The Danpodcast - Best Audience Reaction

[Danpod]

Do you remember the best crowd reaction you ever received?  Listen to the time an away football audience gave it up for my program and how the reaction changed the way I viewed the activity.  Thanks for listening!!!

 

 

[MadisonBandMan1]

As always, this was a great episode. Funny story - we are also doing a show called "Under Construction" this year. So far it seems to be shaping up as a really cool show and I can't wait to start putting it to the field in three weeks. It will definitely be a lot of fun, that's for sure. 

 

 

As for crowd reactions, I have three stories to tell. (I know, I'm not even a senior yet so I don't really know what my favorite crowd reaction will be yet but I have these so far)

 

My first story revolves around my freshmen year show. This is one of those shows where the band students (and even crowd members) are constantly singing the source music to the ballad because everybody knows it. Our show, entitled "EnLIGHTened" revolves around the capitalized word in the title, light. Our props were 10 foot tall and 8 foot wide yellow chandeliers with lights on top. Anyways, there's this really cool part in the third movement of our show where ensemble turns 360 degrees in eight counts and turns on led lights that are strapped just at the bottom of the jacket in the front. The very first time we added that part of the show into a performance the crowd went absolutely nuts. This wasn't some boring game where maybe a couple hundred people show up either. No, the stadium was packed (as per usual at our football games given the history of our team), so it was so surreal. The thing is, I was still new to all of this marching band stuff. It was my freshmen year and I didn't even go to summer band because I was in the process of moving across the city. At the time I really had no idea what marching band was all about. I think it's safe to say that this was the performance that really sparked my love for the marching arts. What was also really cool is that this show also sparked the same reaction not only from every football game going forward but also from all of the parents and students at the local marching contests. There is a video out there from one of our first competitions where you can audible year the crowd gasp and say "woah" in unison. It was such a cool experience. 

 

For the second story we move on to my sophomore year. Our show was a really cool concept, but our performances were not really going the way we wanted them to. We introduced a tarp into the equation and then we got involved in such a bad competition performance that we refuse to talk about it now. Most of you who have been here long enough know at least half of that story anyways. So, moving on to one of the last few football games of the season. We just so happen to be playing Churchill (this also happens to be the first time someone from a band started calling for me using this username) and we decide that we are going to try and use the tarp again. The weather was perfect for it. There was no wind that night. So, we run our show during halftime, and when we get to the part in the ballad where the tarp comes flying over us my heart starts to race. I'm praying that it works. It does work, and the crowd lets out a roar like nothing else I've ever heard. Relief flooded through my body and I moved on to the next movement. That is a series of events that I will never forget.

 

Finally, the last story that I have for you is from my junior year. There are two performances that I will never forget from this season. I would like to guess that a lot of our members were not happy with how the last season went so we came into the season with a fire under our buts. Lets just say we were fired up the day of the NEISD Fall Festival and we were destined to have an amazing performance that night. Before we left the school we ran some parts of the show in the band lot, and you could just feel the energy in our playing and marching. That energy intensified as we traveled to the stadium and warmed up. We were silent. We were ready. We walked into the stadium and you could hear the bustle of the full stadium. When we got under those lights it was if the field was a magnifying glass for energy. We were stoked. We are in our opening sets, and when we turned around to play the opening impact, we smacked the audience with such a wall of sound that I never knew we had in us. (of course the sound needed to be refined, but it was a heck of a start) I knew right then and there we were in for an amazing season. The crowd instantly went nuts. It was genuinely awesome, and only added to the energy on the field. Another thing - the crowd (at least the Johnson band kids) were on their feet for like the last half of the closer and it was so cool to watch. My favorite part of the whole night was watching the Johnson band give us a genuine standing ovation at the end of the performance. While we were standing under the bleachers waiting for the next show to finish so we can go sit and watch Johnson and Reagan, my director showed me all of the showers of text messages saying how awesome our show was and that this was the best Madison Band that they have ever seen. All of it was just so surreal. That has to be my favorite performance.

