BariBone

This is my biggest concern. You are taking the meat of the DCA season ( Aug) and evaporating it into being a warm up for DCI East and DCI finals and then poof the season is over. There has been no word on how many times the all age corps will perform in Indy. Just once on Saturday morning? How does this affect the business model and tuition (dues) structure of the northeast corps who now have to sell prospective members on the premise that they will be going to camps all winter and spring to learn a show they will compete in 4-5 times at most before being the warm up for the big DCI regional and finals in the last 2 weekends. At least they will be on flo marching . That is the biggest plus in the DCI/DCA merge.

If the logistics of Franklin Field is impossible.. what about another Ivy League stadium nearby.. Princeton . Looks like it seats 10,000 concert side..field turf… Upper and Lower Deck..

As far as I can remember Brandt Crocker did not announce the final scores in 75,81,82,86,87

What about corps members that attach go pro cameras to their heads and record the entire show from the field and then post it to youtube...or Hopkins live streamingentire chunks of music during spring training practice. do the corps police themselves or are they just worried about the fan base leaking the shows before they are widely seen.

Horrible 17 tour schedule. Very dissapointed. The opening weekend in Ohio in Massillon reduced to 5 corps. Minnesota has no Big East presence. Too bad they couldn't beef that show up since they lost the GA dome and put the Minnesota show in a climate controlled palace where the Vikings play. The biggest dissapointment is the Chester Pa "Tour of Champions " show reduced to 6 corps with no SCV or BD. Of course YEA will charge premium prices to get in as if it was an 8 corps show with BD and SCV.

Bluecoats have made finals every year since 1987 except for 1999, almost a 30 time finalist. They never dropped their semi final position, and in every instance that they were in a tie in semi finals, they beat the corps they tied in finals.

Saturday night, Lucas Oil Stadium will tie Camp Randall Stadium in hosting the most DCI finals. (8).

I love the Madison Scouts but I think this version of JCS is falling flat on its face. It is very disjointed and tries to do too much. Very hard to top the 99 version which is still very fresh in the minds of many and that version was wall to wall in your face on G horns with better arrangement.

BD techincally brilliant tour de force. What is amazing and a tribute to the talent that is out there is this show could conceivably come in third. It doesn't matter the top 3 this year will go down as the best top 3 ever IMHO. I'm pulling for the first ever 3 way tie.

Forget drumline battle. I would rather see BD vs Crown in a glissando battle !

SCV is magical. Such mystique and aura when watching them. The contrast beteen them and Bloo is why there will be record crowds in Indy. So many unique shows this year. Few props, phenominal drill , old school unis and that hornline will resonate in the Oil Can , show is perfectly designed for Lucas Oil.

Every time I watch 2016 Bluecoats I get the feeling I'm watching an historic for the ages show that will be talked about years from now. They have expertly integrated every recent change in the activity and matched it with old school emotion. Win or lose, groundbreaking show .

Oh what a lovely night that would be when I see this show live. Will be a different experience. ( I hope)

Cadets are going to be in a dogfight to stave off Cavaliers after seeing this.

Olander - national exposure, individual champion, still has what 5 more seasons left?

This is the year of the baritone solo. I am rooting for all them to excel this weekend.

Excellent history lesson on venerable J Birny Crum. I think the current field turf is about 2 years old. Fred, back in the 70s wasnt DCI East televised on the local Allentown PBS ? Was it a live telecast or highlights? I have seen videos of 77 DCA, 80, 81 and 82 DCI East that looked like they were PBS telecasts from Allentown. 1980 was the week before finals where 27 beat BD by over 2 points in prelims.

They should fix the scoring because BD should be 3 points ahead of the field they are that good.

The top news story is the coronation of a masterpiece of design and performance that is the 2014 Blue Devils. Undefeated...against the greatest top 5 the activity has ever seen in the same year. Accomplished without a single word of narration , it was the music that carried the audience on a journey through a non stop tour de force of meter changes, style changes , lush solos, dazzling stick work and a visual ensemble that was in another league to the rest of the field. Never saw so much talent in a single corps , unless it is one big mirage but my eyes and ears do not deceive me.

