DCI 2023

[Bill_Hou]

  On 6/10/2023 at 12:08 AM, Tubalord11 said:

I’ll be at McKinney which is local to me, but I’ll also be taking my first trip to the dome this year for the Southwestern Championship. Will be staying Friday night in San Antonio…are there any tips or tricks I need to know? Gonna try to get a hotel close enough where we can walk without it being an unreasonable distance, but I’ve never been to the dome before. 

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I would pick a hotel on the loop and either drive in or uber in.  Hotels on the riverwalk are just insanely priced for the quality you get.   The dome isn't in the best area (gotten worse the last few years) but it is close to the riverwalk access so any hotel near the riverwalk would work for you.  If you are going Friday, try to look up where some of the corps are staying.  You can see some awesome practices and behind the scenes by doing that.  

[Tubalord11]

Good morning everyone, and happy DCI season premiere day!!! Cant believe the new season is already here, but with how everyone is sounding and all they hype that’s been going around, I’m super excited as I’d imagine most of us are for the season to kick off! Good luck to all the cores this season, and thank you to all the members and staff for keeping this awesome activity alive!!! Let the 2023 DCI season commence!! 

[Tubalord11]

Also, I’m gonna throw out my pre-season rankings. Most of this is based off the short clips off the different groups I’ve seen, but I’d love to hear what’s y’all’s are and how you think the season is gonna shape out! 
 

 

1st: Cadets 

2nd: Carolina Crown/BD

3rd: BD/Crown 

4th: Boston 

5th: BC 

6th Phantom/BS 

7th: Phantom/BS

8th: Cavaliers 

9th: Troopers( yes I really believe they can do this) 

10th: Mandarins 

11th: Blue Knights 

12th: Colts/Crossmen/Madison Scouts?  

[Tubalord11]

Congratulations to Phantom on their first win of the season! Placements are exactly what I had, and everyone was phenomenal tonight, already breaking into the 70s! 

[josephbandfan]

I’ll throw out some predictions as well. Have seen some clips and performance so far but not much.

1. BD

2. BAC

3. Bloo

4. Crown

5. Cadets 

6. Cavaliers

7. PR

8. BS

9. BK

10. Mandarins

11. Troopers

12. Crossmen

[packwick]

i woulda had Stars ahead of Phantom last night, mainly via visGE content. visual program just more consistently varied and interesting until the extended park and bark near the end. but then i also thought the guard was pretty rough, frequently dropping and not really together, was really distracting, but they still ended up 1st in that caption from content which i probably wouldn't have even rewarded them for bc it was too dirty. gotta draw the line somewhere lol. by contrast Phantoms vis program mostly seemed like a bunch of scampering into pods, fluttering whatever u wanna call it, and repetitive lateral movement smack dab in the middle bw the 40 yard lines, tho some cool moments too, like when they streamed backfield for the ballad. it was like, Finally! some major front to back motion! lol

also thought Star's brass was more controlled and nuanced. Phantom was very blasty but i guess that's the excitement for a lot of ppl.

[packwick]

didn't watch the other two on YT, i had FFXVI i needed to play.

[packwick]

seen what's supposedly the first 5 mins of the Coats. filmed w/ a potato, poor quality. can't even tell what the set pieces are. opening feels like an Alice show, lots of tick tock tick tock clocklike stuff. cool buildup to the first hit, quickly shifts pace into slower section w/ reading of William Blake's The Garden of Love, woulda preferred a deeper cut poet like May Swenson but whatevs lol. pacing interesting but may be scoring risk. visual hard to tell, seemed... busy, lacking focus, also dirty, no idea when it was filmed.

[packwick]

as of right now leaning toward a Devs vs. Crusaders season but reserving the right to change my mind after i actually see everything lol.

[Bill_Hou]

  On 6/29/2023 at 8:28 PM, packwick said:

i woulda had Stars ahead of Phantom last night, mainly via visGE content. visual program just more consistently varied and interesting until the extended park and bark near the end. but then i also thought the guard was pretty rough, frequently dropping and not really together, was really distracting, but they still ended up 1st in that caption from content which i probably wouldn't have even rewarded them for bc it was too dirty. gotta draw the line somewhere lol. by contrast Phantoms vis program mostly seemed like a bunch of scampering into pods, fluttering whatever u wanna call it, and repetitive lateral movement smack dab in the middle bw the 40 yard lines, tho some cool moments too, like when they streamed backfield for the ballad. it was like, Finally! some major front to back motion! lol

also thought Star's brass was more controlled and nuanced. Phantom was very blasty but i guess that's the excitement for a lot of ppl.