 

My favorite football game, however, came a few weeks earlier against Smithson Valley. A tropical storm had just made landfall on the coast of Texas, so there were intermittent showers in the San Antonio/ Spring Branch area the whole night. All of the brass players were excited because we knew that not only was this a big game, but if it started pouring the woodwinds have to put their instruments away and the brass get to play their heads off. As most of you know, Smithson Valley has been a perennial powerhouse football team in the San Antonio area for years. Just a nitty, gritty, physical team that pounds you into the ground. We were excited to play them, because who doesn't love a good football game in the rain? So, during the game the woodwinds were in an endless cycle of covering their horns while we watched the two teams pound each other to death. It was a low scoring game, all defense and not much offense (only because the defense was so strong). So, as we get closer to halftime, it's dark, the rain/mist won't let up, and the stadium is electrified. The directors announce that we are performing the opening impact and the opener in our ponchos with no electronics or front ensemble. We are hyped. The woodwinds are told NOT to put their horns away. For some reason, that fired us up even more. So, we travel to the opening impact set on the field, and the drum major starts the counts. Because there are no electronics, you can hear the entire band practically shouting the counts before we put our horns up and let the crowd have it. Since it's their homecoming game, the SV band is sitting in their spots in the stands -- right in front of the brass. When we play the opening impact they went wild; it was almost as if we scared them. For the rest of the performance you could still hear us counting, which I find hilarious to this day. We weren't exactly making our best sounds, but nobody cared at this point. At the end of the run one of the student teachers jumped about four feet in the air in excitement and the band director nearly did the same, and it was all I could do to stop myself from doubling over in laughter. We got back into the stands and the energy level of the game ramped up from there. We were playing games with the SV band kinds on the other side of the stadium, and screaming our heads off whenever something big happened. Our team took the lead near the end of the game and we could no longer contain ourselves. The mayhem grew with every passing moment. The other team had the ball and were advancing down the field. They got within field goal range with about two minutes left in the game. Our team HAD to get a defensive stop. So, I can't remember what down it was, but this is where things start speeding up in my memory. The directors signal for us to get ready to play the opening impact facing the team as loud as we possibly could. By now it has to be fourth down, because the team is getting ready to send their field goal team out. The directors start the count-off for the lead-in but have to stop us before we started playing because they called a timeout. We wait for an eternity as the stadium is on fire (not literally XD) and when the teams line up, the directors tell us to start right on the opening impact. We do, and it's so loud it causes them a false start. Five yard penalty and replay the down. Ok, horns up again, and this time we somehow played even louder. There is a radio cast on YouTube somewhere from inside on the complete opposite side of the stadium that captured our playing. We were so loud that you couldn't hear the people talking into the mics. It. was. awesome. Something happened, and the play was dead. We just won the game. Our football team went nuts. They let time expire then swarmed the bottom of the stands and threw the bucket on the coach. It was if we just won the state championship. I'm surprised our band didn't get penalized again for playing so loud like we did in 2013. That entire game was by far my favorite game of all three years that I have been in high school. 

 

So if you can't tell by now I like writing. Sorry for the wall of text. Let the attention turn back to Daniel's vid! Can't wait for the Nerd-In!

[LeanderMomma]

Great stories! I would love to have been at that football game against SV. What a memory!

[Guest]

 

Do you remember the best crowd reaction you ever received?  Listen to the time an away football audience gave it up for my program and how the reaction changed the way I viewed the activity.  Thanks for listening!!!

 

 

My junior year at the Lone Star preview marching contest, the audience reaction after we performed in finals is a very big reason I am now a music education major. Smallish contest, but an amazing plot twist of a season that started very poorly turning around with one very strong performance. 

[Guest]

As always, this was a great episode. Funny story - we are also doing a show called "Under Construction" this year. So far it seems to be shaping up as a really cool show and I can't wait to start putting it to the field in three weeks. It will definitely be a lot of fun, that's for sure. 

