2025 BOA Waco (Oct. 18)

[Chippy]

Do tell! 😀

[WanderingTraveler]

Dang, Midlothian's show is super fun. Props to that bari sax player, reminded me of Leo P (assuming this might be what they are going for). Music and visual palette was super comprehensive. 

[Anthony V]

Midlothian (finals) - "Neon Underground." Great energy from our opening ensemble of performers. Brass is way more locked in that prelims. Says wife: wall of sound at certain junctures. I concur. Is this going to be top half? We will see... Some slight issues with communicating tempo across the ensemble holding back  maximum confidence and energy. But we're vastly improved over prelims. Dynamics are also very well done, and we're doing great clean musical releases. Some slight individual issues with winds' body work when that's the only responsibility. Feet are generally clean, some lag in articulating the tempo with our legs even though we hit the downbeat with our foot correctly. Some tearing/tempo issues in the asphalt cocktail section. We're pretty clean overall in terms of hitting formations and in most of our transitions. Guard was pretty clean when I was paying attention. Overall, a solid improvement over prelims performance. We'll see what happens!

[WanderingTraveler]

Westwoods show reminds me of Mckinney North 2015 (I think). Similar little red riding hood theme, tree props, and I think they also used Scythian Suite?!?!?! Loved the visual story telling in this show. The trio in the ballad was beautiful, and the way the band made room for them to cut through was amazing!

[Anthony V]

Westwood (finals) - "Red." Bring on the Prokofiev! Here comes red, going into the woods. Nice touch -- when she comes out, that's when the chord opens up! Here we go with the playful section. A little more reserved from the brass this time around, which I think is working for them really well. Great work from the weapons here during the wolf break, erm, I mean drum break. Very nice rounded articulation from the full ensemble after the drum feature ends! This is also already better than prelims, I think. Yes, and the tuning issues are gone, generally. We're pretty clean with our feet here in the ballad.  Euph soloist here needs a college scholarship. Onto the closer, a little bit of overplaying in the brass at times, but we have a more tonal "core" to our sound than prelims. A few guard drops from the guard but overall about as good as I can say, being a complete amateur. Great finals performance!!

[SharksAreCool]

I’m a little late to the party. Wow, LD Bell seems to be back. Also huge congrats to Plano East and James E. Taylor. Really shocked about McNeil and Wylie East. 

[WanderingTraveler]

Aledo always tends to have some of the coolest drill, and this year is no different. What a huge and warm sound from this ensemble, wow. Although that Blue Devils "The Cut-Outs" opener is overused, I will never complain about hearing it Use of the field in this show doesn't feel forced, and creates a super colorful canvas endzone to endzone. Hopefully will be able to see this one live in San Antonio in November, pending that they make state.

[Anthony V]

Aledo - "Sonic Boom". There's no way for me to mess up the title because it's on the front skrims. Here we go with Aledo. Can confirm wife is going nuts about the Top Gun allusions. Flutter steps bringing us out into our first form. Visual execution is fantastic all around. Lovely opening statement from the full ensemble. Some slight timing issues with the (very technical) sax quintet, but quick recovery. Incredible work. Thank you, brass for such a clean articulation feature. Really great work there. Trumpet soloist -- good job. Clean feet on this side-to-side marching bit. Here comes the banner, and now we're getting our sustained chords... Great job from our soloists moving into the full ensemble moment. The design here is very strong, and we are getting full contribution from winds and guard. Some slight muddiness here in the closer brass feature. We've lost tempo communication to WWs. Okay, but drumline saves us. We've recovered pretty well. Strong ending, too. Those stinger chords throughout the show are not only a cool motif, but they are played so well.

[dullbanddad]

29 minutes ago, WanderingTraveler said:

Westwoods show reminds me of Mckinney North 2015 (I think). Similar little red riding hood theme, tree props, and I think they also used Scythian Suite?!?!?! Loved the visual story telling in this show. The trio in the ballad was beautiful, and the way the band made room for them to cut through was amazing!

If you didn't notice, their plumes are 3D printed trees

[cheeto2401]

1 minute ago, dullbanddad said:

If you didn't notice, their plumes are 3D printed trees

i lowk wonder how long that took 

[WanderingTraveler]

Just now, dullbanddad said:

If you didn't notice, their plumes are 3D printed trees

I didn’t, I will have to go back and look!!

[WanderingTraveler]

Missed all but 20 seconds of SFA, but cool closing circle drill!!!

[Anthony V]

SFA (finals) - "Pipelines." Team orange continues now from Aledo to SFA! But now we've added purple. Her we go with our WW + pit noodling, accompanied by light drum kit groove. I love the quirky. Some tuning issues in high brass, but we're pretty in control overall. Especially with articulation, which is very tasty. Lower energy translating into a bit of dirt in our side-to-side marching drill here. Now for the next funky section. Hmm, overall our technique is pretty good but energy is a little low tonight. Flugel solo is *chef's kiss*. Again, I love that sustained chord at the end of the ballad. Towards the end here, we're getting some tuning issues; we sound tired. The crowd loves the circle jazz running.

