An_drew

Thank you for correcting my poor word choice, because you're right, they definitely ARE good enough. But I do hope that they can close that almost non-existent gap this year (or sometime in the near future). It's long overdue.

Would they be including All-Age in those numbers now too, then?

Is it too much to ask for 2024 to be the year that Bloo Brass is finally good enough to win the Ott?? Please, I'm literally begging. I've wanted to see them win high brass for years now. Their hornline is criminally underrated, and I know I'm not the first person to say that. While they haven't been the cleanest or most technically proficient on the field, they have had one of the most characteristically unique sounds in the activity for more than a decade at this point. That's what makes Bloo Brass so special, in my opinion. I recently came back to this video for the first time in a while, and my goodness it's getting me excited for 2024!

Alright, I guess I know how I'm spending my evening: listening to a TON of Son Lux. This is so hype.

2022 Blue Stars Of War and Peace. I was kinda meh on that show after watching it on Flo, but their brass sound in person completely caught me off guard. Something about it was just so sonically pleasing to the ears. I had to pick my jaw up off the ground multiple times throughout that show, but especially after the Rimsky-Korsakov impact.

I go back and forth on 2015 and 2019 all the time. On the one hand, I have nothing but love for BD and I genuinely want to respect the final decision of the judges. But on the other hand, sometimes it sucks to see your favorite corps on the brink of championship just to see it snatched away last minute. I just re-listened to Bloo19 as well, so I'm gonna let myself be upset about it for a minute. Again, nothing but love for BD. BD fans should be allowed to let themselves be upset about 2008 every once in a while too, and same for Cadets fans in regards to 2014. Being on the other side of an outcome like that really sucks.

https://bluecoats.com/news/2024/2/21/seasonannouncement This article is a BEAST, but it definitely highlights a lot of really cool stuff they're doing.

That book is fire, but I just hate that indoor lot recording. This is probably my favorite recording of Bloo16 drums:

Vanguard 2012 Music of the Starry Night. Love this show, and this percussion section!

Absolutely IMPECCABLE usage of this meme.

When was the last time someone other than SCV won back to back drum trophies?

Love to hear Anna Meredith is so supportive of the Bluecoats using her music. Her stuff is unique, interesting, weird, cool, and so many other adjectives that I can't think of right now. Currently sitting in my office on my lunch break listening to both the original version and Bloo's rendition of Nautilus. They're both just so good. Doug Thrower and Tom Rarick are geniuses. If only they could have gotten it a little cleaner...

Welcome to the Void was a really cool idea. If I remember right, they announced that show pretty early and I thought it sounded super interesting. Fast forward to the summer and saw it multiple times on Flo, and I was just never super impressed with it. They just needed to do more with the props and I feel like the show would have been 10 times better. I'll be the first to admit that I also wasn't the biggest fan of Goddess. I didn't hate it, but I also didn't love it. It was definitely a step in the right direction for them though, so I'm here for it.

I hope finals happens for Pacific Crest this year. 2019 was phenomenal for them, and I know it's been said before that if 2020 would have happened, there was a good chance we would have seen PC in finals. Then Covid derailed everything, and that "Void" show they did in 2022 didn't help matters. They've rebounded nicely since then, however. Is it time for yet another California corps to make finals?

No I've never seen them live, but I also agree it would go well in DCI. And Thrower/Rarick would really be the ones to do it justice. I was watching some TH music videos a while back, and all those weird little dances they do in some of them? Perfect choreo ideas. But I was also thinking, what if a Talking Heads show had the same style of narration as The Garden of Love? "Same as it ever was" could the be the new "A Chapel" lol.

All I want from Bloo24 is for them to REALLY go outside the box with their music selections. I just wanna see Thrower/Rarick go absolutely CRAZY in 2024, ya know? I can't say I've ever imagined a Talking Heads drum corps show before, but I'm picturing it now, and it's spectacular. There's even so many ideas for unique choreography and visuals based on some of the dances they do in their music videos. I would be 100% down for this.

Even though it's not likely, I truly hope and pray they somehow make it through this. Losing any corps sucks, especially one as storied as the Cadets. Despite the negative image that Hopkins and Co. brought onto the organization, there is still an incredible legacy left behind. On a side note: I loved that line in the article that talked about how "nobody marched faster." That made me giggle for a sec, because one time when I was watching the 2005 show on YouTube, they were marching so fast in the opener that I had actually thought the video was being sped up for a second. I had to double check to make sure the playback speed was set to "normal." Absolutely mind-blowing technique.

Without a doubt there are some corps out there that could stick it out for decades. These days, Boston is one of them, along with a handful of other top groups.

Apparently "Sunny the Sun Prop" from Troopers 2023 MIGHT be making a reappearance in 2024? Mary Duerkop said something about it in an interview with Dan Potter at the Januals. Also, I love that they call it "Sunny the Sun Prop." She also said "Dance with the Devil" is sort of a continuation of 2023, so it'll be interesting to see what kind of a direction this goes in. Hope it's another good one, because I really would like to see them stick around in finals. Here's the interview:

I can't say I entirely disagree with you there, because I'm a pretty big Bloo fan. But I believe that it really could have gone either way. BD was phenomenal that year too. I just don't like to get hung up on it because that was an amazing season for the Bluecoats, and I will always remember it fondly regardless of the final outcome.

I admire BD and their competitive dominance, and I absolutely love their shows. With that being said, I would like to see more competition for that top spot. Now with THAT being said, I don’t want ANYONE to be judged unfairly. If BD is the best on the field, then I want them to win it. If another corps manages to be better, then I want that corps to win it. There’s not a single championship BD has won in the last 20 years that they did not deserve. Which means everyone else just needs to step up their game. THAT’S what I would like to see happen.

At this time 10 years ago, the Bluecoats design team was working on TILT, the show that started their impressive run of seven medals in eight competitive seasons. As far as the last 10 years are concerned, that run is second only to the success of BD. It also marks 10 years since I started following drum corps, as I was introduced to the activity following the conclusion of the 2013 season. In 2014, TILT turned this novice drum corps fan into a Bluecoats fan. 10 years later, the Bluecoats continue to captivate me in a way that no other corps can. Happy TILT-iversary Bluecoats! Hope the mad scientists are putting something together to bring home championship #2 in 2024!

Just went and re-watched Surf's 2023 show because this thread came up again. How anyone can think they don't deserve to be World Class is truly beyond me. They are certainly not the cleanest, but their energy is infectious and the hornline plays like there's 80 of them out there. They are truly working their butts off and having a World Class experience. This thread was, is, and always will be a massive L.

Pretty typical Bluecoats thread. Started hot and then went dead lol. Not necessarily mad about it, because it's technically a good thing. But in other news, Bloo posted a video to their socials the other day of their Ohio Camp brass auditionees playing "At The Door" by The Strokes, with vocalist Dave Vives. Pretty cool video and some impressive brass sounds coming from a first round audition camp. I saw it shared on reddit, so I figured I would drop it in here. I doubt this has anything to do with their 2024 show, however. It sounds like they just wanted to provide a cool experience for their camp attendees. But who knows? I did listen to this song and a few others by The Strokes and the music sounds right up their alley. I guess we'll see...

Jacob Collier's music has Blue Devils and Bluecoats written all over it. I'm a big fan of both corps, so I would love to see either one of them take a hack at it.