This article is presented by MarchingRoundtable.com. Founded in 1972, Drum Corps International will celebrate its 40th anniversary season throughout the coming months, and particularly when the world’s most elite marching music ensembles take the field at football stadiums across the United States this summer. “We’ve come a long way since Drum Corps International’s founding, from an organization that simply hosted a two-day championship series back in 1972, to one that now annually organizes more than 100 events on a national tour including our week-long World Championships,” DCI Executive Director Dan Acheson said. The 2012 Drum Corps International Tour will take place over 56 days from June through August. 45 corps are expected to put their caravans on America’s highways this summer, traveling to 44 states to compete in a total of 101 events. The entire tour will culminate Aug. 9 to 11 during the DCI World Championship at Lucas Oil Stadium in downtown Indianapolis. Creating the Drum Corps International Tour schedule is a year-long process that begins before the previous year’s season is even complete. Events, dates and locations are scheduled following a complex series of considerations that include calendar dates, historical attendance data, and the travel, logistical and competitive needs of the corps. “We’ve spent many hours at the tail end of last summer and into this fall coordinating event dates and travel schedules with the corps directors,” Drum Corps International Director of Events Susan Kuehnhold said. “This current version of the schedule may change slightly as we continue to finalize corps schedules, stadium locations, and sign off on event contracts, but we’re excited to be moving forward with preparations for this milestone season.”
2012 DCI Tour Premiere
Premier Event Schedule
Drum Corps International’s Premier Events are a collection of some of the most prestigious stops on the annual DCI Tour. These events are often produced in larger, collegiate and professional sports stadium facilities on key weekends throughout the summer months to the delight of some of the biggest crowds of the season. Among the early-season Premier Events on the schedule will be a return to the University of Louisville on Sunday, June 17, Stanford University on Saturday, June 23, the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando on Saturday, June 23, and Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., on Friday, June 29. Anchoring the big Saturday events on the 2012 Tour schedule in July and August will be a return to Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo on July 7, Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver also on July 7, the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis on July 14, the DCI Southwestern Championship at the San Antonio Alamodome on July 21, DCI Atlanta at the Georgia Dome on July 28, and the DCI Eastern Classic on Friday Aug. 3 and Saturday, Aug. 4 in Allentown, Pa. The San Antonio and Atlanta events will be the only two this season outside of the World Championships that will feature a lineup of all 23 World Class corps in a single night. Some new faces will be on the field in San Antonio, as Jersey Surf makes its first trip to the Lone Star State since coming out as a World Class unit in 2009.
Tour of Champions Series
Debuted in 2011, the Tour of Champions (TOC) series gave eight of DCI’s top corps the opportunity to test the waters of a new nontraditional event format. Sideshow-like pre-show performances, special musical numbers prepared by the corps outside of their standard competitive productions, and an incredible en-masse finale at the end of each show allowed fans up-close and exclusive access to exciting live entertainment. “Last year’s Tour of Champions series was pretty much an overwhelming success, but as we put on those performances for the first time, we weren’t always sure how some aspects would work in the five different venues,” Santa Clara Vanguard Executive Director Jeff Fiedler said. “We’re already planning on tweaking a couple of places to tighten the format and really focus this series as a celebration of the drum corps experience for fans and performers alike.” The 2012 TOC will feature the top eight corps from the 2011 World Championship Finals including the Blue Devils, Bluecoats, Cadets, Carolina Crown, Cavaliers, Phantom Regiment and Santa Clara Vanguard—all corps that participated in last year’s series. Taking the Blue Stars’ place in the group after an 11th place finish in 2011 will be the eighth-place Boston Crusaders. Five Tour of Champions events are on the schedule for 2012 from mid-July into August with stops in Rockford, Ill., Houston, Texas, Murfreesboro, Tenn., Rock Hill, S.C. and East Rutherford, N.J.
DCI World Championships
Be a Part of It!
2012 Premier Event Schedule
Louisville, KY Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium Sunday, June 17 Buy tickets now! Orlando, FL Florida Citrus Bowl Saturday, June 23 Stanford, CA Stanford University Saturday, June 23 Muncie, IN Scheumann Stadium, Ball State University Friday, June 29 Kalamazoo, MI Waldo Stadium, Western Michigan University Saturday, July 7 Denver, CO Sports Authority Field at Mile High Saturday, July 7
Minneapolis, MN TCF Bank Stadium, University of Minnesota Saturday, July 14 Lebanon, IL (St. Louis) McKendree University Monday, July 16 Round Rock, TX (Austin) Kelly Reeves Athletic Complex Thursday, July 19 Denton, TX CH Collins Athletic Complex Thursday, July 19 San Antonio, TX Alamodome Saturday, July 21 World Class Individual & Ensemble Competition Sunset Station, San Antonio, TX Sunday, July 22
Dallas, TX Lake Highlands High School Tuesday, July 24 Hattiesburg, MS M. M. Roberts Stadium, University of Southern MS Wednesday, July 25 Little Rock, AR Memorial Stadium Thursday, July 26 Atlanta, GA Georgia Dome Saturday, July 28 Allentown, PA J. Birney Crum Stadium Friday, Aug. 3 & Saturday, Aug. 4
Tour of Champions Series
Rockford, IL Boylan High School Sunday, July 15 Cypress, TX (Houston) Berry Center Athletic Complex Friday, July 20 Murfreesboro, TN Floyd Stadium, Middle TN State University Friday, July 27 Rock Hill, SC District 3 Stadium Sunday, July 29, 2012 East Rutherford, NJ Meadowlands Stadium Sunday, August 5
2012 DCI World Championships
Open Class Prelims Ames Field, Michigan City, IN Monday, August 6 Open Class Finals Ames Field, Michigan City, IN Tuesday, August 7 Open Class Individual & Ensemble Competition Indiana Convention Center, Indianapolis, IN Wednesday, August 8 Hall of Fame Kickoff Party Union Station, Indianapolis, IN World Championship Prelims Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN Thursday, August 9
