Photographer Jim

Bronze goes to the third place corps. Crown was fourth. They’ll just have to be satisfied with a finalist medal.

No, Crown remains fourth because three corps scored higher than they did. No bronze is awarded

I think the uniqueness of BD, at least for the past decade, is that they continually design and develop shows that reference other art forms and musical genres, and they interpret them thoughtfully. I don’t think there are any other corps that develop shows like that consistently. The result is musical books and visually coherent performances that work. Add their always proficient technical prowess and you get a formula for success.

yeah, I don't mind it either. My wife is in an international champion barbershop chorus. She sings bari, meaning no matter what the song is, her part will not even remotely resemble the actual melody. If I can take that, I can surely take singing in Drum Corps.😝

i SO love the Cavies exit cadence. ALL corps should be required to play one! Make it a rule! 🙂

As a DCI institution, Not having Brandt do the 50th Anniversary show would be unforgivable. It would be like having the Fourth of July without fireworks.

it is Pink Floyd. Another Brick in the Wall

I’ve gone to every one but one. A few times I’ve been “on the road” doing an art show, but was lucky enough to find a theater either in the show’s town or in a town within reasonable driving distance. Show setup was usually a Friday morning, so I would arrange my travel itinerary so as to be where there was a theater showing the event. Tomorrow I’ll be in Pleasant Hill, CA, the town next to Concord. Looking forward to a great time. Do it up, Devils!

its cool. we all have preferences.

It has been such a joy to watch the Mandarins come into their own these past few years. They have developed a distinct and unique persona. Dark, aggressive, uber confident. So happy to see another California corps rise toward the elite.

I go back to the days of Holy Name Cadets

as a longtime and very dedicated BD honk, I should not be liking this BAC show as much as I do, but #### it is good!

We have a winner!

If Santa Clara were to stop marching cymbals, does the world end?

Or wins. 😉

I’m at home in California, where it quite literally is being piped in and is coming out of speakers! 😊

It’s Yawk. Trust me, I know

Didn’t intentionally leave them out, or mean to snubb them, but I’m a NorCal guy. We tend to forget about them southerners! 😉

At one time it was BD, SCV, and the Freelancers. Now it’s BD, SCV, and The Mandarins! California can’t be prouder!

I so enjoy Phantom.

Yeah, we’ll it’s supposed to be PHAAANNNNNN TUMMM reg ment. 😄

Two: reg ment

I love BKs color palette. The contrast of that deep blue with the magenta makes works well against the corps white uniforms. I wish SCV had been as bold

i totally agree. Let me preface this with the disclaimer that I am a visual artist, and in no way a musician or vocalist, but i do have experiences which are relevant. My wife is a singer, and part of a chorus that is the defending Midsize Chorus International Champions, and who are seeded 6th for the up-coming 2023 International open competition. Choruses who have qualified (36 in all) will first compete in semi-finals, with the top ten moving on to Finals. Performance order for both is by random draw. Judging is according to established rubrics which (as a musical art) have significant overlap to the rubrics used in DCI. I have had discussions with her about the potential effects of performance order. Her reply is that it doesn't matter; the judges are highly trained and totally qualified to adjudicate the competition, and are skilled at being able to accurately place a chorus's performance on the scoring rubric, regardless of when the chorus's performance takes place during the competition. There is complete faith in the judges commitment to judge fairly, accurately, and without bias. To believe otherwise is to imply that judging results are largely meaningless. I believe this carries over to DCI competitions as well. I firmly trust that DCI judges are able to focus in the here and now, and evaluate a corps performance accurately for what it is, regardless of performance order, the makeup of the competition field, or personal preferences. Anyone who believes otherwise should probably not be following the activity.

ANY show is better live than on Flo where what you see is the perspective of a wide angle lens and Flo's mic placements. I saw BD's show in Sacramento; it is both visually (especially visually) and audibly miles above the "Flo experience". Unfortunately, that is one of the major pitfalls of having to rely on a streaming vs. live view. Unless one is lucky enough to live where one can attend a major show, one's experience with many corps will be limited, and not all that accurate.