Hard Core Band Fan

Well, still 11 available spots in the finals and one permanent reservation for Marion Catholic. They so didn't earn it this time (again). Disappointing.

Yes, definitely their best run to date. Much better than on Thursday, which was a great improvement from SA prelims.

I think they had their best run so far. They have come a long way since last week. Good job! Friendly note to Churchill parents: Cowbells at a marching band competition is not a good idea, especially during your band's performance. You were the only band parents that had cowbells all day. I was sitting around band directors that made comments that reinforce this. Please help yourself and leave them in the hotel going forward.

I don't know about that. Sitting in the stadium, I heard/saw quite a few issues with Carmel's show today. I thought Marcus and Broken Arrow had better runs today, which could happen again.

You would have to be here to truly experience Broken Arrow's show. It is not even close to what you are seeing and hearing on the live stream. It was very impressive! It is easy to sit at your monitor and pick it apart. Live, it is a completely different thing.

Fort Mill has some of my favorite soloist this year. The oboe, flute, and violin are just superb. There is a moment during the flute and violin duet when the flute soloist is leaving the platform and she looks over at the violinist and they exchange smiles of excitement and of complete satisfaction. It is priceless.

And The Woodlands and Round Rock...

Doesn't several mean 2 or 3?

I still think Hebron has music so far.

There are so many bands on the move each year - Cy-Fair, Oak Ridge, Keller Central, Timber Creek just to name a few and it is really exciting. Keller and Hendrickson have, in my opinion, already moved in to the consistent finalist-caliber bands in the last few years. Hendrickson is definitely ready for the Grand Nationals and Keller has already been there and done that. I think we may have a couple of upsets this year for the finals. Predicting who will make the bottom half is the most difficult this year than any other that I can think of.

Last post regarding this - I'm an IT professional and am well aware of the quality of my Internet connection, which is actually very good. I pay quite a bit to ensure that. Not a factor in this issue.

Well, exactly why I posted. This is the 4th competition that this has happened to me. I'm sure there are multiple servers providing feeds and I am apparently receiving from the one(s) that randomly plays ads. Glad it's not on all feeds!

Not sure how they are feeding the ads, but I was watching the multi-cam version and they ran the Rocket Mortgage ad with the mascots.

Thanks FLOSports for once more playing ads during a performance. Just seconds after LD Bell started their show, they once again played an ad. Competition #4 that they've done this. Unbelievable!

You misunderstood what I was saying. I didn't say ONLY big and loud. Calm down. I didn't say anything critical about those bands and I didn't list them.

I wouldn't say they are better, just different. The ones you just mentioned are big, loud bands and are more entertaining and for the most part, they don't take many risks. Round Rock is a much smaller band that takes a high risk, high reward gamble. The judges may or may not appreciate that. They watch so much of the same thing all day long and sometimes something completely different gets rewarded if done well.

No, I totally understand what you are saying. The show is complex to me and honestly requires more from me than most shows. I did find myself being unsure how I felt about it after it was over. My wife was following the TXbands feed and noticed that there was no commentary after they performed. I told her that they were likely, in my opinion, so busy watching the show that there wasn't any time to write any before the next band performed. I'm still not completely sure just how I feel about it. It was well done, I liked it, but it made me work for it. Maybe another viewing will help.

You're putting Vista Ridge and Cedar Ridge over Round Rock? Not saying you're wrong, but wondering why?

Yes, 2 bands from Hawaii. Imagine if Texas sent 31 of their best bands!

A couple of useless statistics: 100 bands attending from 23 States. Number of bands attending by state: AL - 1 AR - 1 CO - 1 FL - 1 GA - 1 HI - 2 IA - 1 IL - 4 IN - 12 KY - 10 MI - 6 MO - 1 MS - 1 NC - 3 OH - 31 OK - 3 PA - 1 SC - 2 TN - 9 TX - 6 VA - 1 WI - 1 WV - 1

I don't think the collision affected the score, but performing just a piece of their show certainly did. Their show has changed drastically since then and the .15 difference then is negligible now. From what I have seen, they are much more like 2013 Round Rock this year.

Not to take anything away from Cedar Ridge, but they did well this past weekend against the bands at Atlanta. At San Antonio, they will be going against a bunch of bands that should surpass them in music, visual, and GE. Again, not that they didn't do well at Atlanta, but SA is a totally different level of competition.

Cedar Ridge and no Round Rock or Keller?

Me too!

Remember, this is halftime music to these people and of little or no value past the revenue that it generates. It's the only alternative and they know that.