Jake W.

Excellent job from Surf, much much cleaner than San Antonio when I was last able to catch them. Surf will be battling it out with Genesis & Spartans for the 24th, 25th, and 26th positions, with one man out, of course. I give the nod to Genesis (highly likely) & Surf (moderately likely). I'll understand the reasoning if Spartans make it in, but I would really like it to be Surf, not only for their sake, but I felt they had a better-put-together show, albeit more laid back and less energetic. Surf had some DELICIOUS power moments, but their greatness lied in little moments throughout the show, and I think those details are what will give them the edge over Spartans. It's not the most exciting drum corps show ever, but it REALLY came together nicely at the end of the season...so many beautiful blues and turquoises and whites, and the gorgeous sunset flags against the waves at the closer, and lots of great little moments of ebbing and flowing throughout.

Truly the most well-put-together pioneer show i've seen in the ten years or so I've been watching drum corps. much, much more detail and flow than we ever see from the corps. Great hornlike that occasionally overplayed itself, but also brought some real moments of power. Burning of Joan at the stake during Adagio for Strings was my first big chills moment of the day. And that VOCALIST, Jesus. Top notch quality. Perfection. And she really just added some frosting onto the lovely brass cake, didn't offer the backbone to the music at any point. It was all so well done. It's a shame that with all of that improvement, I really can't imagine them coming anywhere close to knocking off Genesis, which is what they would need to do to break into Semis. I would place them around Music City & 7th Regiment. But that's more a testament to the rapid growth of other groups around them. Maybe we'll see some solid retention and numbers bump after this more-successful season for them!

WOW, Legends gets the award for most rapidly-improving corps. They've really taken off FLYING over the last two years, without looking back. As much as that performance THRILLED me, I think their next step in design could be to take a lesson from Genesis' show this year and really incorporate those design details that make things sparkle: transitions and visual & musical layering in particular. While Legends' show was brimming with TERRIFIC moments that were so well-conceived, there were also multiple spots where my attention wandered for a second, and I wasn't really sure what they were trying to achieve, other than getting to the next big moment. Very minute spots, but present nonetheless. With Genesis, the design from top-to-bottom was highly engaging, and less journeying from impact-to-impact. On the other hand, Legends performed with SO MUCH incredible energy, and this show is exactly where they needed to be in terms of growth this season. I'm rabidly looking forward to what they'll bring in the future, and can't wait to see that show again tomorrow! A WELL-DESERVED Open Class Bronze Medal performance!!!!

Wow, Genesis!!!! I really enjoyed last year's Phantom show, and it was a perfect example of a top-of-the-class Open show that was cleaned beautifully. While they're definitely less clean at this season's end, the corps has *CLEARLY* taken a large step towards World Class both with their expanded touring model this season and that beautiful design. What a step up from last year!!!! Such a layered music book that was composed beautifully, and terrific guard writing that was chockfull of small ensembles and independent work. Especially set against the backdrop of Spartans' design before them, that show read as one that would fit better with Scades & Crest, if it were as clean as it could be. It's been so fun to watch Genesis grow. This season was a tremendous step forward (I don't want to say up, because Phantom was great for where they were at last year). GREAT job, genesis!

Nice job, Spartans!! In my mind, they're a great example of an Open Class show maxed out at the right time. Aggressive color guard and flag work, fabulous and layered percussion writing, rock solid movement from the corps proper. Visual is obviously the Spartans' strong caption (and has been for a few years). The musical selections were a bit of a head scratcher for me. Semis is a big race for them right now. If the current rankings stand, Surf will have to knock Spartans out to snag that 25th spot, which I think is quite doable, depending on how much they've cleaned since Allentown. It will be a tight race!

Blue Springs (MO), last year, first Finals appearance!

Music City was excellent. I love that they can field such a large corps as of late. And really, really skilled from top to bottom in every aspect; movement technique across the members, a solid color guard, musical writing, terrific line & front ensemble, excellent form control, clear theme. I agree and disagree about the line between classes being blurred yet, though. In previous years, yes. The bottom world class corps are too strong this year, though. In order for Music City to play tomorrow, they would have to beat 'Scades (and the two corps are on different planes at this point...and that's ok), or zoom ahead of Spartans & Surf...just probably not going to happen. While "Coronation" was nice, it reminded me of a 15th-20th place World Class design ten years ago. A good 2003 show, you know? It was a good idea, and carried them for a successful season, but there are a couple more steps before I would venture to say that Music City would survive well in World Class. But, that's all quite alright....Music City had an incredible end of their season today. Lots to be proud of as a thriving, solid Open Class corps.