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I'm wondering if the sounds come differently based on what device you are listening on.  I didn't get a blasty tone from Phantom (will listen again tonight) and thought they had a fuller sound overall.  I think the preference for the show makes a difference also as I liked Phantoms show way more than Stars. But the good thing is last year I hated the Blue Coats for the 1st half of the season, tolerated them in the weeks leading up to worlds, and loved what they put on the field for finals.  I'm thinking the Stars may have a similar type show where it gets better and better as they add more and more stuff and clean it up.  I still don't love some of the music but again, that could easily be because little things are missing.  Either way, I was impressed with the quality last night for the first show from all 4, definitely going to make for a fun summer and probably more placement movement this year then in years past.

[packwick]

im wondering how much of the meaning of the William Blake poem the Coats will actually explore or if it's just being used as window dressing. the poem itself is a very direct and obvious criticism of the church and how it stifles free expression. i think i only heard the first 2 stanzas, they didn't bother w/ the 3rd where he says the garden of love is now filled w/ graves lol.

[Bill_Hou]

  On 6/30/2023 at 8:30 PM, packwick said:

im wondering how much of the meaning of the William Blake poem the Coats will actually explore or if it's just being used as window dressing. the poem itself is a very direct and obvious criticism of the church and how it stifles free expression. i think i only heard the first 2 stanzas, they didn't bother w/ the 3rd where he says the garden of love is now filled w/ graves lol.

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Ooohhh..had no clue about that.  Appreciate the share.  And here's my one gripe with their show which may have been because of cloudy air and a very very very close camera.  I think a lot gets lost in the red on red (uniforms and props).  I'm hoping they fix some of the staging to spread it out and maybe rethink some of that as the year goes on.

[packwick]

  On 6/30/2023 at 9:06 PM, spacewill said:

Ooohhh..had no clue about that.  Appreciate the share.  And here's my one gripe with their show which may have been because of cloudy air and a very very very close camera.  I think a lot gets lost in the red on red (uniforms and props).  I'm hoping they fix some of the staging to spread it out and maybe rethink some of that as the year goes on.

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i don't think they were in costume for the perf i saw, didn't notice a bunch of red ppl. or maybe the vid just wasn't even the bluecoats lol. it seemed like a world corps tho.

didn't think id get to see them so soon but theyre actually doing a community perf tomorrow. so we'll see everyone else i guess b/w today (crown, cavies) and tomorrow (devils, crusaders, cadets). well maybe not me bc i refuse to pay Flo but there are usually leftovers quickly uploaded to YT. like to watch em, make predictions, and then look at scores.

[packwick]

actually i guess my mom did offer to let me use her acct, she was texting yesterday to gush about how much she loved Phantom. won't deprive her tho. im in no big rush to see everything.

[Bill_Hou]

  On 6/30/2023 at 9:13 PM, packwick said:

i don't think they were in costume for the perf i saw, didn't notice a bunch of red ppl. or maybe the vid just wasn't even the bluecoats lol. it seemed like a world corps tho.

didn't think id get to see them so soon but theyre actually doing a community perf tomorrow. so we'll see everyone else i guess b/w today (crown, cavies) and tomorrow (devils, crusaders, cadets). well maybe not me bc i refuse to pay Flo but there are usually leftovers quickly uploaded to YT. like to watch em, make predictions, and then look at scores.

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I missed the Coats part.  for some reason I read it as Colts...makes a lot more sense now! haha.

[Tubalord11]

Everyone was on fire tonight but HOLY SH*T CROWN, they brass is ON FIRE!!! They are gonna have a heck of season, and when they clean up, my god this show is going to be so unbelievably good! 

[Bandmomlover]

  On 7/1/2023 at 2:06 AM, Tubalord11 said:

Everyone was on fire tonight but HOLY SH*T CROWN, they brass is ON FIRE!!! They are gonna have a heck of season, and when they clean up, my god this show is going to be so unbelievably good! 

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Agree!  Gunning for Ott.

[packwick]

well Crown was clearly at least 2 points better than the competition. after i saw it i was like, hmmm, at least two, maybe even 3. not sure it's championship quality but def the best tonight. clear medal contender. they'll at least get 4th again.

