Danhobl

My experience is that domes suck for acoustics. There's an echo, and unless you are sitting right in front of the sound (between the 35's), you can't hear much anyways. Camp Randall is a lot better cause it has no roof (no echo). There is a high press box and luxury suites along the visitors side to keep the sound in the stadium. However, section CC is pretty far out there. You are right - about the 5 yard line. Sound won't be great way over there, but it'll be better than a dome.

The Academy looks awesome! I wish they would tour full time and go Div I.

With finals being in Pasadena next year, I imagine the tour schedules will have to be completely different if the corps are traveling by bus out to California in August. Am I right? Any idea of how this is going to affect the regional competitions?

Does anyone know how many rows are in section FF in Camp Randall? That's the upper deck section right on the 50 in front of the press box. I am in row 21 and I'm concerned that I'm right at the top.

I'm interested in what the official quarterfinals order is going to be too. DCI.org should post by Tuesday (I would think).

I've been to two DCI Finals in Madison, and there's been people buying and selling tickets outside of the stadium each time. You should be able to find what you need. Just give yourself some extra time at the stadium to get some "business" done.

I can confirm this. I see only 4 videos too. I'm not sure why the rest aren't there. Allentown has always been tough to get videos out of (bad site for technology).

I've heard that the end of Phantom's closer this year had parts of shows from past years mixed in. Does anyone know which shows? Any '93? '96? '03?

1993 Phantom (Fire of Eternal Glory) is my pick, but let's not forget another fantastic ballad from that year- Cadets (When Kings Go Off to War) - start show at 7:05 mark and sit back and enjoy!

If Phantom could pull off the uniform color change at finals, I would completely sh#t my pants!!! Do it Pat! Please! Faust ^0^ :angel:

I wish somebody at the stadium could give us some updates. Even short little one liners after each corps performs. I'm no technology junkie, but I figure those blackberries and sidekicks have got to be good for something!

From DCI.org: Final attendance figures have been calculated from the July 29, Coltrin & Associates DCI Southeastern Championship in Atlanta, Ga. The paid attendance of 15,831 establishes a new official attendance record for a Drum Corps International major regional event, eclipsing the previous record of 14,089, set just a year ago in San Antonio, Texas. Who would've ever guessed??? While watching and listening to the live video streaming, the collective opinion on this board was that there were 10, maybe 12, people in attendance.

As of 5pm Thur Aug 3rd... Thu Aug 10 40% Scattered T-Storms 83°/65° Fri Aug 11 60% Scattered T-Storms 86°/64° Sat Aug 12 60% Scattered T-Storms 85°/63° Discuss.

Does anyone know exactly when the Madison Alumni Corps is performing during finals week? I am also wondering how practices are going. I heard they are using G bugles too - is that true? I will be in Madison all 3 nights and I'm sincerely hoping that you guys blow my face off!!!

Try Middleton. It's just West of Madison, and there's tons of hotels built up out there. Not sure about availability though. They're probably booked as they are fairly close to downtown Madison. Otherwise, you may have to start heading out towards Milwaukee. I imagine everything in Madison is booked up.

OK. Let's not overblow the mosquitos in Wisconsin. If you are in the suburbs or on a rural farm or in the North woods, sure, they are going to eat you alive. But in urban areas like downtown Madison and Milwaukee it's generally not as bad. I've been to two DCI finals in Madison (06 will be my 3rd) and mosquitos have never been a problem at the event site. If you're out watching at rehearsal sites, though, then I would definitely use bug spray.

That would be AWESOME. Unfortunately, I know that the Allentown site provides some challenges technology-wise. I don't think it has internet capabilities like the Alamodome or Georgiadome do. I remember last year the DCI tech crew had to do some fanagaling just to get the 2/3 minute video snippets. Live streaming seems like a long shot this weekend.

I'm getting more and more interested in the various DCI judges as I see the same names over and over again on the recaps. I've seen people make posts about "oh, that guy was judging this that night." I know there are tendancies and opinions out there. I'm interested in all judges, but I think the brass, guard and percussion judges would be most interesting. As we get closer to finals, I'd like to create some sort of judges database that documents the tendancies of each DCI judge. Something like that would help predict what's going to happen on finals night (assuming we know who the judges will be). Know anything about any judge? Post it up.

I live near Milwaukee, and I think the weather is shaping up pretty well for next week. We're getting all the hot, hot, did I mention hot, weather out of the way right now and a cool down to 70's/80's type weather is expected later this week and into next week. Odds are that the 90-100 degree weather won't return very soon if at all again this summer. Evening thunderstorms are typical in the summer and I expect at least one night between the 10th and 12th will have a chance for thunderstorms, but even if it does, they'll probably be quick in and out summer thunderstorms and not a total wash out. From my recollection, when finals are held in Madison, the weather has been pretty good more times than not.

Thanks for the info.

OK. Just called the hotel. They said early check in is possible, but they cannot guarantee anything will be available. She said just to come anytime from noon to 4pm and they'll try to check me in early. I think that's what I'll do. Worst case scenario: I check in at 4pm and miss a little bit of quarterfinals. Not ideal, but I would survive. Looking forward to a great week in Mad-town!

If that's the case, then I would just check in at 4pm and not risk losing my room.

The hotel I'm staying at in Madison doesn't allow you to check in until 4pm. From past experience, I'm pretty sure quarterfinals start before then on Thursday (and run until LATE that night). When am I supposed to check in? At 11pm or later after quarterfinals are over? Has anyone else ever ran into this problem? I might just have to miss the first part of quarterfinals.

I completely agree. DCI has done a great job this summer on the web. There have been a few kinks and one unforeseen power outage, but all and all, they've exceeded my expectations as a seasonpass subscriber. I talked to Ricky a couple times, and I was very impressed. He's very nice and took the time to help me out on an individual basis with some of my technology problems. It's people like him and their efforts that make DCI so great. By the way, I love the "fan in the stands" idea for show broadcasts. Get some immediate crowd reaction! That would be awesome!

Phantom won brass and tied BD for top drums!