Absolutely agreed. Some great performances so far, and I cringe when the camera pans the stands : (

Generally the bane of all-original music shows. They had their place in the first decade of this century, now let's all agree to move past them!

So, Gold was really the first corps today that offered detail in both their execution in design. No one else below them has really exhibited the control, both visually and musically, that Gold did. Well done. While the previous few shows have been nice, this was, in my opinion, our first glance towards the top of Open Class and bottom of World Class; the design was very well-thought-out and that manifested itself in lots of small details....modern transitions, subtle crosses throughout, very musical writing for the weapons in particular, etc. And, really the first full ensemble today that's brought us dynamics in the middle of phrases! Thank you, Gold! Well done!

Performing their show, "Die-ah dee los ma-dra-toos", Drum Corps International is proud to present.... Jesus, that was a butchering for the ages : )

Incredibly bright future for Louisiana Stars!! Those contras were so powerful (as was the rest of the talented brass line). I'm sure this has been discussed, but does anyone know the ties (if any, and I assume there are) to Lafayette High School's marching band? Group of alumni, same staff or directors, or even a non profit branch of the program? I see a lot of similarities in design and the arrangement of the music book and brass writing, and, obviously, they're both in the same community. How related are the two organizations?

And Berkner in 2014, Mister Texas!

Raiders were much more impressive than I was expecting. one of the Open Class corps I was less familiar with, and I didn't realize they had such a a (relatively) long history. For such a small unit, they were super tight and pumped some sound. The Holsinger closer was REALLY, really well played. Well-designed show. Nice job, Raiders!

Excellent final performance for such a new corps. Way to go, Guardians! A very typical Daniel Montoya Jr. arrangement of lots of pieces woven together in a very smart way. Guardians have had a season to be proud of, and they're quite the corps to watch in the coming years as they'll inevitably rise to the top of Open Class, in a way that I predict will take Genesis's place near the top of Open once they make their (eventual?) move to World Class. Such a great performance today, and such a bright future for Guardians!

Excellent job to River City Rhythm, incredibly worthy of their newly-minted Open Class status. Captured the idea of "shimmering" very well! Well done!!

What a nice show for these guys, and so interesting to read up a bit on their history on their Wikipedia page and from previous posts. TERRIFIC "first" year, Shadow!!!! What a talented group of kids!

Ding ding ding!

With Troop besting Boston in both GE & Music last night, and decreasing their "theoretical" spread behind Scouts to less than 2 points, I'm not counting Troopers out yet. As I mentioned in my initial post, if we can count on the unit for one thing recently, it's to be magically, crystal, squeaky clean during Finals week. On the other hand, this is a much more difficult show than the past few years, so maybe that won't hold true. If Troopers can manage to get their visual presentation together, I see no reason that they couldn't be playing WITH Academy on Saturday night, with Scouts & Boston watching from the outside. It's certainly not over yet. Also, I've rewatched Academy about a million times throughout the season, especially in the last few days, and I just don't buy the idea that their show offers any less challenge than the other groups in this fighting-for-Finals tier. They're playing as a full ensemble for the large majority of the show, and have a MUCH larger full ensemble dynamic range than, say, Crossmen & Scouts, who generally are achieving their softer spots by use of soloists or a general lack of the full brass line. Dukas' Sorcerer's Apprentice is really allowing their low brass line to show off. And, seriously, Unchained Melody alone offers SO MUCH musicality that just isn't coming through in the writing of the other corps in this tier: extended & *long* phrases, at soft volumes, while moving; rapid dynamic growths and diminishes; super-exposed full ensemble attacks at low volume levels....ah, it's all so delicious. I just really don't think it can be said that The Academy's show offers any less meat than Scouts, Boston, Crossmen, or Troopers. What an exciting battle this is shaping up to be!!!!

