What's your favorite show?

[lizzard2027]

This is open to DCI, UIL, BOA, any marching show!

Not who will win or who won - just personal faves.

Personally I LOVEEEEE Spartacus (Phantom Regiment 2008) and Eagle Air [idk the name lol] (Barber's Hill HS 2024).

What are yalls fave shows?

[takigan]

For me I don't think there's one single show that jumps out at me as THE show out of all the hundreds of shows I've seen over the past 20-ish years. Hebron's "Penstriped" (2021) came pretty close.  It's probably my favorite show of the past 10 years.  But that show lacks a certain stylistic depth that I feel a "favorite show ever" should have.  In a sense, Penstriped is really just a really difficult cookie cutter show (the last few years of Hebron have been probably some of the most technically challenging music ever put on a field by a HS) that's very well arranged with choice selections that compliment each other really well, that a band made up of nearly 90 All-Region kids and over 20 All-Staters played the absolute SNOT out of, and their musicianship and maturity came through in a way no other program ever has.

That said though....I really REALLY like Cavaliers 2008 (Samurai).  It's probably the one DCI show I still consistently watch today.

[cheeto2401]

15 hours ago, takigan said:

For me I don't think there's one single show that jumps out at me as THE show out of all the hundreds of shows I've seen over the past 20-ish years. Hebron's "Penstriped" (2021) came pretty close.  It's probably my favorite show of the past 10 years.  But that show lacks a certain stylistic depth that I feel a "favorite show ever" should have.  In a sense, Penstriped is really just a really difficult cookie cutter show (the last few years of Hebron have been probably some of the most technically challenging music ever put on a field by a HS) that's very well arranged with choice selections that compliment each other really well, that a band made up of nearly 90 All-Region kids and over 20 All-Staters played the absolute SNOT out of, and their musicianship and maturity came through in a way no other program ever has.

That said though....I really REALLY like Cavaliers 2008 (Samurai).  It's probably the one DCI show I still consistently watch today.

any cavs show from the 2000's to the 2010's should be in every dci fans top 10

for me, its cavs '06 "Machine"

[MarchingThings]

On 10/9/2024 at 2:11 PM, lizzard2027 said:

This is open to DCI, UIL, BOA, any marching show!

Not who will win or who won - just personal faves.

Personally I LOVEEEEE Spartacus (Phantom Regiment 2008) and Eagle Air [idk the name lol] (Barber's Hill HS 2024).

What are yalls fave shows?

My Top 3 High School Shows are probably

1. Hebron 2019- Among The Stars

2. Tarpon Springs 2010

3. Vista Ridge 2018- Lost And Found

Honorable Mentions: Westlake 2024 (BC Ballad is gorgeous)
Cy-Fair 2018 (Them woodwinds)

My Top 3 DCI Shows have to be

1. Crown 2017 -  It Is

2. Bloo 2017 - Jagged Line

3. SCV 1999 - Inventions For A New Millenium

Honorable Mentions: Blue Stars 2024 (BC I marched this show)

Phantom 2023 (Ballad.)

[WanderingTraveler]

Cavaliers 2013 - Secret Society always scratches my brain, I love that show.

[Samuel Culper]

15 minutes ago, MarchingThings said:

My Top 3 High School Shows are probably

1. Hebron 2019- Among The Stars

2. Tarpon Springs 2010

3. Vista Ridge 2018- Lost And Found

Honorable Mentions: Westlake 2024 (BC Ballad is gorgeous)
Cy-Fair 2018 (Them woodwinds)

My Top 3 DCI Shows have to be

1. Crown 2017 -  It Is

2. Bloo 2017 - Jagged Line

3. SCV 1999 - Inventions For A New Millenium

Honorable Mentions: Blue Stars 2024 (BC I marched this show)

Phantom 2023 (Ballad.)

My favorite of all time, but I am terribly biased.  I love seeing others appreciate what our kids put on the field that year, though.

[MarchingThings]

37 minutes ago, Samuel Culper said:

My favorite of all time, but I am terribly biased.  I love seeing others appreciate what our kids put on the field that year, though.

