2022 BOA San Antonio (Nov. 4 & 5)

[natertater21000]

11 minutes ago, Vidal28 said:

Peace of mind for those “bubble of death bands would be for them to upset a band projected to be a top 5 in their panel. I’d feel pretty good about it👀

I could definitely see that happening in panel 1, panel 2 seems a bit too top heavy for any major upsets to occur. You never know for sure though! 

[Vidal28]

On 10/12/2022 at 11:01 PM, tamago1 said:

SA needs a semifinals. Finals bubble is absolutely brutal (shocker :OO) 

Couldn’t agree with you more, having 2 panels only compounds the issue and make it even less a margin of error for bubble groups to make finals, not alleviate it. It goes for all SR’s that get two panels but especially so for a competition like this one😦

[Samuel Culper]

18 minutes ago, Vidal28 said:

Couldn’t agree with you more, having 2 panels only compounds the issue and make it even less a margin of error for bubble groups to make finals, not alleviate it. It goes for all SR’s that get two panels but especially so for a competition like this one😦

The unbalanced panels also don't help. Somebody on Panel 2 is likely to get hosed.

[Hard Core Band Fan]

1 hour ago, Vidal28 said:

Couldn’t agree with you more, having 2 panels only compounds the issue and make it even less a margin of error for bubble groups to make finals, not alleviate it. It goes for all SR’s that get two panels but especially so for a competition like this one😦

I thought that might be a problem when they first implemented the two panel system, but to be honest, I have never seen a band not make finals that should have. Even though the competition is brutal at this venue, I still see enough scoring space between bands to see clear choices made for the finals. I think people get caught up with personally liking a band that didn't make the finals more than they liked the bands that did. I just judge their making the finals by how their performance was able to score in each category and them actually earning their spot. I know it's hard as we all have biases. But if they have earned it, they have earned it.

[snares]

Anyone know what time the line for GA usually starts for Finals? Do people just start lining up as soon as they clear the stadium after awards? Heading to SA for the first time in close to a decade and want to make sure I can get there and get really good seats to get my face blown off.

[RandomBandGuy23]

3 hours ago, natertater21000 said:

I could definitely see that happening in panel 1, panel 2 seems a bit too top heavy for any major upsets to occur. You never know for sure though! 

Don't sleep too hard on Coppell y'all! After their recent showing at area I could definitely see them creeping up into both the top 5 of panel 2 and, assuming they make finals, the top half in finals with the right run.

 

Coppell UIL Area B Finals: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vnB9nSb5IqXl1IN9JJwVXNXFp869RhhM/view?usp=sharing

[Vidal28]

1 hour ago, Hard Core Band Fan said:

I thought that might be a problem when they first implemented the two panel system, but to be honest, I have never seen a band not make finals that should have. Even though the competition is brutal at this venue, I still see enough scoring space between bands to see clear choices made for the finals. I think people get caught up with personally liking a band that didn't make the finals more than they liked the bands that did. I just judge their making the finals by how their performance was able to score in each category and them actually earning their spot. I know it's hard as we all have biases. But if they have earned it, they have earned it.

I’m not making my case either as to voice my gripe with a band not making it previously, but just with the potential for it to happen because of the potential for scoring peculiarities between each panel. I do believe also that the scoring opens up to where bands start getting separated by a gap too much for one judge to be responsible for eventually, but it still would leave a sour taste in my mouth if I saw one or several bands get the short end of the stick due to there being large differences as to how each judge is adjudicating a caption. I am more than glad to give the bands that made it out of the grueling gauntlet of SA prelims to make finals all the credit in the world, but I also don’t think this process, or the judging is infallible here. No process is, and I get that, but this is definitely not the right way to go about it.

[badboamemes]

4 hours ago, SnareSnare13 said:

Anyone know what time the line for GA usually starts for Finals? Do people just start lining up as soon as they clear the stadium after awards? Heading to SA for the first time in close to a decade and want to make sure I can get there and get really good seats to get my face blown off.

Literally RIGHT as prelims awards ends the line begins. It gets really long too. I suggest you stand in a section gate near the end of prelims awards so that you can book it to the gate immediately. I was lucky enough to get in the front of the line last year. This year I will try the same.

[Hard Core Band Fan]

3 hours ago, Vidal28 said:

I’m not making my case either as to voice my gripe with a band not making it previously, but just with the potential for it to happen because of the potential for scoring peculiarities between each panel. I do believe also that the scoring opens up to where bands start getting separated by a gap too much for one judge to be responsible for eventually, but it still would leave a sour taste in my mouth if I saw one or several bands get the short end of the stick due to there being large differences as to how each judge is adjudicating a caption. I am more than glad to give the bands that made it out of the grueling gauntlet of SA prelims to make finals all the credit in the world, but I also don’t think this process, or the judging is infallible here. No process is, and I get that, but this is definitely not the right way to go about it.

No disagreeing with anything you've said, but just saying I've not seen it be a problem so far. 

