LKendrick

Wakeland - "Forever" Taking art movments/pieces seems to be a popular show method these past few years, and it works. It provides a broad canvas for you to work with, and Wakeland takes this "Pointillism" show and does just that. This Jeff Sacktig visual program is INSANE! Gorgeous lush opening as the guard covers the field in gold with the double flags. Wakeland's guard is great. La Vie en Rose is just a perfect ballad for this all french show. Absolutely beautiful. "Farandole" is the absolute highlight of this show. Musically and visually it's just enthralling. They area HAULING it at the end of it! WOW, that's Sacktig drill that's for dang sure. After that breathtaking close, we see a incredibly contrasting finale, new since I've seen the show last. Guard in all white and shades of purple. Guard closes out the show on a subtle ending with some great work as the band plays a beautiful chord backfield. Fantastic job Wakeland! It's been tons of fun watching this band progress in the recent years. Bravo, big crowd reaction.

James Bowie - "Deep" This show is subtle, quaint, and just gorgeous. They didn't go with the cliche's for an ocean show, that's for sure! And they still capture the nautical mood perfectly. I've always been a huge fan of Bowie's drill, and this year is no different. "Short Ride in a Fast Machine" has always been one of my favorites to hear on the field, and their trumpets and brass in general perform it FANTASTICALLY! Crisp, articulate, and with great tone. Well done. Love the guards silks here! Love how the Shostakovich gradually creeps into and melds with the Adams, and then fully takes over! Clever! Woodwinds are absolutely ripping here. Guard hits their sabre tosses a lot better in finals, good for them! End of this section is really intense. Ballad has some REALLY cool morphing drill, we see an octopus, some waves, and an anchor! Absolutely beautiful and eerie backfield playing as a gorgeous woodwind quintet is introduced. Guard costuming is fantastic in this show, really cool diving helmets and beautiful DEEP blue silks! Fantastic rifle toss in the closer! I LOVE the moods in this show. Great stuff. Great "Short Ride" reprise. We see some more waves in the drill as we begin to close out the show. Really great drill. Last statement is glorious! Wow, this show might be one of my favorites of the year now, I found it stale early on, but in its final form it's nuances and mood just sell it SO well! Bravo!

Claudia Taylor Johnson - "White Rabbit" They are amazing performers, they sell this show SO well. Incredibly ambitious visual program, they start out the show absolutely booking it. Absolutely love the preshow music and the choreography. This show is full of familiar melodies done in so many new ways. Impact moments are huge in this show! Seems like this show focuses more on the mood of Alice in Wonderland rather than outright telling the story, which is a smart move for them, it works incredibly well. Their forte-pianos throughout this show are definitely one of their trademarks, they do them SO well. All sorts of soloist introductions of themes from the Holst pieces. Boy their mellos can PLAY! Really fun and quirky section as we have some tea, some really fun synth stuff as the band introduces the blacksmith melody from the Holst Suite. Really enjoy this ballad, the mellos are absolutely piercing, WOW! Really quirky drum break as we hear lots of guitar and a distorted Trombone? Haha. The band is absolutely BOOKING it here. The final push is just absolutely fantastic, music GE explosion. They sound HUGE in a way that few high school groups can. This show is growing hugely on me every time I see it. This is EASILY one of the hardest shows in the field this summer, and they conquered it. Well done!

Hebron - "360" This show is just a masterclass on technicality, brass and woodwinds. Gorgeous preshow oboe soloist. The "Pegasus" opening showcases the dexterity of the woodwinds, lushness of their brass, and the uniformity of their guard. What an intro! Next section is just filled with an insane amount of technical passes, some done as they spin on platforms, some on the move, just fun stuff. The ballad is my favorite thing on the field this year. That tenor soloist is just fan freakin tastic. Bravo, the build with the brass under him is just awesome, what a HUGE moment. The crowd erupts at the end of the ballad as he hits that altissimo note! That moment is going to be one of the most remembered things this year. Closer is another showcase of this bands insane musical ability, woodwinds are absolutely ripping away in the lead up to the final moment. Circles are everywhere in this show. Not much else to say besides it's simple in concept, executed fantastically, and performed at an incredibly high level. Definitely still some room to grow for nationals, they haven't peaked yet!

