2019 DCI World Championships

Live Blog: 2019 DCI World Championship Finals

Live Blog: 2019 DCI World Championship Finals

A live blog of the 2019 DCI Finals by Krista Viveiros.

Aug 10, 2019
Live Blog: 2019 DCI World Championship Finals
Good evening, everyone and welcome to tonight's live blog of the 2019 DCI World Championship Finals. This is Krista, again, bringing you up to the moment action from tonight's performances. Be sure to refresh often to keep up with the blog!

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Good evening, everyone and welcome to tonight's live blog of the 2019 DCI World Championship Finals. This is Krista, again, bringing you up to the moment action from tonight's performances. Be sure to refresh often to keep up with the blog!


I've left the schedule and times up below so you can make sure you don't miss your favorite corps' final run. 


5:30 PM - Welcome


5:40 PM - INpact Band


6:00 PM - U.S. Marine Drum & Bugle Corps


6:20 PM - National Anthem


6:30 PM - Phantom Regiment - Rockford, IL

- This last pre-show has got to be so emotional for the performers. 

- The baton, always a classic for Phantom

- That first hit for La Fortuna is so loud and so great each time. 

- Lots of great work from the colorguard, especially the rifle line here

- Still think the use of bows is incredibly clever, especially when it comes to spinning. 

- The transition into the different uniforms is such a huge difference! And so fitting for the end of 'Fire'

- With half of the corps still in the opposite uniform, it looks great on the field, especially with this cross on the shield

- The kicked-out leg is a classic too

- Great moment from the drumline on the front sideline

- These flags match the end of this show incredibly well, wow, especially as Joan burns. 

- Thank you so much Phantom for an incredibly emotional show and a wonderful season


6:47 PM - Crossmen - San Antonio, TX

- From one show about strong women to another, here come the valkyries

- The performance from this drum major is one of the best of the season by far. She sells her character so well. 

- The same can be said for the colorguard overall, they have SO much energy

- And it's matched by the corps proper, but especially noticed the front ensemble!

- YES! SO MUCH CROWD PARTICIPATION! BOOM BOOM CLAP!

- Love the on-field bass drums, adding a little extra oomph

- The guitar player and the bass player play such an integral part in the front ensemble music on this show, super glad they get their own superstar moment!

- Those wings really add so much to that final set! A beautiful moment for the corps

- Congratulations and thank you so much Crossmen for an incredible season


7:04 PM - Mandarins - Sacramento, CA

- Taking the field for the second finals performance in history, the Mandarins! 

- Yet another corps with some great character performances, especially on the guard's part

- Starting the show with hand drumming, some toms in the front ensemble, helps add to the tribal vibe

- There's one sound effect being used over and over again, it sounds like a digeridoo. 

- Front ensemble putting in some work there! 

- Some great work from the colorguard, especially laying down and spinning above their heads

- Lovely solo from what looked like a flugelhorn and the baritone

- Just noticed the bass drum heads, when the light catches them just right, you can see the red pattern on them

- Awesome moment from the guard on the props, passing the rifles down using their feet

- Hanging off of the props on bungee cords is a unique touch to this show. 

- The "death" at the end of this show is absolutely ruthless which fits the character of the show. Just throwing him right off of the prop to dangle

- Congratulations again, Mandarins for making finals for the second time, and for another incredible season


7:21 PM - The Cadets - Allentown, PA

- Here to celebrate 85 years of competition, the Cadets are now taking the field. 

- The Cadets have some of the largest, if not the largest, props on the field this season, with the stairs/bridges

-  What a regal entrance for the queen of this show!

- With her scepter she rules the field and all around it, making her presence known on the front stage

- Some nice moments from the front ensemble while the queen's reign is questioned and the drumline takes over

- Drum feature! With a great guard moment between the rifles and sabers

- Heard a heck of a lot of timpani there for a moment, shoutout to the timpani player! 

- The rendition of 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' is so beautiful and touching, especially in the context of the show

- The brass coupled with the colorguard creates such a powerful moment

- This 'Do Better' portion of the show is really different from a lot of the work on the field this year, especially incorporating it into a drum feature

- The drive to the end of that feature is wild! 

- Love these closer flags, showing unity as the queen is recrowned! 