[ReveriesOp24]

On 11/20/2021 at 3:02 PM, slowbrass said:

That’s correct, San Antonio has been the sole Texas super regional since 2003 (it was also the first super regional at all). But even prior to then it seems like a strong majority of BOA contests were held in either Houston or San Antonio, likely due to those two areas’ comparative strength at the time. However, since BOA is adding a second DFW area regional next season, it seems like they may be having a similar line of thought to yours.

What city is the new BOA DFW contest going to be held in?

[littlejaw]

6 minutes ago, ReveriesOp24 said:

What city is the new BOA DFW contest going to be held in?

One was at Pennington Field in Bedford and called the DFW Regional on Oct 8th.

The other was in Prosper and called the North Texas Regional on Oct 15th.

[ReveriesOp24]

5 minutes ago, littlejaw said:

One was at Pennington Field in Bedford and called the DFW Regional on Oct 8th.

The other was in Prosper and called the North Texas Regional on Oct 15th.

Oh nice, forgot about the North Texas one. Would be cool if they had a DFW Super Regional at AT&T Stadium

[Samuel Culper]

14 minutes ago, ReveriesOp24 said:

Oh nice, forgot about the North Texas one. Would be cool if they had a DFW Super Regional at AT&T Stadium

Nope.  Terrible acoustics.

[peshbandkid]

17 minutes ago, ReveriesOp24 said:

Oh nice, forgot about the North Texas one. Would be cool if they had a DFW Super Regional at AT&T Stadium

Jerry's World has pretty bad acoustics to it, although I think having a regional at the Ford Center would be cool

[natertater21000]

5 minutes ago, Samuel Culper said:

Nope.  Terrible acoustics.

Yeah, it's a huge disappointment that none of the major NFL stadiums in Texas have acoustics that would make them a viable location for a BOA contest. NRG Stadium in Houston is equally bad, playing there felt very off.

[littlejaw]

5 hours ago, peshbandkid said:

Jerry's World has pretty bad acoustics to it, although I think having a regional at the Ford Center would be cool

I do wonder about the acoustics of the Ford Center, but I bet the seating would be lacking for a Super Regional.

[celesta]

On a related note, Prosper ISD's stadium wasn't the best choice for hosting a band contest. You could hear bands warming up from the stands while watching bands perform, especially during quieter moments. Parking for buses and trucks were also very limited. (Prosper HS is next door but it's useless because there are no direct roads between PHS and PISD Stadium.)

[BandFan95]

On 10/30/2022 at 2:11 PM, Hard Core Band Fan said:

I thought that might be a problem when they first implemented the two panel system, but to be honest, I have never seen a band not make finals that should have. Even though the competition is brutal at this venue, I still see enough scoring space between bands to see clear choices made for the finals. I think people get caught up with personally liking a band that didn't make the finals more than they liked the bands that did. I just judge their making the finals by how their performance was able to score in each category and them actually earning their spot. I know it's hard as we all have biases. But if they have earned it, they have earned it.

I saw two. 2019. Cedar Ridge and Westwood. They got screwed over by performing early for panel 2. 

[cjm715]

45 minutes ago, BandFan95 said:

I saw two. 2019. Cedar Ridge and Westwood. They got screwed over by performing early for panel 2. 

I still to this day think cedar ridge should’ve made finals that year, I watched them in my band hall on flo and thought they were for surely in.

[cjm715]

55 minutes ago, celesta said:

On a related note, Prosper ISD's stadium wasn't the best choice for hosting a band contest. You could hear bands warming up from the stands while watching bands perform, especially during quieter moments. Parking for buses and trucks were also very limited. (Prosper HS is next door but it's useless because there are no direct roads between PHS and PISD Stadium.)

I was a fan of the views we got from the top but I did hear the other bands warming up as well. I think it was a decent venue. 

[Hard Core Band Fan]

1 hour ago, BandFan95 said:

I saw two. 2019. Cedar Ridge and Westwood. They got screwed over by performing early for panel 2. 

I saw them and every other band  at that competition and thought both scored where they should have. Like them both, as well, but thought they were scored appropriately. 

[packwick]

i'm catching up on area vids. great work, kiddos!

first of all, ummm, COPPELL! holy cow! huge, rich sounds. loving the super groovy recap of Beethoven at the end. so rhythmically challenging. guard is large and in charge. is that opening flute from Atonement? i heard Atonement mentioned + the typewriter sounds and got super excited. brilliant novel, brilliant film. music a little muddy after opener, but sooo cool.

still love FM's concept more than probably any other this year. super duper meta. super duper band. capes are tasteful and don't overwhelm the visual upstairs *cough*Broken Arrow*cough*. the skeleton of the design not my favorite from them, by that i mean just the pure drill and music, but it's still super impressive. some big big moments and big big sounds. some tuning issues here and there also, wondering how cold it was.

twhs i couldn't be more proud of. super improvement. i've been around a long time now and know that a lot of bands don't weather major staff changes very well. so thank u, new directors, for stepping into the pressure cooker and managing it well, and to the kids who stuck w/ the program and kept it going strong. i'm so happy for them. they could honestly get 14th place here and i'd be thrilled.

