Back of the Bus: ...And Now, Back to Band
Back of the Bus returns for 2024!
So…
Uh…
It’s been a fascinating season leading up to what everyone expected to be a meaningful Saturday with four separate contests whose scores factor into the seeding for DCI San Antonio and the final show in California before today’s So Cal Classic. And then, whether through a text, a post, watching TV, or hearing it from a friend, we all got the news. Whatever your perspective on the situation may be, it was shocking, to say the least. It has flooded social media feeds and group chats, dominates the airwaves, and will continue to do so for the next week or two, at least.
Fortunately, those of us in the Drum Corps community had a bit of a distraction last night. Whether that was heading to Clifton, to Rockford, to Little Rock, to Fort Collins, to Vista, or to sit on your comfortable couch, safe at home with the Flo broadcast going, there was the opportunity to watch some fantastic groups performing.
Let’s break things down, show by show.
Coastal Connections
Drum Corps Grand Prix - Clifton, NJ
We will start with Jersey Surf and the corps formerly associated with DCA, now under the DCI All-Age umbrella. We last saw many of these corps together two weeks ago in Shelton, CT. There has been some marked improvement, with everyone who performed the last time around going up at least 5 points, with some scores up to almost 10. While the Buccaneers continue to dominate All-Age World Class, Bushwackers have closed the gap to under two points while expanding the gap between them and Caballeros to just over two, slightly wider than the .15 gap we saw in Shelton. Fusion Core continues to progress, with seven points gained since the 29th, but they won’t see any competition in their Division until Saturday’s head-to-head with White Sabers, which should be a better measure of where they are now.
As for Surf, this was their first competitive performance all season and the start of the long road to Indianapolis. Keen-eyed observers may note that this will be the first time since 2019 that they’ll be making the trip down to San Antonio this weekend, so it was crucial for them to get a seeding score in place. With a staggering Forty (40!) songs listed in their repertoire for this year, they have a little something for everyone, as long as you enjoy funk.
Gold Showcase - Vista, CA
Out on the West Coast, it was an Open Class battle, with Blue Devils B and Gold vying for the top spot, as well as some confidence before they both turn east and head towards Open Class Championships in Marian, IN. BDB looks to be the favorite in their return to Indiana, as they came out safely on top, only dropping Visual Proficiency Achievement to the hosts. Still, following tonight, they won’t see anyone else until Open Class Prelims, where the three-way battle between them, Gold (who has been chipping away at a gap that was over four points earlier in the season), and Spartans should provide some intrigue leading into Finals Week.
Things Get Rocky
DCI Little Rock - Little Rock, AR
This was the first matchup between the Boston Crusaders and Carolina Crown since the much-hyped Mason show on July 2nd, where Boston got the better of Crown, though they both placed behind Bluecoats. As such, no one was quite sure what to expect, but the Crusaders ended up almost a whole point ahead of the competition, getting them solidly into the top three for seeding, leaving Crown uncertain about their grouping and waiting on the results from Illinois and Colorado.
Further down the recap, Spirit has started to close the gap on Crossmen and purportedly will unveil a new ending at San Antonio, which could make or break their momentum and a potential finalist spot. Tagging along behind those two was Music City, who did manage to snag a few subcaptions from Spirit, which should give that group a bit of energy moving into shows where they’ll be seeing some of the groups in their current tier.
Midwest Classic - DeKalb, IL
A bit over 500 miles northeast of Little Rock, things went largely as expected at the top, with Bluecoats securing another of the top three positions and Phantom locking down a spot in the next tier. After that, it got a little fuzzier. Before Friday night, the Cavaliers had been comfortably ahead of the Colts and Blue Stars since the start. Then chaos reigned in Dubuque. The three corps were separated by just .05, and no one knew how things would shake out in DeKalb.
The Cavaliers managed to pull away from the log jam just a bit. Still, things stayed just as tight with the Colts and Blue Stars, as they were separated again by just .05, but with the Blue Stars on top this time, which also ended up being the dividing point for the seeding groups for SA.
One notable addition to this lineup was the Spartans, who you don’t generally see in this area of the country until much later in the season. Is this an expanded “Prove-It” tour for the corps to potentially get evaluated for World Class status? We’ll have to wait and see.
Drums Along The Rockies - Fort Collins, CO
One of the shows that always seems to mark a turning point in the season, as this is the last large venue we see until everyone gets together in Texas, Drums Along The Rockies is invariably a delight to watch. This year’s edition featured many groups on their own level compared to the corps around them, but one striking exception is the battle between Mandarins and Vanguard. They’ve been trading off head-to-head wins since the start of the season, and last night of all night was crucial, as this was another place where the winner ended up in the higher seeding group. Vanguard ended up doing so by just .3. It’s also one of the final shows where we’ll see Santa Clara performing first in the World Class contingent, which undoubtedly will tighten things up even more.