Now that we're down to the wire, it's time for everyone's second-favorite fight (my personal favorite, though!), after the fight for medals and the championship. As I see it, there are 9 locks for Finals (Bluecoats down to Blue Stars, and hooray Blue Stars for being such a sure bet for Finals this year), and 5 corps vying for those last three spots. Obviously, three of those corps will play on Saturday night, and two will end their season on Friday evening. I'll start off with my opinion, but I'd love to hear everyone else's as well. Crossmen, Scouts, Boston, Academy, & Troop fighting for those last three spots. CROSSMEN: Obviously the easiest pick of the five, although by no means a 100% lock for Saturday night. Arguably the most talented musicians, guard, and most retention the corps has seen in at least ten years, I just wish they had been given a more musically demanding show to match those abilities. As of Allentown, they're the cleanest and most nuanced of this group of five corps. My only worry is that the show is cleaned & peaked and has the potential to be caught. If all five corps were crystal clean and at peak perfection, I think this brass book in particular would seriously lag behind the other four --- it truly does not offer much in the way of extended phrase work, organic difficulty, and they play (by far) the least of the five brass lines throughout the show. On the other hand, color guard is top notch, and the percussion writing is deep and layered and delicious. The design as a whole makes much more sense than Scouts or Boston, although certainly not as emotionally investing as Troopers or Academy Strengths: Top of this tier all season long / crystal clear show design & concept / delicate & detailed percussion / powerful color guard that confidently executes musical, difficult, multi-layered work / EXCELLENT brass line / Ballad impact moment is a real treat. Possible Weaknesses for next week: Have they peaked? Is there much left to clean, and if not, will they be passed by cleaner groups with more complex designs? Brass book by far has the least to offer of the five. MADISON SCOUTS: Hard to imagine a Finals night without the Scouts, but El Relampago wasn't that long ago. I think we all had higher hopes for this show, preseason. Among the best musicians & marchers of these five corps, but a real head-scratcher of a design. Despite the crap that the dinos on the Madison thread love to spew about today's chop & bop arrangements, that myth is NOT the case with most groups this year...except for Madison & Boston, and they've been suffering all season because of it. The musical arrangement just doesn't make much sense. Beyond that, I think Madison's least-discusesd design flaw this season is their lack of visual complexity or demand. Yes, they have a rock solid guard that spins sky high, but the drill of the corps proper truly lacks velocity, exposure, or demand when compared with the other groups in their tier (in my opinion). Strengths: Incredible musicians, aggressive & clean color guard, and the passion and swagger that this corps brings to the field. All of that coupled with their late season cleaning abilities of recent years could give a pretty positive outlook for this upcoming weekend. Possible weaknesses: Design, design, deign, as we all know. Choppy musical writing that doesn't make much sense, and a drill design that lacks the demand of others in the tier. BOSTON CRUSADERS: Wow, they're finally pulling this thing together. The guard uniforms are elegant and the windmills make for a visual feast. Similar to Madison, in the pursuit of staying current, the musical design seems to have chased elusively after an esoteric mixing of great music, to no avail, and forgoing entertainment in the process. Again, can't imagine a Finals night without Boston Crusaders. My biggest worry is that we really have not seen a clean end-of-season corps from them in a few years; both Animal Farm & Conquest had significant amounts of dirt remaining at the end of each season. Strengths: This corps knows what it takes to be a finalist. The rewrites and additions seem to finally be tying Quixotic together. A real, true hunger and grit to maintain that finalist status could be all it takes to maintain. Possible Weaknesses: An over-designed show and a lack of experience with late-season cleanliness in the last few years. THE ACADEMY: We'lI all be heartbroken if this incredible show doesn't make Finals. Contrary to popular opinion, I think the brass book in particular offers just as much challenge as anyone else in their tier: they're playing non-stop throughout both Prokofiev pieces (already something that Crossmen's book doesn't offer), there's plenty of exposure (more so than Scouts or Boston, in my opinion), and the entire Unchained Melody closer offers SO MUCH musicality, extended phrases, and nuance that simply cannot be found in the other brass books in this tier. My worry with The Academy: the corps simply has no experience with cleaning like a finalist group. The little extra details, the sparkle, the final push...I'm certainly not implying that they can't figure it out, but Crossmen, Scouts, Boston, and even Troopers certainly have a leg up in this category. The Academy has brought us a slew of great shows (Re, Mary Poppins, and Left of Spring all come to mind) that fell flat at the end of the season and were out-cleaned, even occasionally by lesser designs. The whole season of cleaning must be approached with aggression and passion; conversely, cleaning in the final week requires a delicate and detailed approach. It's a fine line to navigate. Strengths: The show, the glorious, fan-favorite show. The closer gets me every time. A challenging brass book, a much-improved color guard, and the audience on the corps' side!! Possible Weakness: A lack of experience with hanging with the big boys, and what that takes in the final stretch. TROOPERS: This fight isn't over yet. It's a terrific show, better-designed than some others in this tier, but that #### visual caption is their thorn. It's a monster show, and Troopers have demonstrated for the last five years that they know how to CLEAN during the home stretch. On the flip side, this show is unquestionably meatier than any of their recent programs, which they were able to max out by Finals week. The Fix You closer is gold. The Corigliano in particular offers more substance than any of the other corps in this tier. I really, really enjoy the Trooper's show this year, and they're not out of this battle yet. Strengths: Their demonstrated ability the last few seasons to clean like hell during Finals week. A terrific design, and an emotional audience connection that the Troopers are so good at eliciting from a crowd. Weakness for Finals week: Visual, visual, visual. If they can get that caption in order, the sky's the limit. I would just like to personally add, I would be in heaven in both Troop & Academy were to break into the top 12 this year. Ah, a guy can dream. In the mean time, I would love to hear everyone's thoughts on this Friday evening battle for the last few Finalist spots!

