2017 Drum Corps International Tour Schedule

Drum Corps International will celebrate its 45th anniversary during the summer of 2017, as the world’s most elite marching music ensembles entertain thousands in football stadiums across the United States.

Spanning 52 days from June into August, the 2017 Drum Corps International Tour will feature more than 55 corps competing across 110 competitive events in 37 states.

“Each year, Drum Corps International’s ensembles reach new levels of performance excellence,” said DCI Executive Director and CEO Dan Acheson. “As we celebrate our milestone 45th anniversary in 2017, we are looking forward to providing an unparalleled showcase for these standard-setting student musicians and performers.”

Season-Opening Events

As has become tradition in recent years, the DCI Tour will begin in the very same place it will end more than seven weeks later at the DCI World Championship Finals.

The “DCI Tour Premiere” will return to Lucas Oil Stadium in downtown Indianapolis on Thursday, June 22, kicking things off with a powerhouse lineup of World Class corps, including the 2016 DCI World Champion Bluecoats. For those unable to make it to Indianapolis, the season-opening event is once again expected to be broadcast live in movie theaters nationwide.

A day later, West Coast corps will get to present their first competitive performances of the season in Clovis, California. 2017’s California tour stops will be anchored by events at Stanford Stadium on Sunday, June 25, and in Southern California at iconic Rose Bowl Stadium the following weekend.

Pacific corps will welcome Rockford, Illinois’ Phantom Regiment to the Golden State in June and July. Traveling west more than any other Midwestern corps in the past decade, Phantom Regiment last started its season in California in 2015.

Premier Events

Anchoring the DCI Tour schedule in some of the biggest and most popular venues of the summer will be Drum Corps International’s Premier Event series.

DCI corps will return to Florida early in July, with two events scheduled for Orlando on Saturday, July 8 and Southern Florida on Monday, July 10. The Orlando competition will head to Camping World Stadium, which has undergone a name change and dramatic renovations since the venue last hosted the DCI World Championships in 2003. The second Florida event will be held at a soon-to-be-announced stadium.

Joining the lineup of corps headed south for both of these events, the Cavaliers will make their first appearance in Florida in the last five years, along with Dubuque, Iowa’s Colts, who will be making their first visit to the Sunshine State since 2010.

West Coast corps including the Santa Clara Vanguard and Academy will see some of their first action in the Midwest when the DCI Tour returns to the University of Minnesota’s TCF Bank Stadium on Saturday, July 8.

Among the corps in the Minneapolis lineup will be Austin, Texas’ Genesis, an Open Class corps that has petitioned to participate in DCI’s World Class in 2017.

“This process will require a thorough review of Genesis’ business, touring, and educational operations,” said DCI Executive Director Dan Acheson. “While a formal determination of their competitive status will not be made until early February, the 2017 schedule reflects Genesis’ participation in the World Class in anticipation of a positive evaluation.”

After touring Florida in 2016, the Bluecoats will also return to Minneapolis on July 8, before making their way west for the July 15 Drums Along the Rockies competition at the home of the NFL’s Denver Broncos.

With corps spread out across the country, July 15 will also bring groups to DeKalb, Illinois for the first Tour of Champions series event, in addition to Alexandria, Kentucky.

Drum corps fans in and around Texas will see the DCI Tour march into their state with two events on Thursday, July 20 in Belton and the Dallas area. A stop in the Houston area on Friday, July 21 will set up a return of DCI’s World Class corps to the San Antonio Alamodome on Saturday, July 22. 

Coming out of Texas, corps will see action in Arkansas and Mississippi with a new event and venue still to be announced in Alabama on Friday, July 28. This will be the same night another group of corps heads to Vanderbilt University in Nashville for the annual Masters of the Summer Music Games.

