2016 DCI World Championship Finals - 8/13/2016

[Cappybara]

Last season I recall the Blue Devils won without hitting 98, seems to be a trend. The Blue Devils set the bar so high in 2014 that they had to raise the bar of what a 98pt show is. Or maybe last year's and this year's winners just didn't deserve 98 pts, I think it's a combination of both.

I think it's just simple numbers. The top 3 are stealing captions from each other so no one corps is dominant enough for their score to add up to 98

[GEVisual]

Since I have a few hours to kill I've post my thoughts/predictions. My opinion only . . . I don't flame people for what they think, so please extend the same courtesy to me. Yes, I know all the performers work extremely hard all summer and should be applauded (and I do that). But it is a competition, so here goes . . .

Non-Finalists: Really loved some of the Open Class shows - very high level of creativity. Pacific Crest in particular was a highlight. Madison - all of the talent is there but they need to program better. Hope to see them rebound with a bang next season.

12th - Boston - Saw them in July and found the show to be extremely dull. Good for them for making the necessary changes to edge out Scouts for the final spot in finals. They truly earned this spot. I think they remain in 12th, but kudos to them for not packing it in after San Antonio. Coolest props of the year.

10th & 11th - Saw Crossmen in July and enjoyed the music book quite a bit. That said, after watching them again last night it didn't intrigue me as much. First viewing of Academy last night and was VERY impressed. Solid all around and a great conceptual vehicle to catapult them into the Saturday night show. Could feed off the audience hype and move up even further tonight.

7/8/9 - Blue Stars may have the most difficult and exposed program in this neighborhood. Crazy hard guard book which is coming together at the right time. If they can get a performance edge to them, they could finish at the top of this group. If they are even slightly off, they are relegated to 9th. Phantom plays the heck out of this show. One of the best ballads on the field this summer (and there are a crap-ton of good ones!). The visual program and guard programming seems a bit dated, but they perform the absolute snot out of it. The spread last night to 7th seemed a bit big, so not overly optimistic about their chances of moving up. Drums are fun to watch as well - GREAT performers. Blue Knights left me somewhat confused. I normally love their cerebral approach to programming, but this left me a bit flat. Maybe needs a second viewing. Very talented all around and I love the fact that they are willing to take risks.

4/5/6 - Cadets fell to sixth last night mainly due to the fact that they are still noticeably dirty in the visual caption. I completely buy this show all the way through the ballad, but they lose me in the closer. Kudos to them for challenging the performers with some of the most exposed drill of the summer. Guard continues to improve, but are sometimes overpowered (both musically and visually) by what the brass and battery are being asked to do. Deserving of the "most pages of drill rewritten" award for 2016. I honestly have not cared much for Cavaliers the past couple of seasons - and last night they were one of the highlights of the show. Well programmed and EXTREMELY well performed. Nice to see the green team get their swagger back. Was not shocked to see them move to 5th and if they can equal that level of performance tonight I think they stay there. The closer is one of the coolest things on the field this summer. SCV might have my favorite package of the year. It's just a show to sit back and watch develop - you don't need to look too deep to figure it out and they also perform the crap out of it. Best use of a mello section this year. The subtleties are what make it special. Congrats Vanguard - you get my fan favorite vote this season.

1/2/3 - Let's roll the dice again this evening and see what number shows up. I honestly thought Bluecoats would not be on top last night. The early electronic issues seemed to dull their performance level just a bit and it wasn't until mid-way through the ballad until I felt they got it back. Ballad features some of the tastiest trombone voicings of the season. They are asking the performers to do quite a bit in this show and the effort changes are numerous. Best moving corps out of Canton by a long shot. If they max it out tonight, I don't see anyone over them. Devils are another mystery to me. LOVED their show last year, but this one seems to be so similar to what we've heard over the past 4-5 years from them. Ballad climax is truly the highlight of the program (that soloist - WOW). Just perfection in arrangement and performance. I completely lose the guard in the show this year until the end when they are leveled on the props (which is VERY cool from a design standpoint). The program is missing something, but I'm not sure what it is. Still the best movers out there. I felt Crown's brass simply put on a clinic in semis. I'm amazed at the level of precision at every dynamic level. Sorry, but no one else plays like them. If they play like they did last night and are not up in brass performance, then something's wrong. Drums are better, but not at the level of Devils or Bloo. Guard was SMOKING in semis. The mass weapon statements are deadly accurate. Solid visually, but the program sometimes doesn't seem nearly as complex as others either in this neighborhood or even below them. If all three of these groups have their best performance tonight, I don't envy the panel. Just hope they rank them in the order that the performers are dictating.