- Congratulations, Cadets, on a great season


7:38 PM - Blue Stars - La Crosse, WI

- Is it cold in here? Well yes, Lucas Oil is pretty chilly tonight. But the Blue Stars are about to take us into the wild, and there's a snowy mountain on the field

- Hear the glockenspiel on those runs, with keys that small those can be so difficult

- Brass coming out of the gate with some speed too

- Nice visual moment from the hornline doing that choreography across the field, looked great from the high cam

- The colorguard is spread out all over that field, putting in the legwork to get there too. 

- Cool that they're able to hide the entire hornline in just a few tents on the field

- Beautiful trumpet solo on the snowy mountain, too!

- Nice work from the colorguard to start pushing us towards the end here

- Two mountains in the drill on the field! 

- And the sled off into the distance, following the call of the wild! 

- Great show, Blue Stars!

- Congratulations on an excellent season!



7:55 PM - Blue Knights - Denver, CO

- Come on, Blue Knights! 

- Blue Knights always have some of the best voice-overs in DCI

- Love a slow and dramatic start that slowly builds, especially those drum rolls

- Anytime the corps is anywhere near the mirrors, and disappear into them is so cool

- That spiral into the circle that spreads across the field was a cool drill moment

- Heard that xylophone lick too! 

- The white rims on the drums are incredibly unique too. Have always stuck out the entire season

- Drumline makes their presence known again before taking a knee and coming back a few moments later, but it's not front and center. Very understated

- Beautiful ballad here from the hornline, the colorguard accenting how delicate it all is. 

- The voice-over hints at what's next, getting a heck of a lot faster

- Great solo from a talented member of the hornline! Trumpet I think?

- Front ensemble getting a little love on the multi cam! 

- Trumpet soloist comes back again! 

- Backed up now by the rest of the hornline and a trumpet feature

- With the corps in black and grey for the most part, those multicolored flags really stick out

- The Blue Knights logo as they say home! What a nice touch

- Thank you Blue Knights and congratulations on a great season. 



8:12 PM - Intermission

Quick intermission! Be back soon, everyone. 



8:29 PM - Boston Crusaders - Boston, MA

- I spy some giants taking the field...

- Keep an eye on the colorguard for this show. The Crusader's colorguard is one in the running for the Best Colorguard award tonight

- Love how they make their own Goliath out of hornline members, and the way they crawl around the props is wild

- Nice starting trumpet feature as well

- The guard makes those flag features look absolutely effortless. All of their work looks effortless, really

- Splitting the corps up into sections always creates cool visual and sound effects, with the guard taking advantage of the staging too

- Another cool staging moment with the drumline moving in lines through the hornline

- This has got to be one of the favorites, and most popular songs, on the field this Summer. 'My Shot' from Hamilton!

- With a very sweet drum feature in the middle, too

- Yes rifles! 

- And now, there's the colorguard visual on the props, sliding around the props

- These two soloists, the euphonium and the french horn are playing so beautifully. 

- HERE COMES GOLIATH! Towering over the flag moment.

- And as the giant is slain, the "blood" pours down during the corps' famed Conquest shots!

- Impossible to not get excited during the end of that show. 

- Congratulations, Boston on an incredible season


8:46 PM - The Cavaliers - Rosemont, IL

- Here are the Cavaliers here to take us down the wrong side of the tracks

- Some really cool drill moments to start us off, and a nice trombone moment too

- The uniforms are definitely a lot different from Cavaliers' uniforms of years past, but they suit the show so well. 

- Love the form creating the railroad tracks, using the props as well. 

- The barrels in the back create a cool stage for the featured soloists 

- As usual, the Cavaliers front ensemble is strong, doing some one-handed playing on the marimba with a tambourine in their left hand! 

- Did two snare drummers just switch their drums by throwing them at each other mid quad break? 

- One of the craziest front ensemble moments of the night, playing some wild licks up front, multiple people playing on one board, splitting things. Absolutely insane. 

- Cavaliers brass giving us so much power to push towards the end of that movement

- Great moment from the Cavaliers rifle line too!

- What a great energy at the end! 

- Congratulations, Cavaliers on an excellent season!

- If you just caught that quick camera shot, all members are wearing a patch in honor of the corps' founder, Don Warren, who passed away earlier this summer. 


9:03 PM - Carolina Crown - Fort Mill, SC

- Next up, Carolina Crown! 

