Aged Out Podcast 93 || DCI 2023 Finals Recap

Hosts of The Aged Out Podcast, Mike Fantini and Evan Worrell, discuss the results of DCI Finals 2023 as well as how their predictions going into the weekend panned out.
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[@fish5085]

Cadets’ retreat block: of course they’re in traditional uniforms. It was PERFECT.

[@onederldl]

Thank you for asking for the BAC finals tape!!!! I tried to talk up everyone I knew at Gate 10 to seed the idea of leaking the tapes from finals week (honestly, I wish DCI just released all of the finals week judges tapes automatically). I heard every finals corps in the stadium both semis and finals and Boston had a much better show on Saturday than they did on Friday. Clarity wise (from the affordable seats) it was as readable as Lucas Oil allows.

[@ehhhhwassupdoc]

Season went incredibly fast this year it seems.

[@Ohsnapitssanti]

So STOKED to see the videos with the percussion arrangers reacting with you guys, some of the best drum-line content out there. This channel is one of my favorites! It’s a joy for anybody that nerds the hell out about drums :)

[@mcgrud]

For the algorithm. 🤙

[@DrumlineArchives]

I’m glad you guys got Cavies finals lot - I couldn’t risk my equipment getting destroyed in the rain! It was too legendary of a line to not capture on finals night. Also I don’t know why it only just now clicked that I was right next to you in Crown’s finals lot, Mike. Sorry for not saying hello! I get tunnel vision when I’m in the zone. The tall blonde quad that joined Blue Stars mid-season is from Sacramento - he marched BDB and joined right as their season ended in California. He was one of my last students before I stopped teaching at one of my schools, very proud of him!

[@NightsShadow1]

I've watched a lot of marimba cams/front ensemble lot videos now. They come from all over the season so I can really talk in terms of cleanliness on finals night, but these are my thoughts on just front ensemble content. Cavaliers and Blue Devils are top 2 by a margin and for sure came down to whoever was cleaner. One thing that stood out to me is Cavaliers are the only corps in the top 5 that don't have any 2 malletwork. Cavaliers also have a very tasteful approach to suspended cymbal rolls that I enjoy far more than the others. They are always on 4 mallets and they are always on the instrument. Top 2 have a varity of technique is astronomical, very difficult writing that sends the hands in all directions, rapidly switching stroke types in the middle of a run and a huge endurance demand that the other corps don't come close to. Well maybe BlueCoats come close who I think are pretty solid third. I think the demand there is high, just the way the hands move around the keyboard is more synchronous than the top 2. In 4th I put Crown. I find their writing extremely tasteful and it contains elements from the top group, but not through the entire show. I think Boston gets 5th because it is just not as dense. It contains moments of insanity, but I think they spend too much time doing just accessory work. The other top groups do their accessory work simultaniously while still playing their keyboards and that is just another level of difficulty. So like I said this is all just content and I could see some of it shuffling around depending on preference.

[@garylagstrom3864]

Well I said the Cavies Drumline was #1 before San Antonio so they just proved it from then on through Atlanta through Allentown and all three nights from Prelims to Semi-Finals to Finals. As Mike Fantini of Aged out Podcast says: CLEAN WINS EVERYTIME!!! Congrats to the Cavies!

[@jackpazdernik]

i 100% agree with evan that the cadets had the best battery

[@theTenorDrummer]

2000 Fred Sanford winning Cavies also had Yamaha maple

[@agedoutpodcast]

🙌

[@garylagstrom3864]

Congrats Mike and Evan for your predictions and corp placements! Hats 🎩 off to both of you! This is my favorite DCI channel! I’m a fan for life!

[@RVVDont]

Going to throw this out there. IP has a few lot videos of sponsored front ensembles. Might be interesting to bring in a special guest and look at one and get their perspective on it as well as you guys. Just watched Bluecoats. Was really cool to hear it on its own.

[@RVVDont]

Excellent content this season from the corps and your presentation of it. I've always been a WGI lot guy. First time I went consecutively back for DCI. Love it.

[@Inspadave]

One of the reasons Rennick had so much success with SCV is that he keeps to the fundamentals with his warm ups and exercises. Keep It Simple, Stupid. Words to win by.

