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3 hours ago, GUARDLING said:

Exactly

Ive said this for years." Put your money where your mouth is " People love to complain that OC has no voice yet dont show up to support. $$$$$ and BUTTS in seats will send a loud message and a louder voice. WGI learned this years ago with HS A class, The bread and butter and life line to all of WGI. 

It's always been sad to see on tour empty stands most times for kids who work just as hard often with alot less resources. Even lower WC corps fall victim to the lot, which I never understood.

In the last days of the circuit competitions in Massachusetts, there was a “Class C” corps or “Junior” corps (depending on the classification given by the circuit) that put all the instruments in the back of a pickup truck and had a caravan of four or five minivans that transported kids to the shows. Few people were at the shows when they competed, but given the fact that the oldest was probably no older than 14 and most did not have the best coordination given they were probably 10 or  11, they were good for their age, they had heart, and I enjoyed them. I share this story not so much to go down memory lane, but to say if you don’t attend, you don’t know what you’re missing.

As someone who attends any show I can, including OC shows, if you love drum corps, OC has much to offer. There are excellent musicians, the shows tend to be original, and the membership either wants to move to a WC corps in the future so they work as hard as possible, or they want to be a part of drum corps, OC offers that opportunity, and they work hard. When I attend Indy, I will admit finals is when I want to be wowed, semi’s is a time to reunite with friends and enjoy the shows, but prelims is the day I want to hear the first note played, not leave until the final note, and just enjoy every corps. 

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3 hours ago, mjoakes said:

I like seeing those early shows, too. And I like roaming around LOS to discover the different sounds from different seats.

But it never occurred to me to judge the motivations of those who aren't there early. I certainly don't think of them as snobs.

Really! When I’m there early I do think about the lack of support. Just look around. Can you imagine how even a semi full crowd would affect the performers that take the field at 10am.  And yes plenty of snobbery in drum corps. Let Crown open the day at 10 and see who shows up!

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5 minutes ago, mjyaub said:

Really! When I’m there early I do think about the lack of support. Just look around. Can you imagine how even a semi full crowd would affect the performers that take the field at 10am.  And yes plenty of snobbery in drum corps. Let Crown open the day at 10 and see who shows up!

Thursday (prelims/quarters) is always the toughest in Indy, not so much due to fan support, but because of travel costs. Far, far more people fly in on Friday for the weekend.  It's been that way for as long as I can remember, honestly, and I don't really take it as a slight against the little guys - not so many people are there at the end of Thursday night, either.

...that said, I'd love to see more people support OC.  Finals in '19 was a wild experience - a lot of *really* good drum corps, in an in-your-face stadium, for very cheap.  

Mike

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All day prelims with a zillion corps was always one of the coolest parts of attending DCI. We were a small, crap corps in the early 70s, so we'd go off the line at 7:30am or so, get done, go back and change, come back and sit in the hot sun all day watching every other corps small, crappy, all the way up to the Kingsmen, Troopers and SCV until we were all sun burned into tomatoes. And loved every minute of it. 

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1 hour ago, MikeN said:

Thursday (prelims/quarters) is always the toughest in Indy, not so much due to fan support, but because of travel costs. Far, far more people fly in on Friday for the weekend.  It's been that way for as long as I can remember, honestly, and I don't really take it as a slight against the little guys - not so many people are there at the end of Thursday night, either.

...that said, I'd love to see more people support OC.  Finals in '19 was a wild experience - a lot of *really* good drum corps, in an in-your-face stadium, for very cheap.  

Mike

If you look at old recordings and dvds you will see there were a lot more people in attendance on Thursday.  Seen a noticeable change during even the first years at Lucas oil stad .

 
What is particularly annoying are people sitting on couches watching the show on screens in the refreshments area instead of being in the actual seating area:  

that I will never understand.  

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13 hours ago, GUARDLING said:

Exactly

Ive said this for years." Put your money where your mouth is " People love to complain that OC has no voice yet dont show up to support. $$$$$ and BUTTS in seats will send a loud message and a louder voice. WGI learned this years ago with HS A class, The bread and butter and life line to all of WGI. 

It's always been sad to see on tour empty stands most times for kids who work just as hard often with alot less resources. Even lower WC corps fall victim to the lot, which I never understood.

when did go to final regularly i did attend. however there's hardly ever an OC show within a 2 hour drive on a non week night, so the odds of me getting to a regular season show is nil. i usually end up seeing more of them when they get invited to a DCA show

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On 5/30/2022 at 11:55 AM, Smug Trumpet Guy said:

Do you think their practices are open to the public? I wanted to take my family today to see the Louisiana stars practice 

you'd have to ask the administration. every corps is different

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10 hours ago, MikeN said:

Thursday (prelims/quarters) is always the toughest in Indy, not so much due to fan support, but because of travel costs. Far, far more people fly in on Friday for the weekend.  It's been that way for as long as I can remember, honestly, and I don't really take it as a slight against the little guys - not so many people are there at the end of Thursday night, either.

...that said, I'd love to see more people support OC.  Finals in '19 was a wild experience - a lot of *really* good drum corps, in an in-your-face stadium, for very cheap.  

Mike

and fewer people would sit for 12 hours to watch drum corps. i would but i'm sick like that

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53 minutes ago, Jeff Ream said:

when did go to final regularly i did attend. however there's hardly ever an OC show within a 2 hour drive on a non week night, so the odds of me getting to a regular season show is nil. i usually end up seeing more of them when they get invited to a DCA show

 Youre right but I think there would be alot more consideration IF support was obvious. DCI wouldnt have a choice. There are shows on tour that people show up only to see the larger corps. Magically the stands fill up. This is not a recent problem. Even in the days of more local shows it wasn;t much better. 

WC lower corps have also sufferend to the lot, which I still don't get

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8 hours ago, GUARDLING said:

 Youre right but I think there would be alot more consideration IF support was obvious. DCI wouldnt have a choice. There are shows on tour that people show up only to see the larger corps. Magically the stands fill up. This is not a recent problem. Even in the days of more local shows it wasn;t much better. 

WC lower corps have also sufferend to the lot, which I still don't get

Well, what do you expect when the governing organization controls everything based on past contest placement?  Everything including money, access to shows, performance order, marketing... even the locations of souvenir stands.  (And the voting power to make their advantages permanent.)

That system turns the prevailing contest placement order into a permanent hierarchy.

When any activity offers the assurance that its best contestants will appear at a certain time, that is when its bigger audience will show up. 

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