BandFan59

Wow! Leander closing it out strong! Also noticed a shako fell of a performer at the end, but everyone was able to adjust marching around it. Great performance! Here's my shot at ranking the finalists... 1. Ronald Reagan 2. Vandegrift 3. Leander 4. Claudia Taylor Johnson 5. Flower Mound 6. Hebron 7. Vista Ridge 8. The Woodlands 9. Marcus 10. James Bowie 11. Keller 12. Pearland 13. LD Bell 14. Round Rock Music: Vandegrift Visual: Ronald Reagan GE: Ronald Reagan Honestly, the Top 9 are all suuuuuper close for me. Incredible performances from all of the finalists!

Hebron's show is super ambitious. They may not get a medal here, but like 2015 I can see them peaking at Grand Nats and performing even better there.

CTJ with a fantastic production as usual. Their musical performance was outstanding on all levels. I may be the odd one out, but the I just can't wait to be king production seemed a little bit out of place. Regardless, this will do very well at Grand Nats, but I'm not quite sure about getting a medal.

Vista Ridge! What a show! That ballad is beautiful, and the closer somehow manages to top it!

I think this is the year Reagan finally takes San Antonio. This show is so incredible in every way. Visually stunning and musically powerful, and they do this all without any props. If they went to Grand Nats this year, this show would be top 3 guaranteed.

Ready for Reagan to take my soul again.

Flower Mound put in a great performance. Jumping into top half is very likely, but I don't know if they can medal tonight. But I said it yesterday and I'll say it again, their students have the best individual marching technique in the state.

LOVE the Woodlands show! It may not be the cleanest show, but it is by far the most entertaining I've seen this entire contest! They have so much fun out there and you can really feel it! They can definitely get top half both here and at Grand Nats!

Bowie had a much better performance than prelims! Much stronger musically and I love how passionate the performers and drum majors are!

Am hearing some talk that Coppell was the first band out of finals. Don't quote me on that though, this is secondhand information.

Round Rock beat out Coppell in Panel 1...not sure how I feel about that. Congratulations to all finals bands regardless!

Good on Vista Ridge for following up their breakout season last year! I have a feeling the scores are all super tight at the top...

Rewatching their prelims performance, I can see why Marcus won the music caption. They are incredibly clean music-wise and don't rely on overpowering with sound, but rather creating a beautiful blend of sound from all the instruments. Their woodwinds are articulate and smooth with their runs. Will be interesting to see their placement overall.

Marcus with the music caption! This is going to be a wild prelims results...

Going to be very difficult to place all the bands...I'll take a shot at some groupings. All of the gaps between the groupings are going to be pretty small. Ronald Reagan Flower Mound -------------------- Vandegrift Hebron Leander -------------------- Claudia Taylor Johnson Vista Ridge The Woodlands Marcus -------------------- Keller Bowie Coppell LD Bell -------------------- <----- this gap is probably a centimeter wide Cedar Park Cedar Ridge Westwood Westlake Rouse Have probably forgotten some bands, but these are my general bubbles for rankings.

A solid performance from LD Bell. Would have liked to have had more ensemble moments, but the ending of the show was very nice. They will be a solid contender to make finals.

I agree that the rules in UIL are there for a reason and there shouldn't be an excuse if the rules were broken, however I think you're being a little bit rude about how you're saying it.

Anyone want to try some Day 1 rankings?

I'm glad Vista Murrieta made the decision to travel so far to what is probably the most competitive BOA event of the year. Didn't get a chance to watch their performance but I'm sure just having the experience of performing in such a competitive environment will do so much for them.

I think I have to agree with you. Their visual package was absolutely incredible, better than Flower Mound in my opinion.

Really hope Coppell makes it into finals. They've had a tough past few years with almost half their staff leaving after the 2015-16 school year, but they have really started to make a comeback. Beautiful show, and they really cleaned it up visually! Music performance was excellent as usual for them, but it'll going to be tough to get into finals in a stacked competition like this. Flower Mound is Flower Mound. They performed their show with an incredible amount of cleanliness and showmanship. Another excellent program from what may be the best band in the state, although I'm not sure if I would have them over Reagan based on both their performances today. Who knows what will happen in finals though? I will say, they might have the best individual marching technique of all Texas bands. Sidenote, I also saw a Coppell performer fall right at the beginning of their opener but they recovered quickly. The turf seems to be messing with a ton of bands today.

Looks like they were moved to the end of the block

Vandegrift definitely proved me wrong today, they were fantastic!! Musically it might've been the best performance of the day, better than Reagan even. I think visually it could be a little bit cleaner ensemble-wise, but they are definitely medalist contenders. Leander had a very impressive performance as well. Maybe it was because they went right after Vandy, but it fell just a tiny bit short for me. Was still a great performance nonetheless and I see them as a solid top half group. Locks so far for me: Reagan, CTJ, Vandegrift, Leander

CTJ's show really picked up near the end, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Lion King has such an incredible soundtrack. Was a bit dirty visually, so it seems they may be playing the long game for Grand Nats.

Clear Brook had a solid performance. Symphony N 10 by Shostakovich seems to be a very popular piece among high school marching bands (not that I mind, it's one of my favorite pieces of music).