 

 

As for crowd reactions, I have three stories to tell. (I know, I'm not even a senior yet so I don't really know what my favorite crowd reaction will be yet but I have these so far)

 

My first story revolves around my freshmen year show. This is one of those shows where the band students (and even crowd members) are constantly singing the source music to the ballad because everybody knows it. Our show, entitled "EnLIGHTened" revolves around the capitalized word in the title, light. Our props were 10 foot tall and 8 foot wide yellow chandeliers with lights on top. Anyways, there's this really cool part in the third movement of our show where ensemble turns 360 degrees in eight counts and turns on led lights that are strapped just at the bottom of the jacket in the front. The very first time we added that part of the show into a performance the crowd went absolutely nuts. This wasn't some boring game where maybe a couple hundred people show up either. No, the stadium was packed (as per usual at our football games given the history of our team), so it was so surreal. The thing is, I was still new to all of this marching band stuff. It was my freshmen year and I didn't even go to summer band because I was in the process of moving across the city. At the time I really had no idea what marching band was all about. I think it's safe to say that this was the performance that really sparked my love for the marching arts. What was also really cool is that this show also sparked the same reaction not only from every football game going forward but also from all of the parents and students at the local marching contests. There is a video out there from one of our first competitions where you can audible year the crowd gasp and say "woah" in unison. It was such a cool experience. 

 

For the second story we move on to my sophomore year. Our show was a really cool concept, but our performances were not really going the way we wanted them to. We introduced a tarp into the equation and then we got involved in such a bad competition performance that we refuse to talk about it now. Most of you who have been here long enough know at least half of that story anyways. So, moving on to one of the last few football games of the season. We just so happen to be playing Churchill (this also happens to be the first time someone from a band started calling for me using this username) and we decide that we are going to try and use the tarp again. The weather was perfect for it. There was no wind that night. So, we run our show during halftime, and when we get to the part in the ballad where the tarp comes flying over us my heart starts to race. I'm praying that it works. It does work, and the crowd lets out a roar like nothing else I've ever heard. Relief flooded through my body and I moved on to the next movement. That is a series of events that I will never forget.

 

Finally, the last story that I have for you is from my junior year. There are two performances that I will never forget from this season. I would like to guess that a lot of our members were not happy with how the last season went so we came into the season with a fire under our buts. Lets just say we were fired up the day of the NEISD Fall Festival and we were destined to have an amazing performance that night. Before we left the school we ran some parts of the show in the band lot, and you could just feel the energy in our playing and marching. That energy intensified as we traveled to the stadium and warmed up. We were silent. We were ready. We walked into the stadium and you could hear the bustle of the full stadium. When we got under those lights it was if the field was a magnifying glass for energy. We were stoked. We are in our opening sets, and when we turned around to play the opening impact, we smacked the audience with such a wall of sound that I never knew we had in us. (of course the sound needed to be refined, but it was a heck of a start) I knew right then and there we were in for an amazing season. The crowd instantly went nuts. It was genuinely awesome, and only added to the energy on the field. Another thing - the crowd (at least the Johnson band kids) were on their feet for like the last half of the closer and it was so cool to watch. My favorite part of the whole night was watching the Johnson band give us a genuine standing ovation at the end of the performance. While we were standing under the bleachers waiting for the next show to finish so we can go sit and watch Johnson and Reagan, my director showed me all of the showers of text messages saying how awesome our show was and that this was the best Madison Band that they have ever seen. All of it was just so surreal. That has to be my favorite performance.

 