Cedar Ridge - "Forever Young" The director change didn't phase them at all. They sound fantastic, lush brass sound, really warm woodwinds, and a percussion section that few high schools could top. Love the various introductions of "Forever Young" throughout the show. Opening flute soloist is very pretty, nice build into the first "Forever Young" impact. Lots of great woodwind technique in "Pegasus", love hearing that piece on the field! Such a lighthearted and fun selection. Percussion rams away in their feature. Lots of playing on the move, they definitely don't park and bark their hard spots! Our flute soloist is back in the ballad with another gorgeous solo, followed by what sounds like a baritone soloist. Absolutely beautiful build to the impact in the ballad, and the arrival is just fantastic. Mellos! I LOVE a great mello section, and Cedar Ridge certainly has one. "Death Hunt" comes in next, drums have another fantastic feature. Show comes to a close with Whitacre's "Fly to Paradise", guard with beautiful blue silks to end the show as we hear another quote of "Forever Young". Absolutely love the way this band plays, they sound fantastic.

I'll do some personal play by play. Hendrickson - "Lost" Wow, if they hadn't been in exhibition, they would have been a SERIOUS contender for finals! The setting for this show is incredibly effective, particularly the NSEW surrounding the field. The "Music for Prague" first hit is HUGE. Guard is decked out in some fantastic period type explorer garb in shades of brown/maroon/cream. And they sell this show, what an amazing guard! Really clear brass sound, you can hear every instrument coming through. Woodwinds have lots of technical moments that are also executed with some great clarity, and they project really well. Definitely don't get lost in the texture like some bands do. Lots of neat waves in the drill tying into the theme. Incredibly somber and emotional ballad. Absolutely gorgeous bassoon soloist as the guard surrounds the compass on the field, and they can spin for days. Fantastic moment for them, guard really sells this show well. Drums take the stage next as the band does some incredibly cool ripple drill and the guard is tossing away all on rifles! Brass comes in with some incredibly articulate hits. We can hear bits of "Amazing Grace" as the woodwinds rip away and the brass has some more stabs. Big moment as it seems they have found their way, and we can hear Amazing Grace come full on. Guard rips away a cover on the gray flags to reveal a bright yellow and white silk. The band ends the show surrounding the globe, as it seems they are no longer lost. One of my favorite shows of the year, HUGE crowd reaction! Well done Hendrickson.

So excited to watch the cast tonight! Thankful our football game was at noon.

That's what I get for not taking a math class in the last 4 years. -.- Meant 33% lol.

Keller making finals in San Antonio today is a HUGE accomplishment. It gives me a lot more confidence to put them in finals at GN. Good for them! I'm feeling like 33% of finals will be represented by Texas in a few weeks.

Nope, Churchill and CY Falls must be GOOD.

So anyone wanna try and pick 14 of those bands for finals?

Two shows I did a complete 360 today that I didn't like in my previous viewing: Claudia Taylor Johnson - WOW. The power they bring is just awesome, their mellophone section is especially piercing, GEEZ. The end of the ballad with them was just woof. Really fun show overall. James Bowie - It's a subtle show, but in a completely beautiful way. Absolutely beautiful. From the color scheme, to the completely mesmerizing and elegant drill, to the technique filled, not as in you face musical package I'm a big fan.

Atlanta Finalists: Fort Mill (SC) Dobyns Bennett (TN) Harrison (GA) Cypress Falls (TX) Centerville (OH) LD Bell (TX) Winston Churchill (TX) Wando (SC) Tarpon Springs (FL) Westwood (TX) Walton (GA) Clements (TX) Wow, all 5 in! Good for them! And now back to your San Antonio programming.

4A Placements in Atlanta, Texas clean sweep! 1st - LD Bell 2nd - Winston Churchill 3rd - Cypress Falls

LD Bell swept 4A in Atlanta.