We'll I always called it the Wrigley Field of drum corps...cramped seating, terrible parking , bathrooms that were built in 1948. Gone is the grass field that a helicopter once flew over to dry it out before DCI east in the 80s , it is now field turf. Also gone is the backdrop of a huge "away" bleachers with its own press box that was the backdrop for so many drum corps photos. Gone are the wooden benches that used to splinter into your skin if you wore shorts. After the renovation, they moved the field further back from the stands to accompany an 8 lane track. Since it is a very gradual incline up 37 rows to the top of the lower bowl, you are much further away from the field the higher up you go. But as a performer you feel the opposite. You feel like the crowd is enveloping you with the curved lower bowl and the upper stands . You are at the bottom of a hill looking up basically. There is no other venue besides Whitewater , that oozes so much drum corps history especially Eastern drum corps history as Allentown was also the sight of many memorable DCA championships as well as one that got rained out. Kudos to the Bridgemen alumni...for a very entertaining performance exactly 37 years after winning the very first DCI East in Allentown in 77.

I love Crowns hornline. They are probably better man for man than last years hornline. Klesch arranged a masterpiece last year. It was a perfect match of talent , design and execution. That same thing is happening with BD's hornline this year and the scoring seems to reflect that. I thought Bluecoats ballad was one of the all time ballads ...until I heard BD. What is interesting about both ballads is that they are not just standing there...there is huge demand in the feet ..whether it be tilting and walking up and down ramps in the case of the Bluecoats or slowly moving in perfect brush step technique in the case of BD. LOVE the Bari solos in BD's ballad.. Sets the mood perfectly. I think it is the "moment" of the show where it takes your focus off the props and hooks you in to the emotion of the music and from that point on they don't let up.

BD ..wow . They are a machine. This show is in another league compared to the rest of the pack. Flawless execution. The technical nuances in this show are so brilliantly performed . The all time high score is in serious jeopardy in 2 weeks.

My observations on this show from seeing it live. XMEN got a huge pop from the Alamodome crowd before they started. I saw them 2 nights before in Round Rock..what a difference. They deserved to break 80. Madison- not a fan of the all white. Go back to the green. I have yet to hear anyone play Niner Two or parts of it better than the early 80's 27th Lancers. If Madison was gojng to play Don Ellis why wouldn't they bring back Strawberry Soup. Blue Stars much improved since I last saw you in June. Solid performance tonight. Boston .. Don't care for the show but these kids are performing the heck out of it and I give them lots of credit for a very demanding show Colorguard vastly improved. Blue Knights....hornline wow. This might be the best BK show ever. Phantom I thought had their best show of the season tonight, which staved off the Blue Knights. I look for the hounds to be unleashed in Atlanta next weekend which traditionally is when Phantom starts sounding like Phantom. Cavaliers...keep getting better and better,.any other year this would be a borderline medalist show but look at what's in front of them...the best top 5 of all time. Crown....the dome hurt them tonight. I've seen them 3 times before this show and when they are outside that horn line just smacks you in the face. The dome can become a great equalizer in sound impacts. Crowns guard had an off night. SCV - wow. Best opening statement in 2014. I hate the concept of trombones in a drum corps show BUT the way SCV uses them in the opener gives them such a distinctive "SCV " sound. To hear it live was breathtaking. Kudos to Jd Shaw for arranging a show that takes advantage of dome acoustics. I noticed he did that with Phantom with Into the Light and Juliet. SCV was the most balanced sounding corps of the night. Which bodes well in the Oil Can. Bluecoats were amazing tonight. Everything seemed to click ..this is the show everyone will be taking about years from now and will wind up on the essential Blu rays down the road. It doesn't matter what place they finish up. Cadets ...any other year this show goes wire to wire. I'm going out on a limb and say we might see a corps hit 99 and NOT WIN. The top 2 will break 99 this year. Hopkins and team will work like a madman to put this show over the top and the fans will be the ultimate winners in this because in the next 3 weeks you are going to see unprecedented gamesmanship in the top 5 as they all push each other to perfection. Blue Devils - what more can be said. NO WEAKNESS ANYWHERE. They should have won horns tonight. What impressed me the most about BD was their flawless brush step technique they exhibited in their movement. They are a machine ..they make everything look so easy, it's an illusion to a casual fan.

Facinating season. I have a feeling the defending DCI champion is going to make a huge statement this weekend. Whoever winds up short of a medal this year will go down as the greatest 4th place corps in DCI history.

Great points . The top corps stay that way because they have figured out how best to manage and retain world class staff and give these kids the best experience possible. Dci is equipping volunteers at shows with mini iPads to survey fans as they walk in the stadium. I'd love to see a survey as to what drives members to go where they go.