My favorite football game, however, came a few weeks earlier against Smithson Valley. A tropical storm had just made landfall on the coast of Texas, so there were intermittent showers in the San Antonio/ Spring Branch area the whole night. All of the brass players were excited because we knew that not only was this a big game, but if it started pouring the woodwinds have to put their instruments away and the brass get to play their heads off. As most of you know, Smithson Valley has been a perennial powerhouse football team in the San Antonio area for years. Just a nitty, gritty, physical team that pounds you into the ground. We were excited to play them, because who doesn't love a good football game in the rain? So, during the game the woodwinds were in an endless cycle of covering their horns while we watched the two teams pound each other to death. It was a low scoring game, all defense and not much offense (only because the defense was so strong). So, as we get closer to halftime, it's dark, the rain/mist won't let up, and the stadium is electrified. The directors announce that we are performing the opening impact and the opener in our ponchos with no electronics or front ensemble. We are hyped. The woodwinds are told NOT to put their horns away. For some reason, that fired us up even more. So, we travel to the opening impact set on the field, and the drum major starts the counts. Because there are no electronics, you can hear the entire band practically shouting the counts before we put our horns up and let the crowd have it. Since it's their homecoming game, the SV band is sitting in their spots in the stands -- right in front of the brass. When we play the opening impact they went wild; it was almost as if we scared them. For the rest of the performance you could still hear us counting, which I find hilarious to this day. We weren't exactly making our best sounds, but nobody cared at this point. At the end of the run one of the student teachers jumped about four feet in the air in excitement and the band director nearly did the same, and it was all I could do to stop myself from doubling over in laughter. We got back into the stands and the energy level of the game ramped up from there. We were playing games with the SV band kinds on the other side of the stadium, and screaming our heads off whenever something big happened. Our team took the lead near the end of the game and we could no longer contain ourselves. The mayhem grew with every passing moment. The other team had the ball and were advancing down the field. They got within field goal range with about two minutes left in the game. Our team HAD to get a defensive stop. So, I can't remember what down it was, but this is where things start speeding up in my memory. The directors signal for us to get ready to play the opening impact facing the team as loud as we possibly could. By now it has to be fourth down, because the team is getting ready to send their field goal team out. The directors start the count-off for the lead-in but have to stop us before we started playing because they called a timeout. We wait for an eternity as the stadium is on fire (not literally XD) and when the teams line up, the directors tell us to start right on the opening impact. We do, and it's so loud it causes them a false start. Five yard penalty and replay the down. Ok, horns up again, and this time we somehow played even louder. There is a radio cast on YouTube somewhere from inside on the complete opposite side of the stadium that captured our playing. We were so loud that you couldn't hear the people talking into the mics. It. was. awesome. Something happened, and the play was dead. We just won the game. Our football team went nuts. They let time expire then swarmed the bottom of the stands and threw the bucket on the coach. It was if we just won the state championship. I'm surprised our band didn't get penalized again for playing so loud like we did in 2013. That entire game was by far my favorite game of all three years that I have been in high school. 

 

So if you can't tell by now I like writing. Sorry for the wall of text. Let the attention turn back to Daniel's vid! Can't wait for the Nerd-In!

That is a very cool story! I look forward to seeing yalls show this year. Will this be your senior year?

[MadisonBandMan1]

Yes, this will be my senior year. Thank you all for the support!

[Guest]

Yes, this will be my senior year. Thank you all for the support!

 

Good luck, don't let any moment pass you by without completely taking it in. In 5 years you will be in my shoes, and will do anything to get these days back. Its been fun watching yall every year at BOASA. 

[MadisonBandMan1]

I know! It's going to be so weird not being a marcher anymore after this year, unless of course somehow I get to march Drum Corps. Thank you for taking the time to watch us every year at BOA San Antonio, it really does mean a lot. Especially hearing that come from someone who doesn't have any affiliation with our band. Here's to an epic senior year.

[8to5brass]

The best crowd reaction I remember when I was marching was with our 2015 5A State Show “Riddle Me This” which had a bunch of riddles and thematic music to match. In the second movement we played A Thousand Years by Christina Perry, And to add emphasis to the important strain we added and extra 8 ct of rest. We could hear people in the Astrodome singing along during the 8 ct and then came in strong with the strain. It was by far one of the most emotional performances I marched throughout highschool. My mother still gets choked up when she hears the song on the radio because of the passion we all had. That will always be a cherished memory even though I march less competitively in college now.

[Guest]

 

The best crowd reaction I remember when I was marching was with our 2015 5A State Show “Riddle Me This” which had a bunch of riddles and thematic music to match. In the second movement we played A Thousand Years by Christina Perry, And to add emphasis to the important strain we added and extra 8 ct of rest. We could hear people in the Astrodome singing along during the 8 ct and then came in strong with the strain. It was by far one of the most emotional performances I marched throughout highschool. My mother still gets choked up when she hears the song on the radio because of the passion we all had. That will always be a cherished memory even though I march less competitively in college now.