With the Georgia Dome on its farewell tour and set to be closed in the first few months of 2017 to make way for a new stadium, a minor shakeup in the DCI Tour is expected for the final weekend of July splitting corps between events in Atlanta and Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

“We now know for certain that the brand new Mercedes Benz Stadium will not quite be ready for us to use for the 2017 DCI Southeastern Championship,” said DCI Senior Director of Events Development Susan Kuehnhold. “We are currently finalizing details with McEachern High School in Powder Springs, Georgia as the temporary home for the event on Saturday, July 29. This Atlanta-area lineup will be slightly abbreviated with the balance of corps headed to Winston-Salem for an enhanced Tour of Champions series event on Sunday, July 30."

The last weekend of the regular season will showcase DCI’s entire complement of World Class corps at the venerable J. Birney Crum Stadium in Allentown, Pennsylvania, split over two days of competition on Friday, August 4 and Saturday, August 5.

Buy tickets to both nights of the DCI Eastern Classic.

Serving as waypoints between these Premier Events will be the bulk of the 2017 DCI Tour schedule.

“Sanctioned events in cities across the country create the additional performance opportunities necessary for DCI’s corps to travel safely and efficiently from one competition to the next,” said Kuehnhold. “We are always quite grateful to our national network of Tour Event Partners for the tireless work they do season-after-season to produce, promote and manage this wonderful association of events.”

World Championship Events

This summer, Open Class corps will celebrate the 10th year of kicking off World Championships Week events in Michigan City, as they march into Ames Field for Prelims and Finals competitions on Monday, August 7 and Tuesday, August 8.

Returning to the DCI Tour as an Open Class corps in 2015 after a brief hiatus, look for Mobile, Alabama’s Southwind to attend the DCI World Championships for the first time since 2007. Also unique to the Michigan City lineup will be an appearance by The Company, a British ensemble that will spend two weeks in the U.S. competing as part of the DCI Tour in the International Class division.

The action heads south to downtown Indianapolis beginning Wednesday, August 9, when the DCI Performers Showcase presented by System Blue features individuals and ensembles outdoors on Georgia Street, as well as at the iconic Indianapolis Artsgarden and the Indiana Convention Center.

Open and World Class corps will square off when the action moves under the roof of Lucas Oil Stadium for the Prelims competition on Thursday, August 10. 2017 will be the ninth straight year corps have performed at Lucas Oil Stadium, more than any other venue in the history of the DCI World Championships.

The top 25 corps will advance to the Semifinals competition on Friday, August 11, which will conclude with a very special performance by a group of Santa Clara Vanguard alumni in celebration of the organization’s 50th anniversary.

The top-12 advancing corps from Friday night will vie for the title of World Champion on Saturday evening, August 12.

SoundSport® and DrumLine Battle™

Complementing a number of high-profile DCI Tour events will be Drum Corps International’s SoundSport and DrumLine Battle programs. The wildly popular competitive musical showcases provide a stage for an exciting variety of performance ensembles, along with traditional upstart and reemerging drum corps that include local, independent and international groups.

In addition to a series of ongoing events produced around the world throughout the year, this summer's North American SoundSport and Drumline Battle schedule will feature more events than ever before, with stops in Florida, Kentucky, Texas, Georgia and Pennsylvania, before wrapping up on Saturday, August 12 with the second-annual SoundSport International Music and Food Festival in downtown Indianapolis.

Learn more about the 2017 SoundSport schedule of summertime events. 

How You Can Experience the 2017 DCI Tour

Starting Monday, December 5, tickets to more than 30 of the most popular events of the 2017 DCI Tour will go on sale through the DCI Box Office and Ticketmaster, including single-day tickets to the 2017 DCI World Championships.

Sign up for Drum Corps International’s "Box Office Alerts" to receive email notification when tickets to 2017 events near you will be going on sale throughout the winter months.