That Flugel Soloist was beyond words. The fluidity and dark tone in all of their phrases was amazing. The lip slurs from G to G was just wow. I could go on and on about that show

[FEDude]

High School:

1. Reagan 2003

This is a show that didn't deserve to win nationals (despite being so close): Visually it's a mess, whoever played gong that day was always off, you can hear clarinet squeaks through their features, etc.

Still, I've never had a show move me so much. When they start playing Jupiter in the second movement, it feels so triumphant. Then when they bring out the giant flags during Horkstow Grange, I consider that the perfect ballad. This isn't even mentioning the powerful first book and the closer that ends right where the show started.

On one hand, it's a show about geometry, but on the other hand it's about becoming more than you thought possible. Previous Reagan shows relied heavily on the front ensemble. Here, we got to see the full ensemble push themselves more than ever. I believe this show sticks in your head years after watching it.

2. LD Bell 2006

If this show was a little cleaner, I think it would've swept that season, UIL and Nationals. 

3. Reagan 2019

Not as talked about since Hebron 2021 happened, but this show was one of the most exciting shows I've ever seen.

4. Hebron 2022

Not as beloved as 2021, but I'll still put this one on when I have a long drive. Just a pleasure to listen to.

5. Cedar Park 2023

Kept me hooked start to end. Such beautiful visuals, especially during their ballad.

DCI:

1. Cadets 2005

2. Blue Devils 2015

3. Carolina Crown 2016

4. Cavaliers 2002

5. Phantom Regiment 2006

[BuckShot13]

High School: 1997 Mesquite Poteet Ballet Sacra. I was in 4th grade and first time I ever saw that show was state (older cousin was a freshman and trumpet soloist) and I was hooked and wanted to be a teacher from that moment. Which I did for 10 years before life decided I needed to go another direction.

LD Bell and Duncanville have always held a special place in my memory the late 90's and early 2000's those programs where amazing

DCI: 2006 Cavaliers I'm biased because I marched that year, was a little bitter sweet, Won state and won worlds the same year (long story behind why I only marched DCI in 05 & 06 nothing bad, just long lol)

For DCI I like different shows across time, 88 Scouts, 03 Cadets, 05 BlueCoats, 08 PR/Cavs, 03/04 BD some older ones from the 70's and 80's like the skyriders, Velvet Knights, and Anaheim Kingsmen

Little culture shout out to Nishishara (sure I butchered that) I saw them live in Japan and holy heck they were good, those kids are amazing and the program they have is top tier

[Liam Allen]

High school bands:

Man this is a hard one.  Of course Hebron 21 is the undisputed god-tier show.  On a combination of skill and just my preference, Hebron 22 is still my favorite.  Keller 19 is another absolute banger and I’ve stolen a lot of that source music.  Broken Arrow 21 is a work of art.  The last 30 seconds of Hebron 23 induces the holy goosebumps.  Managed to see Hebron 24 live and almost fell over.

DCI:

Personal champ pick is Down Side Up.  Babylon, Change Is Everything, E=mc2 are other great gold winners.

To prove that I’m not a fan of just the last decade, I really like We Are the Future.

A hot take is that Felliniesque is not a good show.  Stupidly well performed though.

Some favorite non-winners include Exogenesis, Live! From the Rose, SCV 88, Into the Light, In ABSINTHEia, and Tilt.

[ruben_f]

My top 5 favorite shows

1. Blue Devils 2023 "the cut outs"

2. Leander 2016 "The 4th Dimension" - This show is really well-designed

3. Ronald Reagan 2021 "The Path" 

4. Broken Arrow 2021 "The Edge of Eternity"

5. Clear Brook 2022 "Paradiso" 

[J-Mike16]

This is a tough question to try to answer because there are just so many amazing shows. However, the ones I continue to go back to over and over are.... (If there are any Avon lovers in here, here you go)

• Avon 2013 - Statuesque (Probably in my top 3 favorite shows of all-time. It is also the best show to not win Nationals.)
• Avon 2012 - Feast or Famine (This show helped fuel my love for marching band as I was in 6th grade beginner band that year.)
• Hebron 2021 - PenStriped (For obvious reasons that I don't need to go into)
• John B. Alexander 2018 - The Price of Progre$$ (Easily one of the most emotional shows ever. This show was ROBBED heavily. Absolutely deserved about 15 to 20 places higher)
• Richland 2007 - iShow (Holy cow this show was awesome! The opener music + drill is 🔥)
• North Shore 2016 - Muse (The entire band and staff knocked it out of the park with this show. Them making State Finals that year was 1000% accurate. They were truly one of the best in the State!)

