Super Mega FloMarching Stream Day Part 1: July 2nd Guide
We've got a lot of drum corps to watch and it's scary trying to figure it all out, so I'm here to help you out with that...
***UPDATE*** Due to weather delays, I will be updating the schedule on this spreadsheet instead, so use this to follow along rather than the other ones below!!!
Coming into the 2022 DCI season, FloMarching committed to more live coverage of events with better audio and visual quality. I think most would agree that they have delivered on their promises, featuring 1080p streaming and more complex microphone setups on the field to better capture the full soundscape that drum corps are putting out. So far this year, we’ve only had a single contest on each day, all of which have been streamed; but on Saturday, July 2nd, we will be getting three out of the five contests being streamed with some overlap. It can be a little overwhelming to try and look at the three lineups - all across different time zones, as well - and figure out what you want to watch, so today I will be your guide! Here is a reformatted version of the schedule all normalized to the same time zone.
The italicized corps are the competitive DCI member corps that will be performing their show for the first time on tour (and on stream). As a warning, you may want to still keep an eye on the streams you aren’t actively watching because these events often get behind or ahead of schedule.
Starting with the first contest, the East Coast Classic in Quincy, Massachusetts, there is no overlap before the intermission, so you won’t need to worry about flipping between streams at first. The Muchachos are an all-age exhibition corps affiliated with DCI which we will be seeing at many shows in the north east this year, with this being their first performance. After them are two Open Class corps, first of which are the 7th Regiment. 7R finished sixth place in Open Class finals in 2019 with their strongest caption being brass, which has historically been their strongest caption. They made semi-finals in 2014, but haven’t returned since despite remaining fairly competitive in Open Class competition. Next are the Spartans, a more recognizable name to the average drum corps fan as they are a consistent semi-finalist (making it every year since 2012) and are the defending 2019 Open Class Champions.
After those three performances, East Coast Classic goes into intermission and you should be able to switch to the Drums on Parade contest in Madison, Wisconsin. The first exhibition group to perform is Sound of Sun Prairie, an extra-curricular summer marching band based in Sun Prairie, WI, a suburb on the outskirts of Madison. The second group will be the Green Beret Marching Band, another extra curricular summer marching band from Rock County, WI, just southeast of Madison. However at this time, you might want to switch back over to the East Coast Classic to catch the premiere of Jersey Surf, the first world class corps of the night. Jersey Surf are taking a different approach to their tour this year, going on a two week competitive hiatus in July to focus on rehearsal and doing more local shows, so you might want to catch it tonight cause you may not be able to see them again for a few more weeks. After Surf are The Cadets, who are also premiering in Quincy, MA. Sandwiched between Jersey Surf and The Cadets are the Colt Cadets, the academy corps of the Colts. If you want to see both Surf and Cadets, you probably will not be able to see what this 2019 Open Class finalist is cooking up for this season quite yet.
Starting in the middle of The Cadets’ time slot is the premiere of the 8th place Open Class corps from 2019 (only 0.45 points between them and 7R at finals, though), River City Rhythm. They have been on an upward trend since 2015 when they first traveled to Indianapolis for the championships, so try to catch at least the beginning of their performance if it lines up. The final corps of the evening in Quincy will be the Boston Crusaders, scheduled to start just six minutes after RCR. If you were watching the DCI Tour Premiere in theaters or on FloMarching on Tuesday night, you will have already seen them perform so they are not as high on my personal priority list, but I understand wanting to watch that incredible show as many times as you can. Near the end of Boston’s time block, Colts will be performing, but you will also be able to catch them on July 1st for the DCI Central Indiana FloMarching stream when they premiere their 2022 production. After Colts perform, Drums on Parade goes into intermission and you may be able to catch part of the Boston Crusaders encore performance and hear the live results for the East Coast Classic.
After the intermission in Madison, WI, you get three uninterrupted performances of Phantom Regiment, Blue Stars, and The Cavaliers, all of which performed at the Tour Premiere in Detroit. Afterwards, Madison Scouts will be premiering their show, which they streamed a preview performance of on YouTube and Facebook on June 24th. While they are performing in their hometown, Drums Across the Desert in Tempe, AZ will be kicking off with performances by the US Coast Guard Auxiliary Arizona Band and The Academy Summer Youth Guard. ASYG is a camp run by The Arizona Academy of the Performing Arts (same organization that runs The Academy DBC) that runs two days a week in the summer that introduces elementary and middle school aged kids into the activity. Madison Scouts will be doing their encore right after their competitive performance, but you may also want to switch over to the Tempe, AZ stream to see Pacific Crest perform again. Scores for Drums on Parade will likely be announced during this performance as well.
For the rest of the night, it will just be the remainder of Drums Across the Desert, starting with Blue Knights and their premiere of their 2022 show. Following their performance is an intermission and the remaining corps will perform in the order of Blue Devils, Santa Clara Vanguard, and The Academy, followed by an encore performance by The Academy and the announcement of scores. All three of these final performances have already been streamed three times this year, so if you’re starting to feel tired (especially for those on the east coast), it is probably safe to call it a night after Blue Knights if you’ve been keeping up to date with the rest of the previous streams.
There we go, nearly 7 hours straight of drum corps streaming in one night! And now you have a good idea of what to expect from every performing group. Here’s a summary of my suggested watch schedule.
Once again, the italicized corps are premieres of shows. Also, the performances with asterisks next to them are my second choice, but still definitely worth the watch if you prefer them. And as a last reminder, the performance times at these contests can get moved around fairly often, either getting ahead of or behind schedule. So if there’s something you don’t want to miss, be sure to check in on the other streams occasionally to keep up with the timeline. Enjoy the streams from FloMarching, hope this helped!