I appreciate the technique from this ensemble. There's almost no overplaying, individual carriage is pretty strong. Thanks for your deserved finals performance!

[dullbanddad]

4 minutes ago, cheeto2401 said:

i lowk wonder how long that took 

We I saw them at BOA Round Rock only the drum majors had them. Then at TMC the whole band had them

[cheeto2401]

3 minutes ago, dullbanddad said:

We I saw them at BOA Round Rock only the drum majors had them. Then at TMC the whole band had them

okay now i remember it since i went there, i didnt know they were 3d printed however

[Tubalord11]

So as y’all can we I’m not there for finals lol. Bc of the rain we didn’t leave Fort Worth until like 5:30 from multiple lightning delays. I might watch some or the rest of finals on box. Congrats to all the finalist, now East, Hendrickson or McNeil is kinda shocking but that just shows how competitive and deep the talent is in Tx marching band!! 

[Tubalord11]

And also LD Bell first place in 4A!! PESH and JET top half! Lots of bands really stepping up their game!! 

[Anthony V]

Hutto (finals) - "Gogh Mad." Also on the front skrims to prevent plebs like me from misnaming things. (I jest. Mostly.) Here we go with claire de lune WW opening statements. Slow backfield build from the brass. You can tell its about to happen because the snares notch it up a couple dynamic levels. Classic! Thanks full ensemble for the opening statement. Generally strong energy from section to section. A few brass jabs, and now a WW feature. Back to brass, prepping us for a soprano sax soloist. Great job flags on these hits. That really helps the GE.  Next we're into the ballad. Breaking out the sabers. Effortlessly good. Trumpet trio takes us into the melody some more, passed now back and forth between WW and brass. Starting to build again, with tempo increase moving into this hit.  Great hit. That's the best you've sounded this show. Alright, that was the pre-hit hit lol. On the real hit, we lose some focus but definitely up the energy. Closer opens with that really talented guard member, and the whole rifle line joins in. Some slight timing issues here in the closer. But the guard just won't quit! Great performance. Wish I had been able to catch this in prelims. 

[BugWub24]

So Hutto was insane. One of the cleanest drum lines I have ever heard from a high school.

[Anthony V]

Timber Creek (Finals) - "Velocity." Starting with our infinity set. Great backfield dynamics. Nice build as we turn (crisply) to our opening statement. Really clean articulation. Next up those flute prodigies who also deserve college scholarships.More sax quartet work!  Some minor foot timing dirt here in the brass/WW half/double time again. Body mvt pretty clean. Individual carriage consistent when we're marching. Great saber work punctuated by an effortless toss. Alright, chord change as we color change, now adding re to our blue/gold. Feet are pretty clean here in the ballad that I can see. Soprano sax soloist at it again, and more fire from the weapon line. Rifle catch complete! Great GE moment. The trombone army technique feature sounds a lot better from prelims. Generally good balance overall from our winds. Much of the harshness from prelims is gone. Pretty good energy overall. Thanks for your performance, Timber Creek!

[WanderingTraveler]

Commented on Hutto in prelims, but wow another great run.

 

Timber Creek!!! Was that the battle bus?!?!?! Jk. Love this show. Super cool presentation thematically, music is great, and y'all have outstanding soloists. Really enjoyed the flute trio, and balance from the ensemble is top tier!

[WanderingTraveler]

L.D. Bells show has so much going on that it is hard to catch everything. Ensemble sound is super dense, love it. Flute soloist is incredibly talented! Some cool drill right before the ballad. Definitely a very difficult show, but done very well! I see why y'all placed first in 4A in prelims!

[Anthony V]

LD Bell (finals) - "The Longest Night." By deduction, LD Bell was 1st in prelims. Let's see what a great run will do tonight! Nice clean ensemble sound. Wow, great opening statement.  More impressive flute solo skills! WWs doing a great job to maintain the tempo even as they have their feature. A tiny tear in the brass, some phasing, but we recovered. Full sound yet again from the ensemble. This run is a notch up from prelims, I think. Body carriage and feet are really clean, especially in this side-to-side marching. The backfield brass cutoffs are great here in the ballad. Lovely dynamics too from the WWs who respond to the brass statement. Trombone solo starts to build us up to the hit. Great hit! I'm really pleased overall with the music performance. Just as I write that, a little intonation issues in the brass towards the end of that ballad chord, but then we recover. Trumpet solo pulls us into the closer. Feet are still pretty clean. I can't say whether that this will be at CR tonight, but it has most of the needed ingredients. There are still some clear areas of execution that need cleaning, but this show is maturing very well. Thanks, LD Bell!

[Anthony V]

I second the "dense" ensemble sound. Very layered, very rich, great tone quality most of the time. I don't recall them sounding quite like this in recent years. One would have to go back a bit...

[jetliner]

50 minutes ago, cheeto2401 said:

i lowk wonder how long that took 

Long enough not to have them for Austin, I can tell you that much