Dansize

Along with 1987 (the first year of drum corps I saw), when I think of the Cadets, it's more about pieces of shows. 2000 - having fun in the challenge call/response 2002 - Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy Early 2000s - Malaguena, Moondance The last 3 minutes of the Christmas show in 2012 2007 - for all the crap from that year ("let's try it without the vocals" and for those at quarter finals.. Yard gate)

Oh, and Blue Devils 2004 - Summertrain Blues Mix - An early showing (1st week of the season at Mt. Sac). When they did the horn hits in the end of the first movement, working off the snare fills....It was just amazing to me that any group could be THAT clean that early in the season. A fun show for a number of reasons.

Phantom 2003 - Harmonic Journey (the original) - Saw them in person for my first time when they did a California Tour. Early season show in Azusa, CA. At the time, the original ending did not resolve the building chords that ended the show. Nonetheless, they hit the first chord, and in my mind, I'm yelling, "WOW, that's loud!" Then they hit the next 2 chords in the progression, each getting louder still. Again, they did not resolve the progression. The show just ended. Loud, and tonally angry. I collected all the media I could from that year, based on that show. Became a Phantom Regiment fan that night. A top-10 show (all time) for me.

In the days of physical media (CDs), we would often see them around Thanksgiving or sooner, as a nice wetting of the whistle in anticipation of the video products. Since moving to the audio download model, the timing shifted much later. I recall that the 2022 APDs were not available until February of 2023. Ironic in that you would assume the timing to produce a finished product might be expected to be faster when there are no physical goods to be produced. And all of this is still speculative since no one in any informed position of authority has made any announcement that recordings will be made available for the 2023 season. Count me as one who would continue to buy physical media were it to be produced. I dropped in the Blu-Ray from 2019 last night and immediately felt nostalgic and then sad that it just won't be that easy to watch quality recordings of shows post-COVID years.

BD 2004 - Summertrain Blues Mix - The right ratio of jazz, a fantastic ballad (Summertime) that could be reworked (not that it needs to be) and tremendous speed at the end with the lead up to A-Train.

The last year of physical video media from DCI was the 2019 season. Count me among those that would continue to buy them if they were produced. Physical media rules!

Cascades have one of my favorite drum majors this year as he conducts expressively for the show. A full body conductor who works to express energy during the show, matching the energy of the music he conducts. Not robotic in the least.

So instead of putting mics on the individual vibes and marimbas, all the players in the front row of the pit were wearing mics. That's new.

Still filling in, but yes, real seats for the home side between the goal lines.

Still filling in, but yes, real seats for the home side between the goal lines.

Yes, at least it was for 2021 and 2022. Haven't seen a reason for the change this year, but this is also a nice facility.

3rd year for the Salt Lake City show for us. New venue, and we like it. Clear skies, about 90 degrees and the entire field will be shaded by the time the show starts. Only disappointment so far is that it looks like the Mandarins did not send the merchandise to this show. Suspect they needed to restock following their home show 2 nights ago.

The LA area show was at a variety of places pre-2007. I know I went to shows at Azusa Pacific (Azusa/Glendora) as well as Mt. San Antonio College (Walnut). It just seems like DCI (and/or Pacific Crest) latched on to the Rose Bowl in the years following 2007 finals as a premier (easily recognized) location. If I recall, the first (non-finals) show they did there was a tie-in with the 4th of July fireworks at the Rose Bowl in an attempt to attract fans that might not have been exposed to drum corps previously. I was not a fan as a spectator in 2007 and would choose another location if given the chance.

Northern Nevada (Reno) has had a number of consecutive years where the smoke from CA wildfires would get sucked in to the valley and park here for a while. Locals are starting to call it "smoke season." We have been lucky so far, but truthfully, it typically occurs in July-September. In 2021 or 2022 (possibly both), the Mandarins chose to schedule a week of training in the Reno area, I suspect to try to avoid the Sacramento heat, only to get here and have to deal with dense smoke for the week. AQI numbers in the 200-350 range if I recall. That did not stop them from doing the full week of outdoor rehearsals and a community performance. Maybe they saw it as rigorous conditioning. Ironically, the University of Nevada football team (which has no indoor practice facilities) chose to skip their preseason training locally and move their preseason activities to the CA coast, at Stanford. That was not a cheap week for them.

New update from SCV with a review of how they got here with respect to budgets and the decision path they took to get here:

I am saddened by the announcement. SCV was the first corps I really discovered when I saw the PBS broadcast version of finals in the 1987 season. it made me a fan through today, which in turn helped make my kids fans as well. I hope for the best, but am also too pessimistic for my own tastes at this stage. I am REALLY curious about the silence from across the bay though. Within hours/days of the SCV announcement, many other corps made statements via their social media feeds concerning their feelings on the announcement and offers to help where they could. Those are the things we have come to expect and appreciate in the activity. But I have not seen anything from the BD camp and can't help but be concerned for that silence. Because remember, BD and SCV were joined at the hip for past (big) announcements. When their open class corps chose to forego any season outside of CA in 2019, they announced it virtually together (same day). When the world class groups chose to skip the non-competitive season in 2021, same thing. Generally the same explanation for both of them. I have friends that speculated that when SCV announced that the Vanguard Cadets were shutting down for the current season that the only reason BD didn't do the same with BDB was due to the profound online reaction to the SCV announcement at the time, and they chose instead to do the "stay-close-to-home" plan for BDB. In no way would I expect that the blue team has the issues that SVC ran in to that caused this announcement. But a lot of us did not see this one coming either. It's just a weird silence given their history of doing many things together in the past and the mutual respect they seem to have fostered over the last several years.

