2024 Grand Nationals - Prelims

[Sir Loin]

Smh. Got out of class early to watch OFT only to realize I was in central time not eastern   

[srv1084]

Another Box5 stream cut incoming...

[rickofavon]

Nov 14, 2024 12:29:27 GMT -6 srv1084 said:

Another Box5 stream cut incoming...

Looks like Santa brought it early. I didn’t ask for this. Are we even gonna get anything else for Christmas?

[oldguy260]

I watched all of San Antonio Super Regional and Box5 ran perfectly.

[theangrybavarian]

Nov 14, 2024 12:51:32 GMT -6 oldguy260 said:

I watched all of San Antonio Super Regional and Box5 ran perfectly.

Had no issues watching St. Louis. Thankfully all appears to be working well at this point.

[Jake W.]

Greenfield was nice! Their longtime WGI presence really comes through in both drums & front ensemble; clean clean clean and some nice layered writing. I have no idea what Class B State recaps looked like but I imagine their visual design & execution numbers helped with that win; super clean on the visual front.

[Ocellwiz]

Wow Kentucky, y'all have so many great bands!

[Jake W.]

Great job, Anderson County! I've really enjoyed watching their growth the last few years. Really terrific design from them this season. I think AA on Panel 1 is too stacked for either them or Greenfield to move on as a rep, but both put on respectable shows.

[neop]

Back to back beautiful shows from Greenfield Central and Anderson County. Class reps are going to be so hard to pick.

[neop]

My rankings of the third block:

1. O’Fallon Township, IL
2. Anderson County, KY
3. Greenfield Central, IN
4. Springboro, OH
5. South Oldham, KY
6. Walter E. Stebbins, OH
7. West Carrollton, OH
8. Tippecanoe, OH
9. Kalida, OH
10. Marion Local, OH

[neop]

Nov 14, 2024 11:59:19 GMT -6 Allohak said:

Kalida is a teeny tiny little community in Ohio situated along US-224 between Ottawa and Ottoville

Total population of the village would only be a AAA school

Kalida is the 7th smallest Ohio school to field a competitive marching band.

[theangrybavarian]

Is every band in Hamilton County just that good? Besides Tulsa (and Cobb County, GA c. 2004) I can't think of an area outside of Texas that has so much depth.

[Jake W.]

Terrific job, Noblesville!!!! Welcome to your first Grand Nats!! I have no idea if they'll move on to Semis or not - too early in the contest to tell - but they made their case and wouldn't surprise me at all if they made it in. Maybe not the most innovative of all shows, but their execution captions alone could carry them into Semis. They are a group that plays & moves just impressively well at an individual level. I can see why they've made ISSMA State three times now and BOA Indy Finals twice. Whether they make Semis or not, look out for Noblesville moving forward!!!! Wealthy, wealthy community with terrific directors and full support of the community. The sky is the limit for Noblesville's future!

[chemicalpharm]

Nov 14, 2024 13:55:37 GMT -6 theangrybavarian said:

Is every band in Hamilton County just that good? Besides Tulsa (and Cobb County, GA c. 2004) I can't think of an area outside of Texas that has so much depth.

If you mean Hamilton County, IN, we feel very fortunate to live in an area with so much fantastic, friendly marching band competition! One interesting thing about Noblesville is that this is only their 5th season competing field shows!

[Jake W.]

WOW, Lawrence Township is working overtime to retain their Semifinalist status from last year!

[chemicalpharm]

Nov 14, 2024 14:04:07 GMT -6 Jake W. said:

WOW, Lawrence Township is working overtime to retain their Semifinalist status from last year!

They are an absolute joy to watch. I was super bummed they didn’t make Open A state finals this year, but the competition was STEEP

[Jake W.]

I thought Noblesville laid down a solid gauntlet for the Semis bubble, but Lawrence turned around and blew that threshold out of the water. I'm probably speaking too soon with so many good bands to come, but it's difficult for me to imagine that performance landing outside of Semis. They took advantage of their 3 weeks since ISSMA Semi-State and cleaned, cleaned, cleaned. Great to see!!

[hereforthesax]

Nov 14, 2024 12:07:47 GMT -6 theangrybavarian said:

Box5 issues for anybody else?

I text my kids and blamed them for watching instead of focusing in class! 😂

[neop]

Thoroughly enjoyed South Point’s show. It was fun to follow along and try to find all the pieces before they did.

[Jake W.]

Reeths-Puffer put on a lovely performance! Honestly, they were clean as hell. Sounded great at the ballad impact. Terrific design. I haven't followed up on who's there now but they really seem to be finding their footing again since Hodson retired a few years back. I was really impressed, RP! 

[Marching Observer]

Hello Hello my fellow band nerds! I’m going to try and pop in here every once in awhile and throw some quick thoughts out on what I think are notable moments. Just have to find the time between groups since I’m part of the live blog. My thoughts here will be more…expressive shall we say here rather than the sanitized version I have to keep up with lol.

So real quick since I have a lot of catching up to do. Oh, and let it be known that each group has given me some type of surprise and I do mean that honestly. But let’s begin that commentary!

*Cambridge from GA was the first band to really standout imo. Well crafted and entertaining, I was pleased to say the least.