Incredibly close, actually. Always have been and always will be. Again, and I asked this earlier, what aspects in particular are you referring to? In terms of touring and performance schedules, rehearsal structure, and management, they are night and day different, especially two and three decades ago. If you're talking show design, competitive high school marching band and competitive drum corps have mirrored each other for the last forty years. The top groups in the Bands of America circuit and the top groups in DCI any give year have ALWAYS had similar show designs, pacing, and ideas The two have paralleled each other greatly throughout the last four decades, so if you're referring to the shows that each separate facet of our activity put on being "VERY different, not even close", then you're flat out incorrect. Staff is shared amongst the top groups in each circuit; all that changes is the season, summer to fall, DCI to BOA. Like it or not, drum corps and competitive high school marching band are two very similar branches of a completely unique niche activity.

DrumMan's response is perfect; Academy's show is a lightning-in-a-bottle marriage of entertainment and demand that seems to perfectly fit the corps' talent level, and it all seems so natural and organic. I will argue that the Troopers have more difficulty in their show that isn't clean yet, but it is also organic and fitting to the corps. Crossmen, Scouts, and Boston, in my opinion, have weaker show designs than The Academy (and Troop, although I might be in the minority on that one), even though the three aforementioned corps have some more difficult sections written in. Crossmen's show does flow well and strike a great entertainment value with the audience, as opposed to Scouts & Boston, but none of the three did a very good job this year at designing challenging moments that fit naturally into the show, or make sense with the ideas around them. And, in terms of difficulty, I don't think Crossmen is on a higher plane than Academy; the brass book in particular doesn't offer any more challenge than Academy's, nor are the challenges presented particularly natural within the context of the music...and there's not much offered in the way of musicality or extended phrase work. As for Scouts & Boston, neither corps was able to design a show this season that properly married design and appeal. Both are choppy, confusing, and esoteric without presenting any satisfying conclusion to their works. Again, I think Troop has a pretty solid design as well, one of the better in recent years; it just is nowhere near clean. All a bit of insight to Academy's current scores.

In terms of what? Your reply is super vague in two points: when exactly is "BITD", and what aspects of marching band & drum corps were "verrrrry different"? In many aspects, you are correct. Marching band & drum corps have never mirrored each other in terms of rehearsal structure or performance models, and especially not throughout the 70s & 80s. But in terms of show concepts, from the 70s to the present, the top groups in Bands of America and the top drum corps have generally paralleled each other. There has NEVER been anything "verrrrry different" from show design style across the top groups in each circuit, no matter what point in the last 40 years you select, and these groups have always set the show design tone, season in and season out, for the downticket groups in the activity. The top drum corps and the top marching band have had fairly indistinguishable show designs since the 70s, and there's no denying that. And it makes total sense; at their cores, they are both two similar aspects of an incredibly unique niche activity that share lots of staff members and designers across the circuits.

Just found a video from their run at Broken Arrow. Really, really great changes all across the board. While PoR & both Mackey pieces have had me solidly in The Cadets' camp all year, the show design started the season as a twisted mess of tradition and contemporary, with neither coming out as clear. It makes a LOT more sense now, and not necessarily the "story"...I don't think there's supposed to be a clear story arc to follow, which is fine...but the staging, the pacing, the return of the opening theme to Wine Dark Sea in the last few moments of their closer, the rehashing of the stationary block in the closer with brass players rotating around various guard members, the unison flag work at the end of the opener, and the redesign of Turning. It all is much, MUCH clearer. Still a few awkward transitions to figure out (not in between large segments as a whole, but smaller spots). I still don't know if anyone in the current top 3 is vulnerable enough to allow Cadets in by Finals, but I absolutely no longer think Cadets are so vulnerable to Cavies, Phantom, or BK. We all know they can clean like no one else, and these changes, to me, solidify them in their usual (as of late) 3rd to 5th place range, nothing lower. This will be quite an entertaining Cadets show when mid-August rolls around!

HA! I hang my head in shame : ) The discussion had me heated, and I was railing off whatever I could think of and hear from quick video scans of each corps, and didn't go back to proofread much. Anyway, correction embarrassingly noted!