WGI Watch Guide: 3/25-26
The last weekend of the 2023 WGI Regional season looks to be action packed with nearly 400 groups set to compete
Another weekend in March, another weekend packed with color guards, percussion ensembles, and winds groups in performance. The WGI Regional season comes to a conclusion this weekend with an incredible 390 groups scheduled to compete at four color guard regionals, four percussion regionals, and two winds regionals across the country. For many of these groups, it is their last chance at a performance or two before the final show for their local circuit next weekend, their appearance at WGI World Championships next month, or both.
For those of you who plan on following the action from home via FloMarching, you’ll have another packed weekend of shows to look forward to. Flo will be live streaming five different events featuring 315 of the 390 performing groups. Four of the five are two-day regionals, meaning on top of the 14+ hours of coverage you can watch tomorrow, you’ll get an additional 12 hours on Sunday. The full list of streaming events is below:
Indianapolis, IN Color Guard Regional (two sites & streams)
Atlanta, GA Color Guard Regional
Manhattan Beach, CA Color Guard Regional
Long Beach, CA Percussion Regional
Dallas, TX Percussion and Winds Regional
To help you keep up and catch all of your favorite groups from all five shows, we have put together another weekend watch guide listed in chronological order - it can be found here!
In the color guard world, 17 Independent World guards will be appearing at the three streamed shows. More than half will be at the Atlanta Regional including Paramount, a potential medal and champion contender at next month’s World Championships. In Indianapolis, Onyx and Pride of Cincinnati will go head-to-head for the first time since the Avon Regional in mid February in which Pride of Cincinnati took first in both prelims and finals. In Scholastic World, 10 of the 21 guards that will be competing in the class at World Championships will also be attending Indianapolis including Avon HS and Carmel HS (last year’s gold and silver medalists) and Kiski Area HS and Bellbrook HS, both who are newly promoted to World this season. Finally, the Manhattan Beach Regional will feature 11 finalists from the 2022 World Championships including Gold, Emerald, Icon, Vox Artium, i-Squared, and FeniX in the Independent classes and Palm Desert Charter MS, Clovis HS, El Dorado HS, Arcadia HS, and Chino Hills HS in the Scholastic Classes.
In the percussion world, the Long Beach Regional has 59 groups registered, headlined by Pulse, RCC, and Broken City all of who have won been crowned Independent World gold medalists at the last three World Championships. The three groups have gone head-to-head once earlier this season at a SCPA event, in which Pulse came away victorious, but eyes will be on Long Beach to see how the trio fares under a WGI panel. Likewise nine groups will battle it out in Scholastic World including former World Championship winners Chino Hills HS, Ayala HS, and Arcadia HS. In Dallas, our only one day regional being streamed, 31 groups complete including seven 2022 World Championships finalists: Resistance, Vigilantes, and Rhythmic Force in the Independent classes and Broken Arrow HS, Petal HS, Boswell HS, and Burleson HS in the Scholastic classes.
It will be a long, but action packed weekend with plenty of performances worth catching over the next 48 hours. Find a comfy seat in front of your TV or computer, plenty of snacks at the ready, watch guide in hand, and enjoy the final weekend of the 2023 WGI Regional season!
Marching Arts by the Numbers is a current staff writer and stats guru for General Effect Media. He has been involved in the marching arts activity for nearly two decades in a variety of roles. Marching Arts by the Numbers is his latest project with the vision of being the primary source of statistical information for the marching arts community. You can follow more of his work at @band_scores on Twitter.