Hard Core Band Fan

In that case, why have competitions? You could just record a video, submit it for critique, and then the videos could be processed and the winner posted online. It would save money and would be better for the environment, greatly reducing everyone's carbon footprint. The scary thing is this isn't too far from the crazy things already happening today.

It's a financial strain, for sure. When my daughter was at a Central Texas school, we had several trips in a row and I had to work a second job as we were volunteers that travelled with the guard to all of their football games and competitions, even the ones in Indianapolis and Dayton. But I will say that it was all worth it and if I had a chance to do it again, I would gladly do whatever it took. I certainly never had any opportunities like this when I was in high school and feel blessed that my daughter had the chance to go to the Grand Nationals twice, the WGI World Championships once, and march in the Rose Parade.

Anyone have the multi-cams for the finals? If so, please PM me.

I always wonder how different the prelim scores of the same finals bands played one after another in the same order would be. It's such a different thing to hear the best bands side by side than spaced out throughout the day with, many times, average or below average bands in-between. I think the judges mostly get it correct, but the actual scores can be very different when comparing prelims to semis or finals.

I agree. The first time I saw Broken Arrow that year I knew they were going to win. That show was a monster! So was Hebron's show, but BA was just a little bigger monster.

It was way better!

I didn't experience that, but compared to last year, they were much better.

They really did up their game this year, at least for the 6A performances. The lower classifications were much like all of last year's streams, but 6A was good.

Hey, WGI season will be cranking up in a couple of months and it is just as fun as marching season! I highly recommend it!

By far Hebron's best performance this year! Nice job!

Absolutely! The Woodlands show is a BOA/WGI combined event.

It's definitely a small world in the judging community and with them being active in so many facets of the music world, there are many opportunities for situations that may appear suspect.

It might be for a couple of bands. But for the most part, there will likely be gaps between the majority of them. To me, this year was not as competitive as most years.

The best I ever did was getting all 12 in the correct order and within 1 point of the scores. Once and only once.

Well, they can go to a super-regional, the Grand Nationals, and easily be in the top three at both via a quick bus ride, so why spend big money to go and fight in Texas?

They don't have to win all judges in a caption to accrue enough points to win overall.

You have to take the emotion out of your perception of them to assess them fairly. It’s tough for me to do that as well. My dad did a lot of judging and he would often tell me that he didn't like a band's performance, but they were technically superior to everyone else that day and deserved being scored accordingly.

It is tremendous online as well. It checks all the required boxes. I don't like the show, but I do appreciate the high level of performance.

To see them again means you will not see one of the Texas bands. Be careful what you wish for.

It's their music that will be their detriment.

Just curious how you assess a win for them without seeing at least three other serious contenders.

Blue Springs is going to be way up at the top of the finals. Really solid program from start to finish. Amazing job.

Yes, Brownsburg seemed to have a better performance than all of the non-Texas bands other than Avon, Carmel, Mason, and Blue Springs. I'm not sure that all 8 of the Texas bands had better performances than Brownsburg and a couple of others. Just saying that I thought they would be the biggest obstacle to getting all 8 into finals. Of course tomorrow is a different day.

So basically, all 8 Texas bands will have to beat Brownsburg to make finals.

Best performance so far for Round Rock today. Liking their chances for finals!