwater. Sac and the Cavaliers tied and Norwood was in third jumping three or four spots from the Legion show.

I'd have to look in my "archives" to see if I have any of the 1959 scores, but I do remember that 1959 was a pretty good year for the Imperials competitively.

There were a number of contests were we were VERY close to the Cavaliers. Stillwater was a great show (as was Legion Nationals). Not sure why we placed so low in the AL, but we did well that night in Stillwater. Gained a few spots and were just behind BS and Cavaliers, only 2 or 3 points.

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What did you do in the Corps? drummer; quartermaster 1964-66, ass't drum instructor 1964-70

What years were you a Corps member? 1958 -1963

The scores may be posted in an earlier thread from a few years back.

Somewhere in my files I have an Drum Corps World from 1959 that has the scores. Am on a business trip through Sunday and will check when I return home.