Another interesting topic discussed lately is the concept of West Coast Deflation, which means West Coast shows this year seem to be running a point or two lower than their Midwest and East Coast counterparts. The question coming into last night was whether that would affect seedings, and the two groups that seemed to be at the biggest risk of dropping were Pacific Crest and, stunningly, the Blue Devils. Coming into last night, the highest score we’d seen from BD was an 84 even, so it was critical for them to pass the 85.25 mark set by Crown, which they did by just three-tenths of a point to get into the top seeding pool. Crest, on the other hand, fell short of the 13-15 pool by .7, which puts them before the intermission on Saturday, making their quest for a potential finalist slot that much trickier.
How We Drew It Up
Now, let’s break down the performance schedule for San Antonio.
All Times CT
1:30 PM - Welcome & National Anthem
1:40 PM - Arsenal Drum & Bugle Corps - El Paso, TX
1:50 PM - Zephyrus Drum & Bugle Corps - Tulsa, OK
2:02 PM - Guardians - Dallas/Fort Worth, TX
2:19 PM - Genesis - Austin, TX
2:36 PM - Jersey Surf - Camden County, NJ
2:53 PM - Seattle Cascades - Seattle, WA
3:10 PM - The Academy - Tempe, AZ
3:27 PM - Pacific Crest - City of Industry, CA
3:44 PM - Music City - Nashville, TN
4:01 PM - Intermission
4:31 PM - Spirit of Atlanta - Atlanta, GA
4:48 PM - Blue Knights - Denver, CO
5:05 PM - Madison Scouts - Madison, WI
5:22 PM - Troopers - Casper, WY
5:39 PM - Crossmen - San Antonio, TX
5:56 PM - Colts - Dubuque, IA
6:13 PM - Intermission
7:13 PM - Blue Stars - La Crosse, WI
7:30 PM - The Cavaliers - Rosemont, IL
7:47 PM - Mandarins - Sacramento, CA
8:04 PM - Santa Clara Vanguard - Santa Clara, CA
8:21 PM - Carolina Crown - Fort Mill, SC
8:38 PM - Phantom Regiment - Rockford, IL
8:55 PM - Boston Crusaders - Boston, MA
9:12 PM - Blue Devils - Concord, CA
9:29 PM - Bluecoats - Canton, OH
9:54 PM - Scores Announced
Winners
The corps that seem to get the biggest boost from this draw look to be Madison, Crossmen, and Mandarins. For the Scouts and Bones, both corps are decently separated from their closest competition below them, with Spirit, Blue Knights, Music City, and an intermission between Madison and Pacific Crest, and Madison and Troopers insulating the Crossmen from Spirit and Blue Knights. As for Mandarins, they’re primed for another chance to overtake the Vanguard, going on immediately before them to solidify a spot in the top six before the split regional of Atlanta and CrownBEAT.
Tough Spot
As for the corps that may find themselves in a more formidable position, Pacific Crest, Carolina Crown, and Troopers surely can’t be happy with where they ended up. Crown seems to be the best off of the three, as they’re just a couple of slots behind Boston, but Phantom has come on very strong this year. As solidly as Troopers have been doing since they stormed their way back into finals, you’d imagine they want an opportunity to move up, and performing first in their grouping makes it that much harder. Crest managed to avoid being first in their draw group, but they have the unfortunate luck of Madison going on an hour and a half later, after three other corps AND an intermission, so they’re going to be pushing to make that up in any way they can.
Best of the Week
It’s been a bizarre week, so I want to send you off with a few cool things before we go.
DCI Broken Arrow - If you read this, you probably don’t need me to hype it up for you. First time we see all of the top 8 seeded corps in one place (other than Vanguard). Less than 100 reserved seats are available online; everything else looks to be General Admission. You know you’re going to watch it, in person or on Flo.
Kinds of Kindness - Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe. Any one of these actors in a movie makes it a must-watch for me. But all three? And Yorgos Lanthimos? If you like any sort of indie movie, it’s worth your time. It is rated R, so please keep that in mind.
EA College Football 25 - It’s been a decade since NCAA Football went away, with it the best sports game franchise we’ve had. It’s back, better than ever, and the amount of work the team has done on it is positively ridiculous. This will be the best football game ever made, and it comes out this week.
Curry Boys BBQ - It’s San Antonio week. If you’re headed into town for the show, you should probably get some BBQ, and this is some of the best I’ve had in the area. Curry and BBQ combine for some of the best flavors you never expected to go well together. If you get lucky, you might even catch me there.
Eye To The Ear by Cosmo Sheldrake - This is a weird experimental alternative folky album from earlier this year. It’s real good; check it out and tell me you can’t imagine Bloo playing something from this album next year, I dare you.
Matthew Carstensen is currently GEM’s Managing Editor. He has been involved in the Pageantry Arts for over a decade as a performer at the highest level, an instructor, and a fan. You can find him on Twitter and Threads at @SatNightLites. He currently lives in Florida with his dog.