Stars' brass and music scores are uh quite something. i like a lot of the Cavies' music, i think the arrangement is frequently inspired tho sometimes busy, and let's face it, it provides some major nostalgia boners for the old timers. but performance? performance?! gurl(s), no. like, Sure, Jan, that's my response to this judging lol. Cavies simply did not belong ahead of Star in brass and music ensemble besides maybe for their opening statement. overall it was a hot mess tonight, the poor things. hopefully it improves tho bc there's lots to like about the show.

excited to see what a completely new panel thinks. didn't get that tonight.

[Parkwoodmom]

Enjoyed the Bluecoats tonight. 🙂

[Tubalord11]

  On 7/2/2023 at 1:58 AM, Parkwoodmom said:

Enjoyed the Bluecoats tonight. 🙂

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Ehhh….

it was good, but that book just isn’t for me. It feels to all over the place, very disconnected, props are supper distracting, and compared to everyone else in the top half, it feels kinda easy(for dci!), snd the vocals were to much imo. It just feels like it’s to far from dci, but again, Ik plenty of others will enjoy it, just not my cup of tea.

[packwick]

yettt another kinda hippie dippie show from the Coats w/ electronic soundscapes and rhythmically pulsed spoken word and tarps that envelop the sides of the field and elaborate costuming. nooot breaking any new ground but lots of really cool and effective moments. glad to see they kinda sorta explore the darker side of the Blake poem. very funereal in that middle section. overall a pretty consistently interesting and appealing show.

visual looked a little busy and cluttered to me but it'll prob look better when u can actually see the tarps from higher up indoors. i just wish the drill were more consistentlyyyyy, uhhh, pretty? Vanderkolff's style is clear and logical but also very blocky with lots of blocky lines and scampering lol. been hoping for something a little more elegant and Gainesian for like 20 years. it's just not his style lol.

guard very expressive, very fluid. i like contrasting this more reserved style w/ like the Blue Stars style of guard we just saw, which was like a lot of frantic spinning and tossing that didn't always seem very musical to me and also introduced a lot of dirt. Coats have a very musical and lyrical style. some tricky stuff too like all that flag exchange partnering stuff in the ballad.

i'm thinking Crown prob would have beaten this yesterday by like a point or something, just a little bit more polished, but could see Coats growing like last year.

aaaand Boston just crossed a 77 in their 1st show, guessing the visual is as good as the music based on that lol. im expecting frontrunner status along w/ Devils probably, we'll see.

[packwick]

also i wanted to say how much im liking the Coats' oomphier brass this year compared to last, lots more of those big full powerful chord moments. the buildup to them is great too. end of opener and closer are magical and goosebumpy. lots of environmental challenges too having the members all spread out like that across the field so frequently.

[packwick]

first half of Devs' show is stellar. the ballad is MAGNIFICENT. like prob gonna be one of the best ever. but then like everything after that is pretty random sounding right now lol. gonna have to make it a little more coherent. cut out set pieces are pretty appealing imo. i like how they pop up and how the marchers pass through them and whatnot, plus all the assembling.

[Tubalord11]

  On 7/2/2023 at 5:04 AM, packwick said:

first half of Devs' show is stellar. the ballad is MAGNIFICENT. like prob gonna be one of the best ever. but then like everything after that is pretty random sounding right now lol. gonna have to make it a little more coherent. cut out set pieces are pretty appealing imo. i like how they pop up and how the marchers pass through them and whatnot, plus all the assembling.

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Yeah this was how I felt exactly. That first half is so groovy and that ballad is so good! 

[packwick]

stiiill think Boston's music effect is #1 overall, don't think ill be changing my mind about that despite some impressive peaks in the other 3 contenders' shows, coughBothSidesNowcough, but i think the visual side may leave them vulnerable to Devs, Coats, and Crown. just a liiiiittle toooo simple in parts, nooot in terms of demand but in terms of layering/intricacy, tho that could help w/ clarity later. kinda got Broken Arrow vibes sometimes, simple shapes but in a sea of rifles instead of flags lol. works in BOA, we'll see if it works in DCI.

guard is impressive but also super toss-happy, would like to see them explore a more musical blending of the movement and equipment in spinning phrases. if this were wgi id say they're sacrificing a bit of variety and range at the altar of difficult and risky tosses.