Alright, I am about to tackle the most controversial topic in my profession, the DCI Finals. The actual result:
1. Blue Devils 98.325
2. Bluecoats 98.238
3. Santa Clara Vanguard 96.600
4. Carolina Crown 96.563
5. Cavaliers 95.400
6. Boston Crusaders 94.488
7. Blue Knights 92.050
8. Blue Stars 91.225
9. Cadets 89.838
10. Mandarins 89.300
11. Crossmen 87.550
12. Phantom Regiment 87.238
Now, before I give you my top 12, I will preface this by saying that I don’t dislike anybody and if you see any of my other posts, this isn’t based on any bias. The Fred 12:
1. Bluecoats
2. Carolina Crown
3. Blue Devils
4. Santa Clara Vanguard
5. Cavaliers
6. Blue Knights
7. Boston Crusaders
8. Blue Stars
9. Mandarins
10. Crossmen
11. Cadets
12. Phantom Regiment
Personally, Bluecoats won the night.
I was not in love with the show but there seemed to be a lot more energy with the Bluecoats than anybody else. I don’t see how they win two of the three major captions but not win the thing (and of all things, losing visual performance). Very strange. My personal favorite was Crown. They seemed to be the only corps who put marching into the “marching arts” (a term which I am not quite ready to come to grips with). And this nothing against the Blue Devils who I had winning the semifinals (and San Antonio) and Vanguard who is a personal favorite. I would have been happy with any of the four. Tonight was the best I have seen from the Blue Knights and the Mandarins and I really thought both would move up. But hey, I have been known to be wrong from time to time.
This was a good year for DCI. Some very entertaining show ideas and themes. Staging seems to be more the thing now than marching but things evolve and that is how it works. Overall, I really enjoyed the night except for FloMarching playing Rocket Mortgage commercials throughout the night over and over again.