From Atlanta, sounds like they all did really well! On the live blog, sounds like Cypress Falls was their favorite of them. Some pretty rave reviews. Best of luck to them, awards are coming up here in a bit!

Owasso had a Kill Bill inspired show and I MISSED IT?!?! They better make finals tonight so I can see it.............

While we may have our own opinions of how this is being handled, to say that they haven't been working INCREDIBLY hard to make this work is just not right. I couldn't imagine to have to deal with such a logistical nightmare. Regardless of what happened, BOA did their best to try and accommodate EVERYONE. While I am INCREDIBLY dissapointed that Leander is only going to be performing in exhibition and the thought of finals without them there is just not sitting right with me, there are 60+ other bands that are competing that BOA has also been working with, and it sounds like 99% of them are going to be there. Leander isn't the only school having these issues. It sucks, but it's easy to play the blame game when you're not on the phone the entire day trying to make the whole freakin mess work out. Quite frankly I'm shocked that more bands haven't dropped out or are in the same situation. This is happening because these directors care about these kids and are not willing to put them in an unsafe situation. All I can think about is that American Fork assistant director that was killed a few years back on the way back home from a competition. It wasn't because of weather, but I'd hate to think of something similar happening here. Just stay safe everyone, will be thinking about all the bands making the trek there tomorrow morning especially. Get some rest while you can, and I hope tomorrow is less hectic.

I don't see why they can't just go 15 minutes earlier at 1:00 and lunch is shortened from 1 hour to 45 minutes. Oh well I guess............

Forgot about CY Fair, one of my favorites of the day as well. Really enjoyed their show!

Based on Leander's/Vista Ridge's facebook pages something is being discussed. So this is going to be the fun part of teaching marching band right?

I've heard shows with A LOT more electronics than what Reagan had, I don't even remember hearing any sound effects/electronic stuff in their show off the top of my head. Just a bunch of fantastic playing from them. And concerning the dance team..........I think it's pretty dang clever and effective. They certainly don't get in the way of the marching. They only enhance it.

I feel like a bunch of the performances got lost in all the discussion on the weather related things...................some personal thoughts on the finalist contention bands: Cedar Ridge - BEAUTIFUL sounds coming from them this year, that certainly didn't change with the director change. Great arrangements too, loved the interweaving of "Forever Young" reemerging in different ways throughout. Thought the ballad was especially nice. Visual Performance seems a tad down this year, as did the design. However, overall, I was impressed. Definitely still on the bubble. Vandegrift - They sound fantastic, seemed really on today. The huge moments in this show are fantastic. "Uranus" opening. End of that section. "Jupiter" impact. That HUGE "Mars" moment was particularly fantastic. And the "Jupiter" reprise at the end with the shooting star in the drill was very nice. Not sure about the moments between those yet. Overall though, great job. Definitely upper bubble. Cedar Park - Oi. They sound GOOD. And CLEAN. This show was just being performed at an INCREDIBLY high level. Completely thought out and executed. That's about all I can say. They just sound really dang good. Show doesn't have a lot of depth, but that's perfectly okay when you sound and move like that. Ronald Reagan - Favorite of the day definitely. Same as Cedar Park it's currently being maxed out at the right time. That opening is just fantastic in every way, absolutely glorious. Ballad moment is still stunning with the dance team. And the new ending continues to make fantastic use of them. Fantastic job. Westlake - I knew they'd really clean up later on. Really quirky (in a good way) visual program, definitely represents the art the show was inspired by well. Love the Mozart section, and Slalom was really fun, drumline was smokin! An overall just enjoyable, energetic show. I'd say they're definitely on the bubble too.

All I can say is you cannot plan for these kinds of things. No one out there has any ill intent, just a mess to deal with something like this on the bands side AND on BOAs side. Quite frankly I wouldn't want to be in eithers position.

Well in slightly more positive news..................Clements is about to take the field in Atlanta! Good luck to them.