Texas Preview 9/24
Texas has a lot of great shows going around the state outside of BOA this weekend, and maybe there’s one near you that you didn’t even know about! So here’s a super quick rundown on what to look out for in Texas this weekend.
First, let’s cover USBands, which has three shows across the state: Madisonville, Baytown, and Saginaw. Starting with Madisonville (located about a 45-minute drive northeast of College Station), most bands here are small bands that don’t see the spotlight as often as others. Still, the two that stick out to me the most are Willis (located north of Conroe) and Cedar Creek from Bastrop (east of Austin). This contest and Baytown are one-and-dones, so there are no finals. Speaking of which, going southeast to the Houston-area contest, we see a much more extensive lineup (even bigger than BOA North Houston’s) with quite a few more recognizable names. Bands such as Cinco Ranch, Jersey Village, Dickinson, and Foster have seen varying levels of success in BOA and/or UIL, and indoor percussion fans will probably be excited to see Pasadena Memorial on the schedule too. Jordan will also be at this competition for an early evening performance between the prelims and finals of the nearby BOA regional. The last USBands event is a full prelims and finals competition in Saginaw which will also stream on FloMarching. Recent BOA finalists such as Braswell and Burleson Centennial start their season competing with the likes of Trinity coming into the season with an entirely new staff. Emerson, the newest addition to the Frisco ISD roster, will also be making its competitive premiere at this contest.
Staying in the DFW area for now, we have three contests worth keeping an eye on. The first is the Classic on the Lake hosted by Little Elm, featuring performances of various UIL 5A Area Finalists and State Qualifiers, including Frisco Centennial, Independence, Lone Star, and McKinney North. Next, just to the east, Denton will be hosting the Golden Triangle Classic, where Azle, Birdville, and Lovejoy will be in a race for a gold medal to start their seasons off. Finally, moving south of Fort Worth, Mansfield will be hosting their Preview of Champions contest which always holds an exciting assortment of bands. Bands that should be on your radar here include Aledo, Colleyville Heritage, Highland Park, Lake Ridge, McKinney, Midlothian, and Summit.
A few contests are happening in the CenTex area, starting in Austin at the Capital City Marching Festival co-hosted by LASA and Lyndon B. Johnson. Most of the Austin bands you’ll miss at BOA this weekend will be here, notably Austin, Bastrop, John B. Connally, McCallum, and Pflugerville. William J. Brennan and John Paul Stevens will also make the trip up from San Antonio to give the 5A State Finalist McCallum some more competition. Finally, going out into the beautiful hill country, Fredericksburg will host the Hill Country Marching Festival. While most of the bands performing here aren’t recognizable to the average fan, a couple of larger programs from Austin and San Antonio have decided to compete here. Jack C. Hays does their first of two performances of the day here, as well as Leander ISD’s Tom Glenn and the newest Northside ISD school, Sonia Sotomayor.
In and around San Antonio, we have a couple of smaller contests, but some recognizable bands will be in attendance regardless. First, Jack C. Hays has their second performance of the day at the Charger Classic Marching Festival in Boerne, hosted by Samuel V. Champion. Next, Moe and Gene Johnson will perform alongside BOA McAllen finalist Medina Valley at the Hornet Invitational in San Antonio hosted by East Central. Finally, let’s go way out west to get another read on our El Paso bands at the T-Bird Invitational hosted by Coronado. Two BOA Las Cruces finalists are at this contest in Eastlake and Bel Air, but various other top programs in the city will join them, such as J.M. Hanks, Horizon, Parkland, and Pebble Hills.
Aaron Blackley is one of the original contributors for General Effect Media. Despite being young and fresh out of college, he has a vast knowledge and passion for the marching arts and has worked alongside the likes of HornRank as a ranker and moderator as well as the TxBands.com liveblog team since summer 2021. He can be found on Twitter as @GEMAaronB.