[@ShantanuRoy4141]

A truly iconic season 🎉

[@steveburroughes9879]

Thanks for these videos too guys, it's sometimes biased when we love our corps so good to get a balanced view. Great to meet you guys too at the weekend

[@ksh95]

BAC snareline was dirty on one of their drum breaks. That probably explained at least part of the drop from semis to finals.

[@marklower007]

Shouldn't change the content score tho. It's not like they re wrote the book

[@ksh95]

​@@marklower007 Remember the finals judge comes from the front ensemble world, so her perspective may be different.

[@TheShahtariq]

man, this season went by too fast! thx for the great content, yall--you guys are the best. bring back june shows and judges on the field!✊

[@scottyt5918]

In case there's any non-internet poisoned folks listening to this, Davila did not LITERALLY detonate a hand grenade at DCI finals

[@ghettostreamlabs5724]

BD is, and always has been "my team". However, and this may sound like the grumpy old man, I really prefer the classic uniforms. There is just something about it that adds to the pageantry for me. Hard to argue with a spandex pajama three-peat though. Now I'll go sit on the porch and fuss at the neighbors kids LOL.

[@onederldl]

When the Cadets came out to retreat in their parade uniform, everyone sitting around me exclaimed about how good they looked, and wondered why they weren't wearing those uniforms all season.

[@nick2electricboogaloo589]

⁠@@onederldlthere was absolutely no way they were gonna play a show of that difficulty in the classic uniforms

[@harryballsonya]

cadets wearing their classic uniforms at retreat was fucking SICK. same with Cavie's drum majors.

[@onederldl]

@@nick2electricboogaloo589 Maybe loose the shako and/or make the uniform out of a more modern/breathable material like Cavies did this year. I guarantee you, the difficulty of their show did not require spandex leggings under track shorts... that was a choice!

[@tonyt913]

100% aligned on your #1 lot gripe… DOWN IN THE FRONT!

[@agedoutpodcast]

The people came to see the beats! Lol

[@nick2electricboogaloo589]

“splitting hairs” phrase of the year

[@SS2Balls]

can't believe its over already lol

[@garylagstrom3864]

As the lot finishes…Bricky says: FANTINI MAKE ME A MARTINI 🍸

[@icsa]

Btw, 1982 Bridgemen drumline had a one tick show a week or two before Finals, with a percussion score of 19.8.

[@hymmz360]

If you would’ve told me before the year that the finals Percussion standings would have Cavaliers in 1st and Boston in 5th, I would’ve laughed in your face. Props to Cavies for winning a Sanford for the first time in a dozen years though

[@t1tan145]

This was definitely a great year for drum corps. Also, I was the guy who commented on the drum finish on the yamaha drums winning the Stanford. Also I don't remember the last time there were 3 corps who broke 97 on finals. On another note, I'm not entirely sure why, but Boston had a lot of issues during finals week. I know the general consensus was they shouldn't have placed 5th on finals, but both the front and battery had major tears and were a bit of a mess. It was rather shocking to see them fumble this week.

[@cl7422]

I didn’t get to see the shows but from what I heard, from members and staff, that finals was their best run without questions and didn’t really have any issues. Significantly better than semis where they got 2nd. Curious what the tape sounds like.

[@Portable47]

I wish I could ask a ton of questions to some of the snares from cavaliers. I remember being really impressed with how the cavies played in 2011 and how they *thought* about playing too. If any snares from this season or recent cavies want to just share about their summer, I'd be down to listen and ask about it

[@marcsmith7385]

I agree drumlines sound awful in that stadium. It’s so muddy and washed out by electronics

[@steveburroughes9879]

On the judges discussion, why can't we have multiple judges and take the average from them? So have 3 judges on drums, brass, guard. I'm sure someone will say its not practical but hey, if it means there is a fair system...?

