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Announcer giving a don’t leave anything behind announcement before Madison performs? I guess he has late dinner reservations.

But this year they decided not to go the dirt route early in the season.

Dang, the Blue Stars guard is elite.

It would be fun to have some suspense around 12th place in Friday in Indianapolis.

It is interesting seeing posters dissect the corps and the show. In 2019 Phantom squeaked into finals and there was some concern during the summer that they might miss the Saturday show. This year they appear to be on their way to a solid top 10 finish. That is a big step up in this age of DCI. It is hard to beat the corps ahead of you. In my opinion the Cadets, Blue Stars, and Mandarin are all noticeably better than they were three years ago. It is almost impossible for a corps who finished well below them at the last judged finals to move ahead of them this year unless they had a fall off in quality. They did not. It is a good thing for Phantom if they improve a couple places in 2022 over 2019. They may need to make a few changes to continue to rise, but we can talk about that after Indianapolis.

If the weather forecast is accurate it should be perfect conditions for a drum corps show.

It looks like the weather is fine. Maybe a little breezy but no rain.

Blue Stars percussion with a solid second after the staging changes. When you hear them you realize they are pretty good.

Is that the first position swap of the year? Blue Stars over Phantom?

Blue Stars have made drill changes that are really helping. They are so much better than they were in Detroit. We can hear the percussion now and they play well. This might be the Stars best corps since 2010.

Blue Stars have made some significant changes to the staging of the opener which have very much improved the sound for the percussion. Much better and necessary to finish as high as I think they can with this show.

No doubt, BAC is competing at a medalist level this year. What a great drum corps.

I think the Blue Stars percussion are fine skills wise, but are poorly staged. They seem to always be behind the brass. I expect to see some visual changes by the Stars in attempt to fix that.

I don't think you can pay too much attention to the early season score and spreads. It has been almost three years since the judges have handed out a score at a DCI show. What is more important is the judges get the placement correct, and I think they did that. On Tuesday night, in my opinion, the only competitive spots were fourth and fifth. Blue Stars and Phantom could have swapped places and I would not have been surprised.

First show and the judges need to get their sea legs back. Remember, they have not scored a drum corps show in almost three years. I expect scores for all corps will jump substantially over the next week. Watching the show tonight I was happy Phantom appears to be a solid finalist. Crossmen appear young, but will improve. If any one new jumps into the top 12 unfortunately I think it will be at the Crossmen’s expense. Blue Stars could have a special year. I expect to see their scores to climb quickly. This may be their best show since Houdini. I agree their percussion seemed behind the other sections, but that might be more a staging issue that could get fixed. We’ll see. BAC was very good and may be able to challenge for a top four spot. My only nit to pick is they might not be doing anything new on the field. They do everything great, but usually a medalist corps does something that moves the activity forward creatively. Cavaliers are awesome this year. I don’t know if they will finish above sixth place, but I will bet the tear the house down in Indy. Bluecoats are moving the activity forward creatively. They are challenging the audience and judges with their show. Combine that with excellence in all areas and you have a championship contender.

It looks to me like 2022 will be a two horse race.

Narration: Taming the Dragon

Knowing how Cavies grow a show during the season, they might place higher than some expect come August. They could compete with BAC. It is so hard to move up for Cavies or Boston knowing a corps like SCV or Crown will have to drop. Right now I have Blue Devils in a league of their own. I hope Bluecoats have something to say about that tonight.

I think only a handful of people on here have been talking about Boston competing for a championship. In my opinion, they need to beat one of the big four first and contend for third. This show might do that.

Boston looking to challenge for a medal. They seem in the same league as SCV based on what I saw this weekend.

The best Blue Stars I have seen since 2010 and probably a better show. They are not looking drop below 8th, that is sure. I would love to see them move up.

This show is going to be awesome in Indy. Already stellar with tons of room to grow.

This is a step up in show design. I am impressed.

Great uniforms.

The Blue Stars are the biggest unknown going into tonight’s show. I have seen no video. They keep everything pretty quiet leading up to the first show. Through friends I have heard the brass is exceptional.