The concourse at the Alamodome is tough during intermission when everything is wide open. The first year I went to the show there (5-7 years ago), the dome was renovating much of the concession area on the concourse and reduced the width by at least half with plywood walls the length of the building. Can't say I look forward to that again, but the lineup still points me there. Like others, I'm hoping that the lineups for each show are still incomplete as I find it odd that SCV is not doing the first week southern California leg of the tour. Hopefully this is not a negotiated absence due to cost concerns. But similarly, Troopers are not currently on the Ogden show lineup either, a show that is relatively close to their home base. I've tried to check back a few times today to see if there are updates, but it appears that the DCI site is crashed at the moment.

"And even if we win, if we win, HAH! Even if we win! Even if we play so far above our heads that our noses bleed for a week to ten days; even if God in Heaven above comes down and points his hand at our side of the field; even if every man woman and child held hands together and prayed for us to win, it just wouldn't matter because all the really good looking girls would still go out with the guys from Mohawk because they've got all the money! It just doesn't matter if we win or we lose. IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER!" - Tripper (Bill Murray) - Meatballs

I came here looking for a discussion that I thought would be in-progress already. I know it's not World Class, but they are a key piece of the world class parent organization. I'm not suprised that the cost of goods/services continue to affect the activity, but I did not expect this sort of announcement from the SCV organization: https://www.scvanguard.org/vanguard-cadetscurrent-season/ "After much consideration and internal discussion amongst executive leadership, program leadership, and the Board of Directors, Vanguard Music and Performing Arts (VMAPA) is placing The Vanguard Cadets on hiatus. While the summer of 2022 was a historic and successful season for The Vanguard Cadets, it was also the most expensive year to run a drum corps in the history of the activity. Like many other organizations, VMAPA experienced dramatically increased operational costs due to skyrocketing gas prices, nationwide vehicle and equipment shortages, decreased accessibility of affordable housing, Covid-related PPE, and more. These factors, in combination with the current economic climate in the United States, have unfortunately created a financial burden too great for VMAPA to shoulder while running not one, but two incredibly high performing drum corps. “This is not a decision we arrived at lightly,” said Jeremy C Van Wert, Executive Director of VMAPA. “We could never have anticipated the astronomical costs associated with the 2022 season. Everything- from basic food staples, to the buses that transport our members, was twice or three-times as expensive this year. We did our jobs to provide a World Class experience to the members of The Vanguard Cadets this summer and we are incredibly proud of all that they accomplished. Now that we have had time to reflect and take a close look at our financial situation, it is clear that we must place The Vanguard Cadets on a hiatus to protect the future of VMAPA. The Vanguard Cadets have achieved incredible things and it has taken diligent work to produce this excellent performer experience. A scaled back and drastically reduced experience would not have been consistent with the work done to build The Vanguard Cadets brand.” As to the future of the program, Mr. Van Wert said, “It is our hope that economic conditions will improve, and that it will be possible for The Vanguard Cadets to return to the field in the near future. However, as we learned this year, we cannot predict what comes next in today’s world. Our plan is to continue to do everything we can to bring in more funding and to revisit the future of The Vanguard Cadets program at the end of the 2023 season..” To stay up to date on the status of The Vanguard Cadets, visit this page."

I can totally see The Bluecoats doing this (even though there is a Goodwin relationship already with The Blue Devils:

No concept, just a song I've been listening to again. I could totally see this wrapped in to a Bluecoats rep.

I wouldn't want to see San Antonio go away. And the announced attendance at the Alamodome this year was 14K+ which is more than what was announced for Quarters and Semis in Indy. With respect to the list of Cities/regions, there are no domes in Northern CA. In fact the only dome for football in CA is in LA. I always find the concept and discussion of distance between potential venues fun to watch. Someone up thread spoke to the 4+ hours between Allentown and Pittsburgh (or Philly). I would drive 4 hours without a thought to go to a show. Maybe even just a rehearsal. Living in Northern Nevada, my closest shows that typically have the best draw for us are either Stanford (5-6 hours across the width of CA) or as we have found in the last 2 years, Ogden, UT (8 hours across the width of NV and half of UT).

I will not defend them most days, but Flo is not likely running the audio mix this week. They deliver the finished feed from the broadcast truck. I think the distortion issues are more corps issues today than anything.

Yessss! Troop!

Just seems like an unfortunate sound mix at the field level. It's as if their PA speakers have blown out or a cone is torn. Someone else said it was a bad mic, but it was more than just one passage.