Premier Events Schedule

Indianapolis, IN Tickets on sale Monday, Dec. 5
Presented by DeMoulin Bros. and Co.
Lucas Oil Stadium
Thursday, June 22

Stanford, CA Tickets on sale Monday, Dec. 5
Stanford Stadium
Sunday, June 25

Oxnard, CA Tickets on sale Monday, Dec. 5
Oxnard High School
Wednesday, June 28

Muncie, IN Tickets on sale Monday, Dec. 5
Presented by Woodwind and Brasswind
Ball State University
Friday, June 30

Pasadena, CA
Rose Bowl Stadium
Saturday, July 1

Orlando, FL
Presented by Lone Star Percussion
Camping World Stadium
Saturday, July 8

Minneapolis, MN Tickets on sale Monday, Dec. 5
Presented by the U.S. Marine Drum and Bugle Corps
University of Minnesota
Saturday, July 8

Southern, FL
TBA
Monday, July 10

Lebanon, IL Tickets on sale Monday, Dec. 5
McKendree University
Wednesday, July 12

Martin, TN
Hardy M. Graham Stadium
Friday, July 14

Alexandria, KY Tickets on sale Monday, Dec. 5
Campbell County High School
Saturday, July 15

Denver, CO
Sports Authority Field at Mile High
Saturday, July 15

Belton, TX Tickets on sale Monday, Dec. 5
Presented by Band Shoppe
University of Mary Hardin-Baylor
Thursday, July 20

Dallas Area, TX
TBA
Thursday, July 20

San Antonio, TX
Presented by Fred J. Miller, Inc.
The Alamodome
Saturday, July 22

Dallas, TX Tickets on sale Monday, Dec. 5
Lake Highlands High School
Monday, July 24

Little Rock, AR Tickets on sale Monday, Dec. 5
War Memorial Stadium
Wednesday, July 26

Hattiesburg, MS Tickets on sale Monday, Dec. 5
The University of Southern Mississippi
Wednesday, July 26

Birmingham, AL
TBA
Thursday, July 27

Southern, AL
TBA
Friday, July 28

Atlanta, GA
Presented by Lone Star Percussion
McEachern High School
Saturday, July 29

Pittsburgh, PA Tickets on sale Monday, Dec. 5
Baldwin High School
Wednesday, August 2

Allentown, PA Buy two-night ticket packages today!
J. Birney Crum Stadium
Friday, August 4 & Saturday, August 5

Tour of Champions Event Series Schedule

DeKalb, IL
Northern Illinois University
Saturday, July 15

Broken Arrow, OK Tickets on sale Monday, Dec. 5
Broken Arrow Memorial Stadium
Tuesday, July 18

Houston, TX Tickets on sale Monday, Dec. 5
The Berry Center
Friday, July 21

Nashville, TN
Presented by Jupiter, Mapex, and Majestic
Vanderbilt University
Friday, July 28

Winston-Salem, NC
Wake Forest University
Sunday, July 30

Chester, PA
Talen Energy Stadium
Thursday, August 3

Buffalo, NY
New Era Field
Sunday, August 6

Massillon, OH Tickets on sale Monday, Dec. 5
Paul Brown Tiger Stadium
Monday, August 7

World Championships Week Schedule

Open Class Prelims Tickets on sale Monday, Dec. 5
Ames Field, Michigan City, IN
Monday, August 7

Open Class Finals Tickets on sale Monday, Dec. 5
Ames Field, Michigan City, IN
Tuesday, August 8

DCI Performers ShowcasePresented by System Blue
Pan Am Plaza, Downtown Indianapolis
Wednesday, August 9

World Championship Prelims Tickets on sale Monday, Dec. 5
Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN
Thursday, August 10

World Championship Semifinals Tickets on sale Monday, Dec. 5
Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN
Friday, August 11

SoundSport International Music & Food FestivalGeorgia Street & Pan Am Plaza, Downtown Indianapolis
Saturday, August 12

World Championship Finals Tickets on sale Monday, Dec. 5
Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN
Saturday, August 12