My order of finish:

Bluecoats

Crown

Blue Devils

SCV

Cavies

Cadets

Phantom

Blue Knights

Blue Stars

Academy

Crossmen

Boston

The real winners tonight will be the audience. What a great year!

[Ghost]

Glad Miller didn't judge last night.

[PamahoNow]

The real winners tonight will be the audience. What a great year!

And the kids! (oops MMs)

[Pete Freedman]

Respectfully, because as enjoyable as they are to watch, it is more reminiscent of a BOA show. Cute does not take top GE in DCI.

Also, I don't think design is much a part of GE. It's mostly the mms ability to express passion in a variety of subtle ways. The judges are teachers, not producers. They are good at seeing past the music or show quality to evaluate the person performing the works. Yes, depth of concept and audience engagement may be on there as well, but I suspect it's reduced in importance in the judging because it's so arbitrary and also because teachers aren't the experts in design in the first place. Nobody is, really. Simon Cowl could give you his opinion straight up, but it would a different opinion than another producer sitting next to him.

Good design brought the top corps to the top by attracting all sorts of talent to those corps (members and staff), and by create a better educational experience, so I don't think it's necessary to judge design directly anyway. It rewards the corps in other ways. Just my opinion.

[DrumManTx]

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm gonna keep it all positive tonight. We can dig into who did what right and wrong, who had some big mistakes and who was on, and our conspiracy theories tomorrow. I think the members have all earned that while they perform tonight. What an amazing set or finalists!

[OhioBDfan]

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm gonna keep it all positive tonight. We can dig into who did what right and wrong, who had some big mistakes and who was on, and our conspiracy theories tomorrow. I think the members have all earned that while they perform tonight. What an amazing set or finalists!

I totally agree!! Although I'm a BD homer, hince the screen name, I'm also a Buckeye and if my blue team doesn't take title #18 tonight and complete the 3-peat, I would like nothing more then to see the Bluecoats take title #1. Here is to a great night of drum corps that will be kicked off by my fellow Marines, when the Commandants Own takes the field. Semper Fi!!

[MingoLeger]

So excited for tomorrow after tonights scores! I know it's not a prediction thread, but I think:

Bloo

Crown

BD

SCV

Cavies

Cadets

BK

Bluestars

Phantom

Crossmen

Academy

Boston

Good luck to all!

This is 100% what I would like to see happen.

[MingoLeger]

I just posted this on the semifinals thread, but figured I'd put it up here for anyone who has already moved on from last night:

A question about corps' pre-show announcements....

Has anyone else noticed that Mr. Crocker announces the Cadets differently?

For any corps not from the state of Pennsylvania: "Drum Corps International is proud to present...."

For The Cadets: "DCI is proud to present..."

And last night, he didn't show title, either.

A trivial thing to be sure - not looking for black helicopters on the horizon, not forming any conspiracy theories. I simply find it curious if anyone else has noticed.

We noticed this while watching the live stream too. And thought it was weird. Like maybe the Cadets changed the name of the show and the announcer forgot what it was? Although I would think he has all that written down in front of him, just in case, no?

[DORCHESTER GUY]

Also, I don't think design is much a part of GE. It's mostly the mms ability to express passion in a variety of subtle ways. The judges are teachers, not producers. They are good at seeing past the music or show quality to evaluate the person performing the works. Yes, depth of concept and audience engagement may be on there as well, but I suspect it's reduced in importance in the judging because it's so arbitrary and also because teachers aren't the experts in design in the first place. Nobody is, really. Simon Cowl could give you his opinion straight up, but it would a different opinion than another producer sitting next to him.

Good design brought the top corps to the top by attracting all sorts of talent to those corps (members and staff), and by create a better educational experience, so I don't think it's necessary to judge design directly anyway. It rewards the corps in other ways. Just my opinion.

I'm teetering on the brink of insulting a corps which I enjoy, which is the opposite of what I am trying to say. Justice Potter Stewart famously wrote in a case about defining pornography (bad analogy), "perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly defining [it], but I know it when I see it". That is probably how it is with GE, that je ne sait pas quoi of drum corps, where judges are in the position of comparing apples and oranges. For me, sometimes the fairest approach is watching the reactions of die hard fans of Corps A to the show and performance of Corps B. When people spontaneously respond by screaming and jumping out of their seats, there is GE. Top GE for me is a combination of unique design, difficulty, and performance, without which the show design is meaningless.