PeterGibbons

I was just thinking this morning that i should by my tickets soon. Wow.

My soph year in high school we finished (gasp the horror) 4th at MBA (aka BOA) Grand Nationals, winning two captions. I recall sitting on the bus waiting to leave the parking lot after finals when a volunteer came on the bus and chewed us all out for not doing better. Said something to the effect that we should be ashamed, and that we obviously didn't appreciate all the work the volunteers like this guy did for us that season. 😠

That tenor break is still my favorite to this day. Sometimes I listen to that show just to hear it.

I don't see this happening. Most if not all of the dome NFL stadiums that do not already have grass have no practical way to have the grass outside and then be moved inside for the NFL game. Houston tried this for years and gave up.

Two. 1985 and 1987.

Yeah but a lot of drops tonight. That noted, their 'book' is incredible.

You appear to have been sitting two rows behind me as I see the back of my head in about 20% of your pictures from the event!

I had the exact same thought.

Just got home from the show and without reading 40+ pages of comments, my impressions. Overall very good show from all four. None of them 'bored' me. From an enjoyment standpoint, with a little 'judging from the stands' thrown in, I ranked them Blue Stars, Phantom, a large gap, Colts, Troopers. Phantom was LOUD which was really cool. But I felt more nuanced musicianship from Blue Stars. This is the most enjoyable Phantom show in 20 years for me. Both of these two are going to be interesting come August when they have really developed the shows. I was a little shocked to look into the recap and see Troopers higher in most areas than Colts. I just thought Troopers were more dirty (obviously - first show) than Colts.

Air is much clearer here at the show site than what I had earlier in the day. Place is packed btw.

Well, about to jump in the car to drive to the show. Hope is still happens, but of course health of the marching members is most important.

I'm in South Haven (about an hour or so south of the show) and the air has been fine, at least to me. I actually thought it was just 'summer hazy' when I got here a couple of days ago. I'm from the DC area, and a few weeks ago it was worse there than what I have seen here. And that actually was not bad. I described it as what it looks like outside on one of those really humid summer days - only there was no humidity.

In my day it was simple. You got cut or made an alternate. Which could be justified given the student wouldn't be available for summer practice and/or camp.

I know the OP asked for responses from band directors, but like others I have a story from the 80's. Our percussion caption head explicitly prohibited any of us from marching DCI during high school. He once said 'just stay here for four years and then I'll get you in any corps you want'. But this rule did not apply to the horn line. In 1983 our band camp was the week after DCI finals, and we had at least four horn players that marched for Cadets and Phantom that summer. They didn't arrive at camp until Monday but all four of them looked like zombies the entire week. In retrospect, I don't think it was healthy for someone to do a DCI summer tour and then jump right into high school band. I personally think the kids need a mental break from a DCI tour. And also the quality difference is so stark (even to a top high school band), so that mental aspect of that too is a lot for a high school kid. In retrospect, I can understand why a band director would discourage kids from doing DCI and fall high school marching band in the same year.

Tate. We (Flushing) ended up second.