sogeg

I (unexpectedly) managed to make it back down to catch all of finals! This was my first time watching a contest live since San Antonio in 2017, so it was super cool to get to see all these bands again! Anyways, I have some takeaways- Marcus- This show is CLEAN. It honestly was on another level of cleanliness from every other band there. I don't think the design is quite there yet (I really hope those aren't the final props), but quite honestly nobody else was taking first. The technique, drill, and overall performance was leagues above anyone else. Wakeland- Super surprised by them! They had a very large and loud sound, and I thought the design was definitely solid. I do think there wasn't quite enough dynamic contrast- they just kind of blasted the whole time. They sound great! But I'd definitely love for there to be more reserved moments. I personally had them below Coppell, but I can definitely see why they got the silver here. Their cleanliness was off the charts! Coppell- Definitely a great show with huge potential! I loved it from a visual and GE perspective, but nothing stuck out to me too much musically. Definitely gonna be one to watch when we get down to the Alamodome! Keller- My clear bias, but I think this show has a lot of places to go, more so than any Keller show in the past few years. I was initially surprised by 4th place, but it definitely makes sense- after all, the show isn't anywhere close to finished from a design standpoint. There were a couple of lulls here and there, but I overall really liked the show. They will most likely have the drill finished by BOA next weekend, and hopefully some guard uniforms and tarps to match! That ballad hit was probably the most impactful thing I heard all night, and I cannot wait for the rest of the show to get up to that level. Timber Creek- Super impressed by them! Their dynamic control is absolutely ridiculous, and that opening hit was incredible. Great things are coming for them this season for sure! Prosper- Similar feeling that I had with Wakeland- I want more contrast! They look and sound great for sure, and I love their visual presence. Again, I can tell that great things are coming for them come late-season. (None of this is meant to be a slight to any bands- I know how much work and effort goes into these shows! To any band members reading this right now- you should be very proud! Everybody killed it and I am so lucky to have been able to see all of these bands!)

100% agree with this, during my first contest last season (HEB) we had a very rough finals run and it was really disheartening to see all of the speculation about how we'd do late season. A band is allowed to have a run that's not locked in, and it's better for that to happen sooner rather than later. I have no doubt Leander will bounce back by the end of the season- even after a rough showing at Austin last year they managed to deliver an outstanding product and I definitely think this year won't be too different. Tl;dr band is fun and scores are just the opinions of some judges who are given the misfortune of having to rank/rate some pretty incredible bands.

Well, I guess I'll get started with my personal predictions. For some background, I am a Keller alum ('22) and I haven't seen too much of any of these bands aside from Keller, so this is mostly guesswork based on last season and what I have heard pre-season. I am gonna be making the trip from my college down to see this contest. 1-2. Hebron and Flower Mound- No real surprises here, since these two have traded this regional since 2013. Personally I give Hebron a slight edge based on last year, but I've always been a sucker for their shows and FloMo tends to have a very strong product in the early season. 3-4. Marcus and Coppell- Again, no surprises- these two were in the top 5 at State and with Coppell's uphill climb I could see them taking the medal from Marcus. I still give a slight edge to Marcus due to the strength of their program in the early season, but I would love to be proven wrong. 5. Keller- After last year's fairly tame show, I am definitely excited for this one. They definitely seem to be going in the right direction, GE-wise. I don't have much context for the other bands, but I would imagine they are pretty solidly in 5th. With a good run, they might be able to jump to 4th, but in true Keller fashion, the show is definitely planned to peak late-season. 6-10. Timber Creek, L.D. Bell, Waxahachie, Southlake Carroll, Wakeland- While I feel fairly confident about the top 5, these next 5 will be all over the place. It's really hard to predict how this will end up- I could see Timber in 6th just as easily as I could see them in 10th, and the same goes for every band I have in this caption. I am definitely expecting this to be tight, with all of these band fighting for their spot in the top half. 11-12. Lone Star, Aledo, Highland Park- Granted, I am not too familiar with any of these programs (I have heard great things about HP, but not quite enough to warrant putting them higher up). I don't have too many strong opinions about this, so I will leave it at that lol. Music- Hebron Visual- FloMo GE- Hebron (Feel free to let me know if I missed anything- I am definitely very new to this, but I wanted to take a crack at it haha)