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2019 BOA Grand National Championships


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I have to admit. Going into San Antonio, I was down on Leander. I suspected they would probably end up in 7th place. That’s not to say I thought the show was weak; in fact, I’ve thought pretty much the entire season that Leander was putting on their best show since 2014’s Color Study. It’s just that the field was so deep. Well, after watching it at San Antonio, I couldn’t have been more wrong. What a fantastic, exciting show this is. From the mysterious, Einstein on the Beach pre-show, to that very cinematic-sounding trombone part in the opener – I don’t know what it is, but it sounds like some John Williams thing out of Star Wars. (Actually, it's probably the John Adams.) And then, the coup de grace, that closer. Everything just goes up a level in the closer. It is so engaging visually and musically. Having all that confetti shoot out of the smokestacks was a good choice, as was the decision to dump over the barrels and have them ooze out streamers. Everything is just so eye-popping and exciting. At first, this show was a little bit too reminiscent of some of the other shows I had seen in the past, like Winston Churchill’s Toxic show in 2003, or that one that Hendrickson did about the atomic bomb. But in the end, I think Leander did enough to put their own spin on the theme. And they are just performing the heck out of it. Big and bold and brassy, but controlled. An all-around excellent production. Congrats!

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Avon was incredible as always. Their visual performance has been spotless for years. I'll be absolutely SHOCKED if they don't medal or at least take the visual caption.

 

Leander...incredible!!! The closer has to be one of my absolute favorite of the entire year! The brass sound at the end was so impactful and in your face, without being too brash. While I wasn't the biggest fan of it at the beginning of the season, the Toxic production has grown significantly on me and it was amazing tonight! They are definitely a medal contender.

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Leander always has the most amazing color palletes. The frenzy of color at the end is just amazing to watch. I always had my doubts that Leander could clean up those ridiculous brass runs, but my goodness it was nails tonight. Can’t wait to see what these guys will come up with next!

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Once again, I’m totally floored, totally moved by Hebron. Hebron just never fails to amaze me with their exquisite music performances. Certainly, all that impressive technique they do year after year leaves a lasting impression. (They’ve got to be in the Guinness Book of World Records now for most notes crammed into a high school marching band show.) But despite all of the demands (both musically and, increasingly, visually) that are placed on the performers, the quality of the technique is almost crystal clear, and you can always hear the melodic line, no matter how loudly they are playing. There is so much control. From moment to moment, you hear not just the high quality of the performers, but also the high quality of the instruction that they are receiving from their directors, who have a lot to be proud of. When I heard the mediocre radio recording of Hebron’s show earlier in the season, I was totally floored. It was technical, and so uplifting. I suspected that they might end up being the group to beat. Maybe I wasn’t as floored when I saw it for the first time, and maybe it doesn’t quite reach the heights of my all-time favorite Hebron show (2017), but it’s definitely in the same general range of quality as that show. This is such a difficult show to pull off, and it has been an absolute pleasure to watch it grow over the course of the season, from getting handily beaten by Flower Mound in Dallas (or wherever the heck that regional was), to now medaling in Class AAAA at Grand Nationals. What a fantastic achievement! They'll do well tonight.

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