MahBoi

One of the most challenging shows I've ever seen from a visual standpoint is Carmel (IN) 2002 show, "Metal." I don't know if Michael Gaines still does their drill today, but seeing them try to pull off one of his visual programs back then was just insane. The drill was some of the fastest, toughest, and most dangerous I'd ever seen at the high school level; I saw three different instances of people falling down during their finals run, one of which was a near train wreck at the end. It was a crazy fun show to watch, especially with the electric guitar solo at the end, but those kids had to be exhausted at the end of that season. And then of course there's L.D. Bell's "King of Kings" and "Exodus" from 2000 and 2001, respectively. That suicide drill... *shudders*

Ah, that clears it up. The official adjudication handbook also seems to confirm this. I used to think that it was like you said above, but a post on the MFA forums got me thinking: I compared the schedules for prelims and semis and it looks like that person is right.

I thought that the middle group of 22 bands in the semis performance order was actually the top 22 from prelims, regardless of what day they performed on for prelims. That means that Churchill and Lafayette (LA) did, in fact, score in the lower 8 overall. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Johnson - Just a beautiful show. "Life as a House" chokes me up. I'm really excited for the future of this program North Lamar - I first saw this show performed by Churchill in 2004 and loved it. To see a 3A band nail it like they did just blew me away Dekaney - Really fun to watch, and you could tell that the kids loved performing it Tarpon Springs (FL) - They've actually been growing on me since 2006, and it feels like this year's show takes all the coolest concepts from the past two years to create the total package. Plus, the level they perform at physically, and the precision with which they do so, just makes my jaw drop. Seeing them live for the first time was a real treat