steeldrum

"Imagine you're in hell...and you want out!"

My seats on Friday were on the 50, 20 rows up. The sound is clear and amazing! Its actually been about 10 years since I've been to finals and I must say from the volume increase since then I'm pretty sure all corps are miking the overall sound into their speakers. On Saturday night I sat with a friend near the end zones just as the stands start to wrap around. From a spectators standpoint the sound really is unacceptable....basically a muddy echo mess. That got me wondering....is there a way that DCI could add speakers starting around the 5 yard line and into the end zones that corps can patch their board into so that fans in those areas get a better sound experience? I'm sure there are some acoustical challenges but if they could figure this out, then they could sell cheaper end zone seats to better fill the stadium.

Ummmm..... its the sun, as in "Lasso the Sun".

Here you go, 2017 Troopers!

The Benz is a great place to see drum corps, if its gotta be indoors, but good lord do they keep it cold in there!! My wife was freezing and we had to go shopping for a sweater and missed several corps. And no, a drum corps souvy sweatshirt wouldn't work, it wouldn't match her outfit properly.... 🙄 I really like the warmup area in the Home Depot Backyard adjacent to the stadium, very convenient to step out and watch some lots. Though there was some bleed-in of sound from the lots in the stadium, it wasn't very noticeable from the seats.

What makes a good Blue Devils show? Any combination of: La Fiesta One More Time Chuck Corea La Suerte de Los Tontos Spanish Fantasy Channel One Suite Strawberry Soup When a Man Loves a Woman

What did everyone think of the sound in the new stadium? For me I thought it had less echo than the former dome, and better than LOS and Alamodome as well. But perhaps its all about seat placement. I sat in section 238, about 45 yard line in the club level. Was very pleased with the quality of the sound in that section. How as the sound and echo where you sat? Overall spectacular facility. I'd be in favor of moving finals to Atlanta in the future! (ok, local convenience is a factor too...).

FIFY

You forgot the MOST important caption....Percussion. SCV Edit: I see there is a separate poll for subcaptions. But still, Percussion should be a top caption...after all this is DRUM CORPS.

Kind of ironic that the "DCI North Texas Presented by Stanbury Uniforms" show will have no uniforms.

I just read several opinions about the new Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta on the GA Tech message board. Aside from the complaining about getting beat in double overtime by Tennessee, the biggest complaint is about the horrendous acoustics in the new stadium. Football fans complaining about not being able to hear the bands or the announcers is not a good sign for DCI events. The other big complaint was concerning the slow egress into/out of the stadium. I talked to someone well connected to the project several months ago and asked if acoustics were taking into design consideration for hosting concerts and other musical events. He said the priority was to make the stadium as loud as possible for football games. I guess I can understand that, football generates a lot more revenue than marching band events.

In a major upset Saturday night SCV Alumni Corps takes the gold!!! What an amazing performance, beautiful job to these dedicated folks. Wish I could have been there to see it in person, that alone would have been worth the price of admission. Yes, reminds me of the great old days when Music GE was much more important than the visual. I haven't seen a crowd jump to their feet multiple times during a performance like that since, well BITD.... #Dinosaur alert

Gotta link? I couldn't find it searching YT.

Is there a live Semi's tunnel cam on youtube today?

Well neither did McEachern High School for that matter, they had to use shuttle buses from a remote church parking lot. There is plenty of parking around mid-town Atlanta that could be used with shuttle buses for a show at Georgia Tech Grant Field. They do host a few sold out football games there every year. McEachern is one of the most beautiful high school campuses with a huge endowment, but man they need to spend some money on improving stadium comfort. The concrete benches with no leg room in between rows is just awful. Fortunately I remembered my seat cushion.

McEachern is a horrible stadium, all concrete seats except right in the middle. Bring your seat cushions for sure. Why not move it to Georgia Tech's Grant Field?

Call me old school but I dislike the over emoting from the pit, the orchestrated "bounce movements", leg kicks, etc. And I really hate front ensembles wearing costumes that don't match the corps proper uniforms. Don't put them in clown suits because you're doing a carnival theme show. To me the pit is there to musically complement the production, and should not be a distraction to the show on the field. I honestly watched the crazy girl in Boston's pit more than I watched Boston's show because of that viral video. Please, just give me fantastic musicians playing beautifully written music instead of hyperactive front ensemble theatrics.

Actually there were only 3 hits, and one near miss. Clearly a case of self defense so hopefully that is not the reason for his resignation. He did some great things with that hornline. Hope the growth momentum continues.

Crown should gift their 2016 unis to Troopers. That uniform with the traditional Troopers hat (in black) would look pretty cool. While they're at it, please give the Troopers back their western theme show designs.

Nutville by Spirit of Atlanta (1979). Saw a big band play the exact same chart last night and I can't stop humming it in my head today. Still one of my favorite charts ever performed by a drum corps.

Yes, I was there for the 1984 Finals at Grant Field. It was great then, would be even nicer now with stadium improvements since that event. But again, I doubt DCI would go with an outdoor stadium for a major regional. Your comments about the GA Dome handling of scanning and bags is mostly accurate, they did a pretty good job. But still was painful if you came in at the wrong time. I got there about 5:15 and missed a few of the corps I wanted to see, including Spirit. But unfortunately these steps are necessary in today's world I reckon. Lesson learned, plan for extra time at future events.

Regarding taking down the Georgia Dome, it may be an okay facility, but I'm not going to miss the crowded noisy corridors. Worst design I've ever seen in a major stadium. This DCI event draws less than 20K people yet you can barely move around the concourse to get to your seat, concessions, etc., and it took 30 minutes to get through security lines. Image what a sold out football game is like. And the pervasive noise of the crowd in the concourses during quiet drum corps passages is really irritating. Not to mention the overall rumble of the dome echo. Eh, I'm not going to miss this place... Hopefully the new dome is much better for crowds and acoustics, assuming DCI moves this event there. Suggested alternate site.....Georgia Tech Grant Field would be great, but I'm sure DCI won't risk moving a major regional to an outdoor venue.

Fan parking is all over the place on all sides of the stadium except where they're building the new dome. The corps park on the north side of the dome at the NE corner of Ivan Allen Blvd and Northside Drive, quite a hike from the dome. The equipment trucks and pits setup just outside of the lower level of the dome and convention center, also on the north side. Access to this area is somewhat restrictive but you can get to it by walking through the drive from Ivan Allen Blvd.. This info is based on years past, obviously subject to change each year.

Brasso, I'm not sure I follow your post but you raise an interesting idea...should restrictions be placed on members ability to transfer to another corps. What impact would it have on leveling the competition if a member had to sit out a year if they transferred to a higher placing corps? Similar to college football player transfers. If an FBS player transfers to another FBS school they have to sit out a year. But, if they transfer to a lower division school, like FCS, they can play immediately. So if you applied the same idea to drum corps it would reduce the number of members transferring up to a top 5 corps, but would allow them to transfer down to a lower placing corps for some other reason (costs, closer to home, just not happy...). This in some ways would force corps to develop their own members from an earlier age versus taking vets from another corps. Yeah I know, a really bad idea and perhaps not fair to the members. Just an interesting concept.

Troopers are not staying at Temple due to the football field being under resurfacing. They're moving over to McEachern High School Friday morning for practice, and will stay there Friday night and Saturday morning before the Atlanta show. So if you want to watch their rehearsal, head over to McEachern.