Go to Lucas Oil Stadium!

[euponitone]

How about the 4th of July at Havre de Grace, MD?

Cool, only played Joe Tourist in Europe when visiting some relatives near London and Bristol, England. Then got to work at some crappy locations in Sicily, Spain and Iceland (in Winter!!).

I was there when I was in the Ravens Band, which I am currently not ('fraid i dont rate enough for weekly international flights to make practices)

You never know though...I may be back in someday

[Ncopp]

~ "ummmm, no"

~ "3. I refuse to give DCI $75 of my hard-earned money in exchange for $5 worth of sound. DCI is first and foremost a business, not a charity, and I'm going to treat it as such."

~ "I won't be going back to Indy. Only the third time in 26 years I will have missed a championship. Other times due to death in family and living out of the country."

~ "...but there's no way I'm going to the Echo Dome for Finals while it's there."

~ "I'm never going back to Lucas Oil Stadium."

~ " Bottom line for me, too much effort for crappy sound. "

~ " Other ways to support DCI than going to Finals at LOS..... "

~ "Maybe DCI's heart attack will be 8,000 people at finals. Hopefully it happens sooner than later."

My age out is gunna ROCK! lol

[Bob984]

Here's my take.

As a paying customer, I want the best aural experience possible. In simplest terms, that translates to an open, outdoor stadium with steep stands close to the front sideline. Some people want a supplementary vacation spot, but since I go to finals for finals, that's not a factor for me.

If I were trying to manage this spectacle, I would want to provide a good customer experience, but I also have to live with all the practical aspects of arranging and running a competition. From this perspective, a long term contract at LOS looks pretty good. I get the security of a long term arrangement with the added convenience of not having to spend half my waking moments trying to find a venue for next year or the year after that. I get the security of not worrying about rainouts (if my event was rained out at an outdoor venue, how many of the complainers about LOS sound would keep their mouths shut about missing finals?). I get the benefit of every corps performing under the exact same conditions. I get the benefit of housing sites getting used to the process and becoming partners instead of being a fresh challenge every year. I don't have to retrain venue personnel every year. I can plan my budget because I know the costs and they're pretty low for the venue I have. I'm wanted here instead of merely tolerated by the community. I can set this up and focus on other things instead of using half my resources to work on the next championship. I don't have to worry about safety issues like drill on wet fields or water around electricity. I don't have to worry about busting my butt to do the best job possible and still come up short (Pasadena anyone? West coasters loved it, but the locale had major shortcomings, the stands were as flat a pancake, the ushers were Nazis, the field was in less than perfect shape, and the lights emitted a nightmarish buzz.) Couple this with the fact that this isn't the worst dome a drum corps show has been put in (RCA Dome anyone?) and that a lot of customers are willing to live with the sonic shortcomings (and flat-out find it perfectly acceptable), it's hard to imagine why I'd want to kick this to the curb.

All that being said, I personally can't think of a nicer place to have a drum corps championship than Bloomington, but from a manager's perspective, LOS makes a lot of sense. Everything about my LOS experience (even the listening experience) was better than my experience at the Rose Bowl, so I'll be there again this year.

Where I was sitting, the Rose Bowl, other than the lighting buzz, sounded fine. I didn't think the field was that bad. Yes, we did have "hashgate", and there have been better fields. DCI has never been rained out, and have worked around rain that has happened, and not many complained. It is even less of a factor as there is no longer an issue with live TV. Flat stands usually make for good sound. LOS, in comparison, sounded atrocious. You somehow imply that many find the sound perfectly acceptable....I don't know about you, but I haven't talked to too many of them. Yep, you can make all of the logistics arguments you want, but the bottom line is that it is pretty pathetic for a so-called musical activity to hold their premier event in a facility with terrible sound, when there are many, many venues, including one 50 miles away, which have fine sound. That is why I will not return to Lucas.

GB

[BlooContraGuy]

~ "ummmm, no"

~ "3. I refuse to give DCI $75 of my hard-earned money in exchange for $5 worth of sound. DCI is first and foremost a business, not a charity, and I'm going to treat it as such."

~ "I won't be going back to Indy. Only the third time in 26 years I will have missed a championship. Other times due to death in family and living out of the country."

~ "...but there's no way I'm going to the Echo Dome for Finals while it's there."

~ "I'm never going back to Lucas Oil Stadium."

~ " Bottom line for me, too much effort for crappy sound. "

~ " Other ways to support DCI than going to Finals at LOS..... "

~ "Maybe DCI's heart attack will be 8,000 people at finals. Hopefully it happens sooner than later."

My age out is gunna ROCK! lol

Just think, mine is after ANOTHER year in the same place with attitudes like this. I can't wait to age out to a crowd of 9,000! Especially after my first finals being in pasadena!

[corps-mudgeon]

Where I was sitting, the Rose Bowl, other than the lighting buzz, sounded fine.

This is like saying that the LOS, other than the echoes, sounded fine. The buzz was horrible and definitely detracted from my first hand experience. Ironically enough, the buzz can be heard in the 2007 finals recordings (there was even a thread on here a few months ago asking about that noise), but the 2009 recordings sound pretty good.

Yep, you can make all of the logistics arguments you want, but the bottom line is that it is pretty pathetic for a so-called musical activity to hold their premier event in a facility with terrible sound, when there are many, many venues, including one 50 miles away, which have fine sound. That is why I will not return to Lucas.

I don't know if you think I'm defending LOS--I'm not. Whereas your post seeks to explain why you won't go, mine seeks to explain why DCI won't leave. You probably have a better chance of being right.

[Lance]

This is like saying that the LOS, other than the echoes, sounded fine.

No, not so much.

[corps-mudgeon]

No, not so much.

I don't know what you mean by this. If you think the analogy is faulty, I disagree. If you think LOS didn't sound fine, I wouldn't argue with that.

FWIW--probably not much--I personally enjoyed listening in the LOS more than I did in the Rose Bowl. If I was further away from the lights at the Rose Bowl and not located in what could have been an acoustical sweet spot in the LOS, I might feel differently.

Edited February 24, 2010 by corps-mudgeon

[Rifuarian]

Just think, mine is after ANOTHER year in the same place with attitudes like this. I can't wait to age out to a crowd of 9,000! Especially after my first finals being in pasadena!

I really doubt it'll be that bad. DCI has made a wise business decision, in my opinion, and I wish them all the success in the world. It would have been great if DCI could have chosen as their permanent (and LOS will be permanent) home a venue where the shows you work so hard to perfect all summer long could actually be heard. But they didn't, and that's their decision to make, and it'll probably bring them some measure of success. But it's a success I don't plan on being a part of.

[Jeff Ream]

This is like saying that the LOS, other than the echoes, sounded fine. The buzz was horrible and definitely detracted from my first hand experience. Ironically enough, the buzz can be heard in the 2007 finals recordings (there was even a thread on here a few months ago asking about that noise), but the 2009 recordings sound pretty good.

there's a problem...if its going to sound better on cd than live, why spend all that money? just order the cd's.

I don't know if you think I'm defending LOS--I'm not. Whereas your post seeks to explain why you won't go, mine seeks to explain why DCI won't leave. You probably have a better chance of being right.

[Lance]

I don't know what you mean by this. If you think the analogy is faulty, I disagree.

Yeah, I disagree. It's a matter of degree. Neither is pleasant. But one is more offensive and obnoxious than the other by a fair margin for me.