Vista Ridge. this show is such a fascination. i've professed my love for it a lot already. aggressive, intelligent, strange, always engaging. BLAZINGLY difficult, this is what u get when u don't water down a Vanderkolff drill program. performance nooot quite there imo, maybe in another week, and the guard is too small for the band, but it excites me so much i don't really care. honestly not the fairest comparison b/w vista's guard and vandy's dance team. like, honestly, i'm not going to tell as much upstairs if u lose your balance on a chaines turn, but i'm sure as f*** gonna notice if flags are going up and down at different times and rifles are dropped. waaay more exposed, waaay bigger risk.

a little surprised Vandy didn't come out on top at area. maybe only a little weaker than usual, usual being like top 3 SA. i will say this, the "experimental marching" was a liiittle oversold. hahaha. it's the same Vandy visual, but w/ glow sticks. hahaha. now the music is different. more contemporary. that change is good. is the grid some sort of Matrix thing?

what i love most about Cedar Ridge is i guess the clarity. i never don't know what they're going for. i really like the depth to the set, the shadowing. the character moments. the percussion. show makes perfect sense. pretty strong musically at area this past weekend. visual is simple and pretty clean. maybe i'm not connecting w/ it as much as the others bc it's a little too simple for my tastes. but they can surely execute.

will look for others later. great great job everyone. can't wait for those fancy schmancy ~*inDOoR~* performances.

[VinoGirl]

7 minutes ago, packwick said:

i'm catching up on area vids. great work, kiddos!

first of all, ummm, COPPELL! holy cow! huge, rich sounds. loving the super groovy recap of Beethoven at the end. so rhythmically challenging. guard is large and in charge. is that opening flute from Atonement? i heard Atonement mentioned + the typewriter sounds and got super excited. brilliant novel, brilliant film. music a little muddy after opener, but sooo cool.

still love FM's concept more than probably any other this year. super duper meta. super duper band. capes are tasteful and don't overwhelm the visual upstairs *cough*Broken Arrow*cough*. the skeleton of the design not my favorite from them, by that i mean just the pure drill and music, but it's still super impressive. some big big moments and big big sounds. some tuning issues here and there also, wondering how cold it was.

twhs i couldn't be more proud of. super improvement. i've been around a long time now and know that a lot of bands don't weather major staff changes very well. so thank u, new directors, for stepping into the pressure cooker and managing it well, and to the kids who stuck w/ the program and kept it going strong. i'm so happy for them. they could honestly get 14th place here and i'd be thrilled.

Vista Ridge. this show is such a fascination. i've professed my love for it a lot already. aggressive, intelligent, strange, always engaging. BLAZINGLY difficult, this is what u get when u don't water down a Vanderkolff drill program. performance nooot quite there imo, maybe in another week, and the guard is too small for the band, but it excites me so much i don't really care. honestly not the fairest comparison b/w vista's guard and vandy's dance team. like, honestly, i'm not going to tell as much upstairs if u lose your balance on a chaines turn, but i'm sure as f*** gonna notice if flags are going up and down at different times and rifles are dropped. waaay more exposed, waaay bigger risk.

a little surprised Vandy didn't come out on top at area. maybe only a little weaker than usual, usual being like top 3 SA. i will say this, the "experimental marching" was a liiittle oversold. hahaha. it's the same Vandy visual, but w/ glow sticks. hahaha. now the music is different. more contemporary. that change is good. is the grid some sort of Matrix thing?

what i love most about Cedar Ridge is i guess the clarity. i never don't know what they're going for. i really like the depth to the set, the shadowing. the character moments. the percussion. show makes perfect sense. pretty strong musically at area this past weekend. visual is simple and pretty clean. maybe i'm not connecting w/ it as much as the others bc it's a little too simple for my tastes. but they can surely execute.

will look for others later. great great job everyone. can't wait for those fancy schmancy ~*inDOoR~* performances.

I just adore Coppell’s show. You feel like if you don’t intentionally look around and listen carefully then you’ll miss something. I have also seen Hebron’s show and … swoon. It’s just so fun. Yacht Rock and marching band had a baby and…amazing. 
 

i can’t wait to see Cedar Park’s show in person (mirrors are genius) and CTJ. 

Plenty of other amazing bands too. I have never seen Cedar Ridge or Vandy live, so can’t wait for that!  I’ll be cheering for Highland Park in their first super regional. Cannot wait to see it all! 

[Magma31651]

As is probably far and wide known by now, the top 30-40 bands here would likely make finals at ANY other event in the country. 

 

 

 

 

 

Texas is insane 

[ohwell]

A lot of time is spent discussing the finals and bubble bands at SA (rightfully so). Any thoughts on who will be in the 20-40 or is just too difficult to predict?  The great discussions invariably leave out bands that do need attention. Lake Travis, Westwood, Seven Lakes, etc