[@luke_h_percussion]

Idk if you guys are still looking at comments from past videos, but the finals rankings actually make a lot of sense from a front perspective. Crown has had a better front than battery every singly year since at least 12 so it’s not suprising they got a boost when a front person came bostons front plays pretty easy material compared to other top corps, cadets front was not as good as their battery, phantom front is playing pretty hard stuff, and bluecoats and bd have a very balanced ensemble from front to battery which makes sense considering they didn’t change much. Boston from where I was sitting at least, had a fairly dirty run in terms of snares. Crown also did have a very good run that night from what I remember. Overall I think the scores make more sense then you might realize without taking a look at the fronts.

[@Uncle_Yam]

I wish the acoustics could be better in the stadium - would be cool if a stadium was designed for that one day

[@Carlito_Sway]

I think the three night 7-12 read is correct and squares with what I saw this weekend. Colts are KILLIN it and I love to see it! I had Crown in 6th and Cadets in 5th, though Crown's night 3 score kinda made a mess of that. I would have had 2-4 a little differently than the three night averages- maybe BD/BAC/Bluecoats instead of BD/BAC/Crown. Finals night scores don't make much sense to me either...Farva, what's the name of that restaurant you like with all the goofy shit on the walls and the mozzarella sticks?

[@marklower007]

Sounds like that judge has a couple corps buy her dinner lmao

[@musicmechanic_]

Splooie!

[@robthedrummer]

100 percent agree on BD Bass line, so good! Their show just annoyed me so much when they were playing the drum feature with the guys voice over top of it.

[@WeMissDimebag]

I agree sound quality inside the stadium is suuuper seat dependent. As cool of a venue as it is, it’s really not ideal for most of the people there.

[@garylagstrom3864]

One final comment: Mike(SPOCK ROLLS)Fantini😎🥁🥇🏆

[@decoduck]

Mike should get a blue on cell E10. Mandarins got 7th vs a predicted 8th.

[@marcushawkinsmusic]

👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾❤️❤️❤️

[@BagChatters10]

Natural finish and White batter heads.

[@erickruse7240]

Cadets won drums in 2003.

[@agedoutpodcast]

Yup. 3rd of the 3 peat

[@rifle2563]

Andrew mcafee marched scv mid 2000s and I believe is a snare tech at broken city, or atleast has been the last few years.

[@x_drumaboy]

Boston going from 2nd to 5th in percussion really had me "concerned" It seems they consistently not have the greatest finals runs.

[@Ralph981]

Definitely not top of the pack, but Phantom's drums were excellent on field. They surprised me with their feature in Murfreesboro.. very clean execution. Their on field proficiency may have put them ahead of Troopers.

[@RVVDont]

I'm more inclined to sit farther back. For the most part, not a visual guy too much so I just listen nearby.

[@Schapenvuur]

Mike you actually got another blue on Mandarins. Y’all both had the same amount of greens but with that extra blue you got one more then Evan. What’s the prize?

[@agedoutpodcast]

Internet clout 😂

[@escapethematrix4204]

Funny how talk (not specifically from aged out, but from the community at large) about the front ensemble's impact on a score magically disappeared this year. Last year that's all everyone talked about for Boston. Now there's no mention of it all.

[@jmerriam27]

I think the front doesn’t get as much coverage in videos during tour, which is why you don’t hear as much talk about them. Cavies front was definitely the differentiating factor this year, alongside an extremely good battery too

[@darrinthorpe9292]

Congrats to the blue devils. However, this year, I didn't think they had the best overall show.

[@fish5085]

Hell no Boston wasn’t 5th on finals. I was there. No way.

[@KingNeptune05]

Not wanting to talk smack but I couldn’t help notice Julia was in terrible positions most the night for every line. But I’m not the professional. So what the f do I know. But it’s like oh they brought the drumline up to get judge. Oh she’s on the other side of the field. 🙃

[@nhuxtable4019]

I think people are really sleeping on the Cavaliers pit from last year just because this year they got the Sanford and last year they got 5th. Listen to their IP lot video from 2022 and the blend and clarity of space-between-notes is honestly disgusting. The perc won this year because their pit finally had the battery to get them over the line. But the Cavs front has honestly been nasty for the last two decades.

[@jackekstrand8781]

I think crown is going to be even better next year. The front ensemble was absolutely insane and that’s why I think they deserved the 3rd place finish on finals.