I can 100% bet yall that I left about 1 or 2..... or maybe more on the lines of 10 to 20 shows that also deserve to be mentioned 😂

[hippkerr]

Flower Mound Leanardos Dream 

Hebron Penstriped

[Thanos]

I got to many favorites to count, but here's a rough top 3 for me.

1.) Hebron 2023 (Monomyth)

- There's not a single music book in this activity that kept me on my feet like this show's did. When I first saw them live at Indy during preliminaries, I was completely blown away by them. Monomyth is my favorite marching band show by a long shot!

2.) Flower Mound 2024 (Textures And Tones)

- Such a great show. Was absolutely amazed by the GE this show possessed. Kept up with this show the whole season and I 100% knew it was gonna be in contention of winning. The story that was told was simply breathtaking!

3.) Vandegrift 2022 (Into The Grid)

- Now I'll admit I'm biased with this opinion because it's a Tron show. That aside, this was a very clean and executed year for them and I enjoyed seeing it on stream (This was my first year watching the San Antonio Super Regional)

[zxrzxz]

Can’t rank these to be honest but these are some of my favorite High School Shows. These are just the all around great shows. Also disclaimer most of these are pretty recent.

Obviously Hebron 21 is up there (Penstriped)

Flomo 21 (The wonderful world of Dr. Seuss) I don’t hear this one get talked about enough. Everything form the design, choreography, and music is just so fun. There’s so much character and Flomo always nails their themes.

Cesar Park 2022 (Mirror Mirror) From a design aspect, I’ve always liked this one. I was lucky enough to see it in person multiple times and particularly the opener and the ballad stick out. The mirror choreography is so satisfying visually.

Hebron 2015 (360) Just amazing, no other comments

Castle 2024 (Neo Noir) The music selection is great in itself. Love the outfits and everything. It wasn’t the best in cleanliness but wow did it pack a punch

Here’s some specific moments from shows that I like

Rouse 2023 Closer (Requiem)

Hebron 2024 Ballad (Amorphous)

Flower Mound 2019 2nd Movement (Vitrify)

Vandegrift 2021 Ballad (Juliet Letters)

Lonestar 2024 Opener (The Other Side) 

 

[anotherbandmom]

Not so much a show, but a moment in Flower Mound's show this year. That moment in their closer where the yellow flags ripple and peak along with the music made me want to jump out of my seat. This is all around a beautiful show and high on my list of overalls, but that moment in particular had me like 🤯💀

 

Vista Ridge's Our Journey of Hope had me nearly in tears. Just beautiful. Moe and Gene 2021 has my favorite music and I loved the theme. I still watch that show from time to time. 

[dfwhorn]

Favorite UIL shows are probably

Pearland 2023
Westfield 1996
LD Bell 2000
Cedar Park 2024
Rowlett 2006
Sachse 2024
McKinney 2025 possibly??

[1q2s3e4f]

On 11/23/2024 at 1:10 AM, FEDude said:

High School:

1. Reagan 2003

This is a show that didn't deserve to win nationals (despite being so close): Visually it's a mess, whoever played gong that day was always off, you can hear clarinet squeaks through their features, etc.

Still, I've never had a show move me so much. When they start playing Jupiter in the second movement, it feels so triumphant. Then when they bring out the giant flags during Horkstow Grange, I consider that the perfect ballad. This isn't even mentioning the powerful first book and the closer that ends right where the show started.

On one hand, it's a show about geometry, but on the other hand it's about becoming more than you thought possible. Previous Reagan shows relied heavily on the front ensemble. Here, we got to see the full ensemble push themselves more than ever. I believe this show sticks in your head years after watching it.

2. LD Bell 2006

If this show was a little cleaner, I think it would've swept that season, UIL and Nationals. 

3. Reagan 2019

Not as talked about since Hebron 2021 happened, but this show was one of the most exciting shows I've ever seen.

4. Hebron 2022

Not as beloved as 2021, but I'll still put this one on when I have a long drive. Just a pleasure to listen to.

5. Cedar Park 2023

Kept me hooked start to end. Such beautiful visuals, especially during their ballad.

DCI:

1. Cadets 2005

2. Blue Devils 2015

3. Carolina Crown 2016

4. Cavaliers 2002

5. Phantom Regiment 2006

I LOOVE Reagan's 2003 show. The music and VHS visual just gives it a nostalgic/screensaver vibe. The straight line drill was atrocious though.

Sleeper pick: Pieper 2023(Big chess pieces) not the best show musically/visual but really fun to watch a small band use such good musical selection

actully good pick: Churchill '02(Anime) ts was so tuff

 

[1q2s3e4f]

also gotta throw in Bridgelan '25. Watched it live nd it was a magical experience

[rnoodles]

cedar park and vandegrift 2022 and vista ridge 2024 have been my favorites and i dont think any show has come close to my enjoyment for them. i also really enjoyed forney and coppell 2023 (i saw forney live and it was just amazing, they so deserved their placement that year). dci wise i think SCV 2016 is super underrated and for how much i enjoy it im surprised most other people dont

[BandNerd63 2.0]

im just going to post my favorite Cy-Fair shows that i have done with my 4 years with the band in different categories (which will be in all caps) and give reasons as to why

 

THE SHOW IN GENERAL

1.Flicker/Caging the Swarm: These can be swapped depending on the person but i cant decide on which show is first so make of it what you will lol

3.Gravity: I liked the show but to me it didnt compare to the Flicker or Caging the Swarm

4.Vanish: I didnt march this show so cant say much about preforming it because i was a freshman and had a fear of embarising myself if front of a huge crowd (which i did anyway in 2023 state finals lol)

 

COSTUMES

1.Vanish: these were the only costumes that we got to keep but i also like the fact that it was a shirt and pants

2.Flicker: i like the design of the costume the only thing i dont like about them is the fact they were made of the same itchy matireal as the Caging the Swarm costumes

 3.Caging the Swarm: i liked the butterfly wing on the right and the missing wing on the left arm

4.Gravity: Made of the same matireal as the Caging the Swarm and i dont really like the costume

 

MUSIC 

1.Flicker: This music was something special during state prelims 

2.Gravity: this was the strong point of the show

3.Vanish: I just went back and watched the show and music was good

4.Caging the Swarm: In my opinion that was the weak spot in the show

 

BALLAD

1.Caging the Swarm: I loved the butterfly coming from the back sideline and watching videos from area finals with everyone cheering at the top of their lungs was really special to hear for me

2.Flicker/Gravity: I feel like the ballad for both of these were similar in a way

4.Vanish: Just watched the show ballad was good but to me does not compete with the other ballads

 

ENDING (im including all of the third movement)

1.Flicker/Caging the Swarm: I like to think of these endings as Light vs Dark where no matter what happens we will never live forever

3.Vanish: Trumpet nailed the solo during state prelims

4.Gravity: Not going to lie I dont know the meaning of the ending

 

 

Also just for fun in going to rank the top 6 times we screamed based on loudness

1. 2025 State prelims awards

2. 2025 BOA North Houston break ranks

3. 2023 State Prelims awards

4. 2022 area I Finals awards

5. 2023 BOA North Houston break ranks

6. 2023 BOA Katy Prelims awards we were at our school (if you know you know)

[bassboneman]

Mynd. One reason: bass trombone 

[Iplaydadrum]

I need to watch more HS shows but these are my absolute favorite ones (there's a little bit of a bias as the ones i picked, excluding spring '93, all have either good high-cam recordings that I can find or good audio and sometimes both:
Spring 1993: Good music selection combined with some ludicrous drill for high schoolers make this show an absolute treat to rewatch. 
Hebron 2018: The best Hebron show that did not have a chance of winning. The repertoire combined with an amazing sounding ensemble and killer brass is the reason why they gapped everyone else in music at San Antonio that year. Definitely not the cleanest, especially visually, compared to the Hebron of today, but I think if they had more time to clean they probably could've gotten 2nd or won San Antonio. 2021 redefined the music standard in Texas, but I think 2018 was the catalyst that began that dominance as nobody was attempting features that difficult.
Broken Arrow 2014: Nothing really to say for this show besides wow. I still think it's one of the best shows to go to GrandNats and not win. 
Flower Mound 2016: One of the most dominant shows to grace the Texas circuit and ridiculously clean. Flower Mound has some of the best designed shows in terms of theming and it really showed here. (Although 2025 might become my new favorite FloMo show given some time) 
CTJ 2017: CTJ towards the end of the 2010's started having shows that were either hits or misses for me, but when they hit, they hit hard. Rewatching this really makes me miss Lipman with Johnson, but he's been doing great things with Vandegrift so I can't be that mad. 
Vandegrift 2019: Vandegrift has a history of incorporating classical music and playing it extremely well, and this was the culmination. They moved so well for an ensemble of that size and my goodness that drumline is really clean for 8 snares 4 tenors and 5 basses. 
Hebron 2022: Harder everything imo than 2021 and arguably just as clean. 
Broken Arrow 2017: Honestly from what I remember the ending went through a decent amount of changes and was completely different come GrandNats. If they had a better ending this would probably be an all time favorite as it's so well designed and having the kids play while using karts is one of the coolest things ever attempted. 
Hebron 2017: Last Hebron show on here, but my god they play so well and that ballad is so unbelievably good that I think you could probably fool some people into thinking they're college musicians or semi-professional at the very least. Only gripe is the ending with Ode to Joy felt a little out of character and didn't really fit the rest of the show imo but they play it so well that I don't really care enough to hate it. 
Ronald Reagan 2019: The more I watch this show, the more I realize it's just BA 2017 but without any props or narration lol. Very good musically and visually and easily one of the best shows done. 
CTJ 2014: Easily pushed the bounds to what could be done visually in Texas and they also played pretty well. 
Marcus 2007: Honestly could've put any Marcus show during the Amanda Drinkwater dominance period in UIL as they're all good, but I love the selections in this show. 
Flower Mound 2018: Love this show to death and the first Flower Mound show I ever saw live. Only gripe is the transition from Ringmaster's March to the closing piece feels really rushed and probably could've been done better. 
P.S - More people need to record high school shows. DCI, pre Flo era, has such good archival footage that sounds miles better than the audio quality we get today from Flo or Box5 (although Box5 does sound like they put more effort into their mics to their credit).
As for DCI
Cadets: '83, '87, '92, '93, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2023 
SCV: '89, '90, 2004, 2009, 2014, 2016, 2018
Blue Devils: '95, 2003, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019
Cavaliers: '95, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011
Bluecoats: 2008, 2013, 2015, 2019, 2024
Blue Knights: 2017, 2019
Boston Crusaders: 2025 
Carolina Crown: 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2016
Star of Indiana: '91,'93

 

[Crazybandkid08]

For me, my personal favorite show was Cedar Park’s 2022 show. Their show is the reason why I fell in love with marching band. Their opener was what really stuck out to me I mean their music was clean and their visuals were very satisfying and unique. They had a very good arrangement for “When I was older” and “Dance: movement 1” and this show was just amazing overall.

[utee94]

23 hours ago, Crazybandkid08 said:

For me, my personal favorite show was Cedar Park’s 2022 show. Their show is the reason why I fell in love with marching band. Their opener was what really stuck out to me I mean their music was clean and their visuals were very satisfying and unique. They had a very good arrangement for “When I was older” and “Dance: movement 1” and this show was just amazing overall.

Feels really good to hear someone say that.  This was my oldest's first year at CPHS, and I absolutely fell in love with that show.  The ballad was killer, but that's been true of every CP ballad I can remember.