Hi, all, I know that it's a bit late, but I said I would do this. So, here it goes:

Last season, I had the privilege of attending the division 2 marching band finals. A friend had reserved seats on the 50 yard line just below the press box and gave me one of his extra tickets. We sipped on hot cocoa as we waited for the first band to take the field.

Up first was the Silver Stars from Bellevue, Ohio. Their show was titled “Second,” and I really enjoyed the journey on which they take you.They started the show with parts of 12 Seconds to the Moon by Robert W. Smith, which happened to be the closer, too. Next was 3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds by Jefferson Airplane, and the journey continued with their version of 8 Second Ride by Jack Owen. It was creative how they mixed these songs. As an ensemble, they were adequate, but overall, I agreed with the judges that it was a 12th place show. Unfortunately Silver Stars was not able to break the 80 point mark, finishing 12th with a 78.810.

“Fighting against the Current,” was stuckfried from Fort Wayne. What I really liked about this show was the contrast between the guard, as the current, and the band. Unfortunately after a few minutes, you grasped the concept and the show just became monotonous. It seemed as if they ran out of ideas, and musically, it wasn’t memorable. The GE judges gave them the lowest scores. Nevertheless, they scored well above Silver Stars in the performance captions to finish the season in 11th place with an 80.330.

Starting and finishing finals in 10th place was “3spooky5me” from Fort Spooky. The show was titled “Ebola.” I’m going to be completely honest. While I appreciated the touch on current events, this show was a miss for me. I sat with a blank stare wondering what the heck I just watched. The crowd response was a mix of terror and laughter. I even saw a few people covering their faces. The only part of the show that I liked was the African drumming. Visually and musically it was a bloody mess. If they were going for shock factor, they were successful, because I was shocked that this show made finals, let alone the 82.055 that the judges gave them.

I was so happy when Aftershock NZ Performing Arts School B took the field. Literally I could breathe again after holding my breath until spooky left the stadium, and finally there was a performance that I could get into. Their show “Rise” depicted a city in ruins building up again after a natural disaster. Musically it had its cool moments, but I wasn’t as interested in their repertoire as I was their visuals. My only criticism is that there was sometimes too much going on and too many props on the field. It was a very ambitious show, and maybe they bit off more than they could chew. However, their show was very original and creative. Perhaps the judges were still sick with Ebola, because even though there were flaws with their visual performance, I thought that Aftershock’s show should have scored higher than an 82.890.

Following Aftershock NZ was Blue Pride (now Grey Pride) from Fort Wayne, IN. When I saw that their show was called “2:52”, my first thought was, “okay, another show about time.” They surprised me, though, because the show was actually about the Bible verse, Luke 2:52, “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.” As the founder of CPML2, Blue Pride represented their league with honor in finals. Although not my favorite, they still executed their show quite well, and it showed in their GE scores, actually placing 1st in GE Visuals. Overall they finished the season with an 87.025.

Ronald Reagan from San Antonio, TX had one of the most interesting show concepts of the season with their version of The White Queen. If you are unfamiliar with the story, it is set against the backdrop of The Wars of Roses, a series of conflicts for the throne of England. They considerably lacked in GE, but they made up for it in the performance captions taking 1st in winds with an impressive 9.735 and 1st in percussion with a 9.665. Their final score was an 87.930. Good job, Ronald Reagan.

Bismarchers from Bismarck, North Dakota had a great second season in division 2 finishing 6th place. It was a treat hearing pieces of my favorite compositions, Slavonic Dances by Dvorak. It was a beautiful show, but the judges definitely got it right. They finished the season with an 88.300.

The always controversial Absinthe High from Pierre, SD could never perform just a simple, straightforward Christmas show. Instead, they performed their show “Happy Merry Christmas Kwanza Hanukkah Saturnalia Holiday – not to exclude anyone.” Holidays clash and collide. I like how they make a bold statement about how politically correct the holiday season has become. Why not mix all of the holidays and have one super bizarre holiday celebration? I applaud that they didn’t do just another boring Christmas show. It was fun and unique and well worth the 90.475 they received from the judges.

Right after I applauded a group for not doing another boring Christmas show, Loon high from Des Moines, Iowa took the field and performed “We Three Kings.” But don’t get me wrong. They performed the hell out of it. It was clean and technical, and Loon high managed to take a well-known story and Christmas carol and make it seem original. I say, Kudos to Loon High. They finished 4th place with a 90.535.

Unsurprisingly Lonely Hearts Club Band from Columbus, OH did another Beatles show, Sgt. Peppers. I admire a group who stays true to its aesthetic. I am a huge Beatles fan, though. So, of course, I hummed and sang along, but I’d like to see more variety from them. It could have been another boring Christmas show, but I also prefer not to see another boring Beatles show. Congrats to Lonely Hearts Club Band for taking the bronze medal and scoring a 90.625.

Finally it was the last two shows that everyone had been waiting for the most, the epic battle between Hollands Hope High and Soaring Sounds. Hollands Hope was definitely the fan favorite and my favorite show of the season. Their version of “Roman Images" was energetic, divine, and inspirational. Their repertoire was a mixture of Roman Festivals and Pines of Rome by Respighi. I believe that it was the most technical show of the night musically and visually and was executed, in my opinion, almost flawlessly. Hollands Hope came out charged and could have easily been the season 39 division 2 marching band gold medalists. This great marching band from Detroit took the silver medal with a 91.630.

Madison, Wisconsin’s very own Soaring Sounds fought hard all season to hang on to the top spot. I really enjoyed their rendition of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Amazingly they only won best visual performance and best color guard, but their scores were consistent enough across the board to clinch the gold medal by an incredible 0.07!!! Was it my favorite show of the night? No, but I do believe that they performed well. It wasn’t another boring Christmas show, and it actually was my favorite version of Rhapsody in Blue I’ve ever seen.

Congrats to all season 39 finalists and medalists! Good luck in season 40!

thank you aaron for the kind words and awesome commentary

This is pretty awesome, just have to say, especially with what little you had to work with from my band as far as story goes.

Great write up! Glad you did D2!

another boring beatles show? lol well too bad we're doing the white album... :P

Haha sbales...

hey the Beatles are better than Ebola any day lol

sad Soaring Sounds show wasn't your favorite :-(

J/k thanks for writing about us :)

Well, it's not that I didn't like it :) Both shows are shows that have really been done. Therefore, I had Star 1991 (Roman Images) and Phantom 2005 (Rhapsody in Blue) in mind when I wrote the commentary. Star's brass line that year is not only one of my favorites EVER, it was one the best brass performances in DCI, in my opinion. Visually Star's show was much better than Phantom's 2005 visuals, as far as how interesting, technical, and clean it was.

Their percussion, though, couldn't touch Phantom's 2005 percussion line or Phantom's color guard. Others might disagree, but I believe that Star's percussion book was a bit weak, especially for a championship show. Overall, though, 1991 Star is one of my favorite marching performances in the history of marching arts.

Thanks for your kind words