DCI SE/NightBEAT Preview
It’s time for the Southeastern Regional, and this year, DCI has decided to do something a little different. They’ve split up seeding duties between the traditional Atlanta show and NightBEAT, which is in Winston-Salem at Wake Forest’s stadium. The shows have some overlap so DCI has adopted some interesting seeding processes. If a corps is performing at only one of the two nights, that will be the score used to seed them for Allentown, as well as the score that will be factored in to generate the order for World Class Prelims. If a corps competes at both shows, the score used will be the average of both nights.
This changes the competitive picture a fair amount, and also means that the first time this season that all competing World Class corps will perform in the same lineup is at Prelims.
Storylines
Let us take a look at the big storylines going into this weekend. Starting at the top, the current top five scoring corps will be at both shows. The Santa Clara Vanguard has been consistently finding themselves in 5th, and unless something unexpected occurs, this seems to be where they will be finishing the year out. Where things get interesting is the top four, with the Boston Crusaders, Carolina Crown, and the Bluecoats all coming out on top of each other at some point in the season. Of the three, Boston seems to be trending up the furthest, finding themselves under a point behind the Blue Devils at Hattiesburg on Wednesday. The issue is that all of these corps have recently been reported to have potential COVID outbreaks, with the Bluecoats having to perform in exhibition at DCI Little Rock. In addition, both Crown and Boston have had multiple members missing in recent shows. With how tight a lot of the margins are, having a large portion of a corps missing from rehearsal for a few days can make a huge impact at the end of the year.
Moving down to the 6-10 placements, the Cadets will be performing exclusively at NightBEAT. Blue Stars, the Phantom Regiment, and the Mandarins will be only in Atlanta. The Cavaliers will be performing at both shows. These placements have been fairly volatile all year, with Cadets and Blue Stars finding themselves currently holding down 6th and 7th respectively. The Cavaliers and Mandarins have been going back and forth for 8th place, trading wins over the past week. Phantom was able to keep things fairly close with the Cavaliers in San Antonio despite performing over an hour before the Cavaliers did. There’s still a lot of room in here for change, so expect this to go down to the last show of the year.
The most interesting battle of the year in my opinion is the battle for finals between the corps currently finding themselves in 11th-14th. As of the rankings on Thursday, the Blue Knights and Crossmen are finding themselves in finalist spots, and the Colts and Troopers are on the outside looking in. All of these corps perform Back to Back to Back to Back in Winston-Salem on Sunday, which will provide a great opportunity to see how things may shake out at the end of the season. This order almost certainly won’t stay consistent, however, the biggest storyline this week has been the Troopers finding themselves having issues with COVID. They had to perform in standstill in Little Rock, as their COVID numbers are reportedly in the 40s, and include their head Drum Major. This could have a major impact on their chances to make finals for the first time since 2009, however, this corps is seeing more competitive success than any since 2016, and this show has been widely viewed as a massive step forward from a design and performance perspective for them.
Just below them, we find the Madison Scouts, who will be performing only in Atlanta. They find themselves scoring about a point above the Academy who will be at Atlanta as well, so it wouldn’t be surprising to find them sticking around at about 15th over the rest of the season. The three remaining corps that will be attending Finals week that will also be at Atlanta have been scoring right under Madison and Academy, these corps being Music City, Genesis, and Atlanta first-timer Gold. All find themselves safely currently in Semis, and each is having significant seasons, having beaten corps they haven’t before. It will be very interesting to see how they compare tomorrow, and how things stack up at the end of the year.
Our final corps at NightBEAT will be Jersey Surf and Pacific Crest, both of whom took some time away from performing at some point this season, and in Surf’s case not making the trek to San Antonio as a result. Both corps found themselves impacted especially hard by COVID following good showings during the last competitive season, with Surf making semis for the first time since 2014, and Crest placing 14th, their best season yet. However, they’ve made it out on the field and both have a very good shot of making semifinals again, so seeing where things shake out with them should be telling.
The final corps for Atlanta’s Southeastern Championships are two southern groups, with DCA’s Atlanta CV kicking things off, and Florida corps Heat Wave following them up (Editor’s Note: the writer is related to Heat Wave’s director). This will be CV’s first live competitive performance since 2019, as their only prior scored performance this year was a part of DCA’s Virtual shows, part of their unique hybrid season. Heat Wave will be wrapping things up in Atlanta, as they’ve chosen to do a reduced tour this year compared to past years.
The Venues
Saturday’s show is at Center Parc Stadium, home of the Georgia State Panthers, and former home of both the Braves and the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. This is the first DCI show held at this notable venue, as well as the first Southeastern Championship not to be held at either the Georgia Dome or Mercedes Benz Stadium since 2005 (with the exception of 2017, which was held at McEachern HS in Powder Springs, GA while the Benz was under construction).
Sunday’s show will be at Truist Field in Winston-Salem, NC, home of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. This has been the venue for NightBEAT since 2016, though it has drawn the ire of fans through no fault of its own. Quite a few shows have been delayed due to rain, which should surprise no one that lives in the south.
Both shows feature a strong likelihood of rain, with Atlanta having a 75 percent chance during the day and a 40 percent chance at night. Winston-Salem features a 70 percent chance during the day which only drops to 40 percent at night. If you’re planning on attending either show, dress for wet weather and be prepared for a delay or a potential cancellation.
All this being said, we should have two very competitive excellent shows this weekend, setting us up for a fantastic doubleheader of DCI East in Allentown, just as long as everyone stays dry(ish) and healthy.
Saturday Night Lights 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 at @SatNightLites. He currently lives in Florida with his partner and their two dogs.