comraderoger

The main reason numbers would be down would be the ongoing recession. Location plays a very large part in attendance as well. Remember Jackson, MS? Complaining about something that none of us has any chance of changing does no good either.

You really do have far too much time on your hands.

And your opinion would be quite incorrect. I joined this forum during the summer while on tour. It's interesting how when someone disagrees, personal sniping becomes the norm. That's the main reason I don't bother with many online forums as this is too often the case. I never said that the sound was perfect in LOS. I also listed several other stadiums that have pretty decent acoustics. Actually my favorite sound in a stadium was Harvard quite a few years ago. My point is that to beat the sound issue to death is pointless since, again, it's a football stadium. It was built to be a football stadium. It will never be anything but a football stadium regardless of what happens inside. Colts fans can complain all they want as the stadium was built for that team. DCI is merely a guest, sure, a paying guest, but a guest nonetheless. With all the issues facing drum corps these days, complaining about the sound in one football stadium is really a waste of time and energy. Why not spend that time and energy trying to improve the activity in general for the benefit of all?

Camp Randall is a great stadium. I've been to finals there several times and enjoyed it. I also had no major issues with LOS either. I found both the Alamodome and Georgia Dome to be quite bad in comparison. And, some of the podunk HS stadiums this summer weren't so great either. Compared to the RCA Dome, LOS is much, much better, that's for sure. Is it perfect, hardly. Is it the worst stadium I've been in, hardly. That 'honor' goes to the Patriots stadium back in the day. Corps are going to have to do what BOA HS bands have been doing for years and that is design for the space where finals will be held. It will require a shift in thinking, sure, but nothing that can't be overcome. And for those of you so displeased with the sound of LOS, don't go. It's that simple. There are plenty of other venues that are quite nice for drum corps like J. Birney Crum in Allentown, Mile High in Denver, Stanford in Palto Alto, CA to name three. No one is forcing you to attend finals, especially since it seems to have been so unpleasant. The mere fact that LOS is working with DCI, and I presume ISSMA and BOA, to try to fix some of the issues is a good thing, no a great thing. Indianapolis is bending over backwards to help the situation and to market the event and to make DCI finals an enjoyable experience all around. When was the last time a venue and city worked so hard to get and to keep DCI finals? As for the roof not being open, blame the corps, not DCI. They were the ones that didn't want to the roof open in the event that the roof would have to be closed due to rain. The corps were the ones that wanted the sound to be the same for all performances because, yes, obviously, the sound would change between open and closed roof.

You people realize you're talking about a football stadium, right? Allow me to repeat: FOOTBALL STADIUM LOS isn't Carnegie Hall, never will be, so there is really nothing you can do about the sound that is produced inside. No football stadium on the planet is going to be a suitable venue for a drum corps show, period. Sure, there may be better places than others but as long as DCI puts its activity on a football field, people are just going to have to deal with all the issues inherent in trying to use a space designed primarily for one activity, football, to view another activity, drum corps. If you really want a high quality performance space for drum corps, build it. Fund raise the money and build a purpose built venue. That's the only way to get concert quality sound. Until that happens, accept the limitations that all FOOTBALL stadiums have for this activity.