*Murray. WOW WOW WOW! Incredible performance and easy to see why they are one of the favorites to win Class A. I would not be disappointed seeing that in exhibition in Finals.

*Ben Davis always surprises me each year with their final product. Always seem to put on a solid and entertaining show. They just need a little bit more ‘umph’ though in their design I think and they’d maybe start moving back up.

*Hardin Valley Academy - What a fun show! Plus they had little dust bunnies on their shoulders as well. You could tell the kids were having fun and they fully bought into the show. And why not! I think they also performed really well too. Last year was also fun and performed well. I hope they can continue to do that!

*Archbishop Alter - Ah the little band that can! Always an entertaining and well executed show. Lots of improvement from when I last saw them and that guitar player! Is it getting hot in here cause they were on fire! Now do they make it back into semi-finals this year? Looking at the the Panel 2 Class A bands, I’d say that they have a very good shot at it.

*O’Fallon Township - Our first band of Grand Nationals in the discussion for making Finals. And that discussion will continue with how well they performed. At least getting to see them live imo. They’ve got one more level in them I think which is what they are going to need to do if they really want to secure a spot. It’s a year where you have to be your absolute best if you’re going to want to move on especially with how tight the judges have been scoring groups all year. This is a show I would not be mad about making Finals.

*Springboro - Talk about a band exceeding all my expectations! Loved this show. It hit that inner movie nerd in me. Yes, you can be a nerd over more than one thing. But they integrated the iconic music into their show so well and it didn’t feel forced at all which is often the case. Plus characters coming out during each piece and of course them playing ‘let’s all go to the lobby’ and having a giant thing of popcorn and drink come running out. If you don’t know what that theme is, first it just proves I’m getting old and secondly go look it up on YouTube. On top of this, I thought they performed truly well, maximizing everything they could out of the show. One last note, the backdrops of fake movie posters they used were clever in the naming of these fake movies but none so much as ‘Indy and the Quest for the Golden Eagle’ or something very close to that. Clearly this has been one of my favorite shows of the day with how clearly NOT SHORT this blurb is LOL

*Greenfield-Central - Well, getting to see it in person has helped my opinion of the show a little. But I still scratch my head on how that won Class B in the Indiana State Finals over two bands that ended up tied behind them (Evansville North and Greenwood). I had them 7th from the Box5 stream of State Finals and after seeing the performance today, would have only still bumped them up to maybe 5th. I said I would end up being more critical now as this is my last season of live blogging (it is going away as it currently is for at least a year but that’s another story).

*Noblesville I think had their best performance of the year. The show has grown on me though over time but I still don’t really care for the the theme. Not the message behind it but just kinda the design I guess. That said, that doesn’t take away from the amazing performance those kids put on. Like I said, best performance of the year which includes musically and visually. It is just rough that they are in Panel 2. If Panel 1, I’d say they were a strong contender to get into semi-finals. But hey, there is no telling what the judges will do as we all know so well and I’ve seen crazier things happen.

*Lawrence Township - Another show that I think really maxed it out right now. And again, like Noblesville, if in Panel 1 I’d say a good contender to get in. But it is a nice fun show with recognizable music you can get into.

*Reeths-Puffer came out to play! I know that they are in a very competitive Class AA Panel (seriously even the classes are unbalanced in the Panels), but that was a performance I could certainly see getting an auto-bid. Especially that Sapronosax which *whew* getting hot in here again. I reserve the right now to change my mind after I see more of the AA groups that have that potential lol

So there you go! I started this a bit ago and had to keep adding groups. When we get to our next official break, I’ll to post what my current rankings are of each Panel. Until then, I’ll try to post these more frequently.

[tateloveslily]

Kickapoo’s show is beautiful, but I have an unhealthy fear of people on stilts. Always freaks me out.

[Jake W.]

Kickapoo's design was fantastic. I would love to have marched or taught that show, and obviously the kids enjoyed sinking their teeth into that product. They really made that show come alive. I wish there were room in Semis. Solid performance of a well-designed, eerie show! I really enjoyed that!

[cybrunette]

I don't know how or when it stuck in my mind that Kickapoo is a tiny band. Every time they walk on the field I'm confused for like 2.2 seconds before I go 'oh yeah, that's what they really look like'... it's a weird feeling.

[Jake W.]

Great job, DeWitt! Similar to R-P, things seem very healthy with this band. They were good in 2022 when they attended GN, but this was quite a step up in both design & quality. They could definitely be Michigan's next big name. Reeths-Puffer, DeWitt, Kickapoo...three bands in a row who probably won't land in the top 45-50, but each of whom I enjoyed immensely. One of the many reasons I love watching Prelims - so many GOOD bands giving great performances! Those were three impressive showings in a row and each band was an absolute treat to watch.

[coleeich]

Okay Walled Lake, we see you!

[tyy1117]

something is STILL happening in Indy??? When will they get that fixed???

[srv1084]

My first viewing of Walled Lake and they catapulted to my favorite of the day. They really seem to be hitting their stride as a combined program. I can see why they won states this year.

[srv1084]

Nov 14, 2024 15:27:22 GMT -6 tyy1117 said:

something is STILL happening in Indy??? When will they get that fixed???

Oh, you didn't know? 

[bandfanintn]

Well done Walled Lake. Nice design and sound. Here’s hoping we see you again Saturday.