- Kicking us off loud and proud, Carolina Crown's brass is not messing around! They're one of the corps in the running for the Best Brass award tonight

- A small brass choir on the stage adds a nice color to this movement

- Crown's front ensemble keeping up the pace with some great runs under the horn melodies

- Lots of control from the Crown drumline there, 

- Yet another moment of the Crown high brass absolutely killing it

- Cool drill moment with the changing stars into that shape that looks like an asterisk

- A quiet start to the ballad from the front ensemble

- Flugelhorn duet! You have to love the color of that instrument, it just adds an entirely different color

- The colorguard matches the sensitivity with some slow flag and dance work that slowly builds in strength

- The spiral set matches their props!

- Love the magenta flags, they really stand out against the green field

- Everyone loves a good Crown set! Gotta do it to 'em! 

- Based on the performer's faces, I guess that was a good one!

- Congratulations on a great performance, Carolina Crown!


9:20 PM - Santa Clara Vanguard - Santa Clara, CA

- Starting with the drumline front and center, such a talented group this and every year

- Some great hornline power to start the show, too!

- Never realized that performers are actually playing on top of those props as they move around

- The neon guard uniforms are such a standout!

- Love the personal attitude that a show like this allows performers to bring to the field. Hair colors, eyeliner, everything!

- The sousaphone and trombone moment is such a surprise, especially the sousaphone

- Did you catch that horn flying around on the bungee cord on that prop

- Straight fire from that quad feature, and all of the different drumline features

- Here comes that final push, bring it on Santa Clara!

- THERE'S THE VANGUARD YELL!

- And the cymbal line 'V'!

- Yet another incredible run tonight

- Thank you so much and congratulations on an incredible season, Vanguard!


9:37 PM - Bluecoats - Canton, OH

- When the Bluecoats start 'Bloo'ing you know the crowd's reaction isn't far behind

- If you're not familiar, they aren't "Boo"ing the corps, they are shouting "Bloo!" in support of the corps

- The trumpet soloist opening the show was great, as were the waves on his suit. So fun!

- What a build-up to that first chord!

- Our first character, from 'I Want To Hold Your Hand' so fitting, with the image on the poncho

- Nice set-up from the Bloopit for the rest of the corps overall

- The timing from all of the horn pods on the front sideline must be wild! 

- Check out that trombone with all of the effects on it, it's hardly recognizable and the final mixed sound is crazy

- The Bluecoats colorguard looks like they're having an absolute blast, and how could you not, with a show this fun and performing as well as they are

- So many peace signs in this show! Almost every time they end a movement, their hands are in the air with peace signs

- Such a beautiful ballad, everyone loves 'Blackbird' and has some type of emotional connection to it

- There is so much going on during the jazzy section of 'Come Together' that I'm not sure what to watch! It's all so incredible

- Ending with 'Hey Jude' is so brilliant and fun too! It gets stuck in your head for the rest of the night

- The crowd has been on their feet what feels like forever, do you think they liked the show at all? 

- Brilliant show, Bluecoats! Congratulations on an excellent season. 


9:54 PM - Blue Devils - Concord, CA

- Here we go, last competitive performance of the day! 

- Still one of the most effective starts of the season. Starting off with some bold high rifle tosses before running straight through them

- You can even hear the electric violin from the front ensemble

- Their brass line sounds so incredible tonight

- VERY nice bassline moment

- Another absolutely insane moment from the colorguard featuring the props

- Our second sousaphone of the night! That's not something you see every day in the drum corps world

- Love a delicate saber toss moment with the colorguard

- The tapshoes! Dueling with the violin is so fun!

- Some great colorguard work pushing towards the end here. 

- The hornline matching the energy and talent as the crowd gets to their feet!

- What a show! And congratulations on an excellent season, Blue Devils!


Thanks so much for following along on the live blog with performances this evening! It's been a blast to watch and share thoughts with you all this weekend. We'll be going over to awards shortly. 


2019 DCI Finals Scores

1. Blue Devils - 98.325

2. Bluecoats - 98.238

3. Santa Clara Vanguard - 96.6

4. Carolina Crown - 96.563

5. The Cavaliers - 95.4

6. Boston Crusaders - 94.488

7. Blue Knights - 92.050

8. Blue Stars - 91.225

9. The Cadets - 89.838

10. Mandarins - 89.30

11. Crossmen - 87.550

12. Phantom Regiment - 87.238


Caption & Specialty Awards Awards

Jim Jones Leadership Award (Best Drum Major) - Claire Wilcox

Best Colorguard - Boston Crusaders

Best Visual Performance - Blue Devils

Best Brass Performance - Carolina Crown

Best Percussion Performance - Santa Clara Vanguard

Best Overall General Effect - