Gamin Drum Corps Watch Party – Phantom Regiment

My Uncle Bruce and I are both long time drum corps veterans. Both of us marched in the Toledo Glassmen, while Uncle Bruce also performed with the Cleveland Buckeyes and the 27th Lancers. I, on the other hand, marched in all-age corps with the Empire Statesmen and with alumni corps like the Erie Thunderbirds and the Bluecoats 50th Anniversary Corps. We’re both still involved with the activity: Uncle Bruce is part of the Carolina Crown transportation team, and, of course, my work as a drum corps social media contributor and journalist.

Sometimes, though, we just want to sit back and be fans of the activity. Since we live close to each other, we make a point to get together with some beers and snacks and toss in whatever drum corps DVDs and Blu-Rays we want to watch. We’ve had a few watch parties like this, sometimes with a theme, sometimes just going with what we feel like at the time. Yesterday, our theme was our favorite Phantom Regiment shows. This was our third watch party focused on a specific corps (Blue Devils and Vanguard were our previous specific corps), and it was a blast.

Here are our choices, in chronological order:

1979 (KG) – Growing up, I had Uncle Bruce’s vinyl drum corps albums. One of them was Volume 2 of the 1979 DCI World Championships, with this show as the lead off. I was mesmerized by their renditions of the Saint-Saens Organ Symphony and Ginastera’s Danza Final. Of course, this was also the show which introduced Elsa’s Processional, which is now the Phantom corps song. Throw in one of the many 2nd place finishes the corps experienced before finally winning it all and this show is integral to the Regiment’s history.

1982 (KG) – This was the second straight season Phantom Regiment performed the music of Khachaturian’s Spartacus, with both shows focusing as much on the story as it did on the music. Something which caught my attention about this show is that the guard spent a large portion of the performance in the center of the field, with the brass on either side and the percussion behind them, creating a literal stage for their performance. This was also the show handed opera librettos to fans to both enhance the experience and familiarize them with the story of Spartacus. Here was the early seeds of the story telling shows we would see in later years.

1989 (Both) – I once read a quote which stated “If you’re going to come in second, make the winner break the record”. This was ’89 Phantom in a nutshell. Not only did SCV set a new record for the time with a 98.8, Phantom ended up tying the OLD record of 98.4. Performing music from Anton Dvorak’s New World Symphony and Slavic Dances, From The New World took some liberties with Dvorak’s work, such as performing the Largo movement in the style of the Goin’ Home spiritual which shares the melody and replacing the 3rd movement of the symphony with one of the Slavic Dances for the drum solo. ’89 Phantom is one of those shows for which the debate of whether it should have won will continue until the end of time.

1993 (Both) – After a disappointing 8th place finish in 1992, Phantom went through a drum corps makeover. A new design team brought in a fresh product on the field, with a visual program based of the art of Henri Matisse, a percussion program which saw the front ensemble on the field, a drill that had the horns running and crab stepping, and a musical mix of a Phantom classic (the Ginastera Danza Final) with a new classic, Shostakovich’s Fire of Eternal Glory. The corps started out slow in the early season, but, once the performers got the hang of the show, Phantom powered itself back into the Top 3.

1996 (Both) – It finally happened. After four runner up finishes since breaking into the DCI Top 12 in 1974, Phantom FINALLY won a title and, no matter how you feel about ties for first, this was Phantom’s first FULL title. In some ways, the design of Defiant Heart come from the 1993 Star of Indiana’s minimalism, including a section of the show where the guard used reflective poles with no flags, using the flashing of the stadium lights off the poles create the visual effect. The uniforms of the corps and guard, with the horns and percussion in almost all black except for a stylized red PR chevron over the heart and the guard in simple red dresses, added to the minimalistic feel of the show. What was NOT minimal was the emotion of the corps as they performed the music of Dimitri Shostakovich, from the slow build of the opener, Shostakovich’s 4th Ballet Suite, 1st movement, to the thrill of the closer, the final movement of his 5th Symphony. The triumphant finish of the show mirrored the triumphant finish of the corps, as they could at last declare themselves world champions.

2003 (KG) – I missed seeing Harmonic Journey live in 2003. In fact, I joke that I finally saw the show live in 2021, when Phantom brought back Harmonic Journey for the 2021 Celebration season. 2003 was also the last season where fans didn’t have either audio recordings or show live streams during the season, so my only experience of Harmonic Journey took place after the season once the CDs and DVDs were released and in my hands. The show was worth the wait, as the power duo of JD Shaw and Paul Rennick joined forces for the first time. Augmenting Shaw’s arrangements was the first set of King marching brass instruments to hit the drum corps field since their line of two valve G bugles in the 80s, and they did not disappoint, matching perfectly with the approach Phantom’s brass took to their sound. For me, that sound was what sold me on the move from G bugles a few years earlier, and I haven’t looked back since. Neither has Phantom, who has continued to feature powerful brass lines since.

2007 (BG) – I almost included this show on my list as well, as On Air, to me, features one of the best music books Phantom Regiment presented in recent history. The only reason I didn’t was because I was only including a couple shows from each decade the corps was in DCI, and 2008 and 2010 were already on my list. Fortunately, Uncle Bruce came to the rescue, as this show definitely deserves to be on this list. Everything performed by the brass and percussion fit into the theme, starting with the effect the snares created by slapping their drum heads with their hands to create the sound of birds flapping their wings. This then led to the corps flying all over the field throughout the show, even during Flower Song, though we’re more focused on the incredible flugelhorn duet during this movement. It’s the closer, though, the final movement of Stravinsky’s Firebird, that we remember the most, for two reasons. The first is the horn line jazz running while playing full out, which is immortalized in a rehearsal video of the horns practicing this section while jazz running in a company front. The second is Mello Sustain 1.0, with the mellophones ringing out a unison note while slowly pushing forward to the front of the field, demonstrating perfect intonation as well as stagger breathing. We wouldn’t see (or hear) this again until 2018 SCV, another JD Shaw gift to us.

2008 (Both) – Winning in 1996 was amazing in its own right. Doing so in 2008, with a new take on Spartacus, and how they did it, coming from 3rd in Quarterfinals to 2nd in Semis to just edging the Blue Devils by .025 at Finals, was icing on the cake. Spartacus is the perfect storm of a show for Phantom, bringing back a classic show theme with the modern story telling which the corps crafted with shows like Rhapsody and Faust. That story began as soon as the corps entered the stadium, with head drum major Will Pitts literally wheeled onto the field on his podium in full Roman Emperor persona, accompanied by fanfare trumpets and the musicians, portraying the Roman army, bringing in the guard as slaves. Unlike the 1981 and 1982 performances, this Spartacus was a mixture of music from the Khachaturian ballet and other source material, which is a credit to the design team for finding such a mix of music that worked so well. More credit goes to the corps for delivering one of most iconic closers in drum corps history, one which found the crowd in the stands joining the corps in chanting “I AM SPARTACUS!!!” as Emperor Pitts is speared to death, leading to a standing ovation for the final minute of the show. The volume of the crowd at this point was only outdone by how loud they got when Blue Devils were announced in 2nd.

2010 (Both) – Into The Light was a departure from the story telling shows Phantom Regiment had performed over the past few seasons. This show was more about the spiritual and introspective journey the corps took, literally and figuratively. The figurative journey is a transcendental one as the corps is led “into the light” by their guide, an amazing horn soloist who calls to the corps throughout the show. The literal journey is thanks to visual designer Myron Rosander, who wrote the drill in a way which moved the focus of the show from the bottom left corner of the field to the upper right. This was accentuated by the corps starting the show off the field, flowing out from the tunnel after playing the initial chords. The corps then did the reverse at the end of the show, flowing into the opposing tunnel before playing a final chord as a lone guard member, now dressed similar to the horn soloist runs out to beckon him into the light, his journey also finishing. This show also was the end of Paul Rennick’s journey with Phantom as he would move to Santa Clara starting with the 2011 season, though not before his drum line took their 3rd percussion trophy in the past 5 years.

2011 (BG) – Back to storytelling in 2011, this time with Shakespeare and the story of Romeo and Juliet, though the focus was on Juliet for this show. After a number of years with a co-ed guard, Phantom returned to a guard of all “Phantomettes”. They would portray Juliet, while the rest of the corps would portray the Montague house, with different individual members interacting with the guard as Romeo throughout the show. This includes drum major Dean Patterson, who, while the corps performs their song, Elsa’s Processional, comes onto the field and “dies” (hey, it worked in 2008, right?). Juliet then takes the podium with a shiny knife and dramatically makes as if she’s about to plunge it into her broken heart with the final chords of the show.

2023 (Both) – Another year ending in 3, another Phantom Regiment show which takes the corps in a new direction. If you had told me that Phantom would play not just one but TWO songs by Muse, I wouldn’t have believed you. Not only did they play them, they blew us all away with what they did with those songs, as well as with the entire show of Exogenesis, the theory that life originated from elsewhere in the universe before spreading to earth. This explains the otherworldly behaviors and look of the corps, including the unique drum major salute to start the show. The props and tarps on the field gave the impression they came from out of this world, as if they just landed on our world, with the corps spreading themselves over the field like new life on its new home. The ballad was the most Phantomesque musical selection in the show, Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto #2 (NOT Eric Carmen’s All By Myself, thank you very much). The closer featured another powerful company front which led to a standing ovation by the fans before a fast paced ending leading into a classic Phantom leg kick to bring the show to a frenetic close.

If you’re interested in more great takes on great Phantom Regiment shows, be sure to check out the Drum Corps AF podcast, which devoted an episode to their Phantom Phavorites.

If you have favorite Phantom shows you didn’t see on our list, let us know what they are in the comments below!