Tomball Memorial?? Great show! Really enjoyed yalls ensemble sound. I honestly think that show should have been much closer to finals.

[SpartanBandAlum]

The best crowd reaction I remember when I was marching was with our 2015 5A State Show “Riddle Me This” which had a bunch of riddles and thematic music to match. In the second movement we played A Thousand Years by Christina Perry, And to add emphasis to the important strain we added and extra 8 ct of rest. We could hear people in the Astrodome singing along during the 8 ct and then came in strong with the strain. It was by far one of the most emotional performances I marched throughout highschool. My mother still gets choked up when she hears the song on the radio because of the passion we all had. That will always be a cherished memory even though I march less competitively in college now.

I wasn’t marching yet in 2015, but I did get to see y’all’s Area Finals performance, and that ballad was beautiful! Very raw and powerful

[8to5brass]

Yes, Cityscapes, Tomball Memorial 2015 was my first marching show, but our state performance wasn’t clean. If anything we thought our 2017 5A State performance should’ve been in finals (Eureka the life in the Oilfield), but thank you very much I will miss being in that band, they have a hard future ahead of them as we are now 6A and even though we had a strong performance last year with Claire de Loon, our Area is much harder than 5A. Woodlands, Oak Ridge, Spring, College Park, all stomped us out in Area finals. I would recommend if you can see Memorial’s show this year it sounds like it will be pretty cool.

 

Thank you Cityscapes and SpartanMarcher it is on YouTube along with our show Emotions which had a similar powerful ballad.

[8to5brass]

 

This is the link to our similar show that was 2016. Very fun and interactive in parts!

[brassclass]

In 2016 my freshmen year at Duncanville, I remember receiving a full standing ovation from everyone in our stadium at our last performance when a giant French flag flew over the field spanning from the 30 yard line to the other 30 yard line. We reemmerged in an Eiffel tower formation while the flag flew over and everyone in the stadium completely lost it.

[Guest]

I think it was my Junior year, at a contest somewhere in North Houston, we had been having a very very rough season, and nothing seemed to be going right. We could barely get through our show without something pretty drastic going wrong, and we were sorta just wanting to get the season over with, and mind you this was only around october 15th, so we had a ways to go. The rehearsal we had the Friday evening before the concert went very poorly, i.e. people missing instructions, problems with the sound system, high winds, people parking in the marching field, ETC. We didnt expect much at all from the rest of the season. On top of this, our band was very small, (still 6A though), so literally any mistake was very noticeable. Back on topic, we showed up at school Saturday morning for this contest day, and our equip truck didnt show up. This meant we had no way to transport any of the perc instruments, or the large brass instruments to the stadium 50ish miles away. We were just told to stand by in the band hall and wait for further instructions, and eventually, we were forced to pile onto the busses with instruments like trombones, baritones, and I believe even tubas, and we were forced to borrow pit equipment from some other schools competing (Huge thanks to those schools). After arriving late, and having a very short warm up, we were at the gate, and we had no idea what was about to happen. In prelims, we ended up having what was probably the best performance of the show so far, and we were all pretty content with what we were able to accomplish given the circumstances of the day. Later on, we found out that we had drawn the last performing spot in finals, which meant we got to perform last, at ten PM, giving us about four hours to kill. That evening, any past drama, grudges, or animosity between any band members was gone, and everybody was in such high spirits. Later on, we had the most focused, productive, and emotionally charged warm up of my marching career, including two seasons of drum and bugle corps I have taken part in. We were given a very motivational, as well as memorable speech from our band director about how far we have come, and we headed towards the gate. I have never had more chills on my life, and the crowd was surprisingly large for a contest with only 14 competing bands. We were announced onto the field, and had a performance nobody in the stands, or on the field was expecting. Everything just clicked, and while we were incredibly focused, we were pouring tons of emotion into the performance, so much that the audience felt it. After we reached the end of our show, everyone in the audience was on their feet, and a wall of sound ensued. It was truly the best experience I have ever had on a football field. 

[LeanderMomma]

That’s a VERY cool story.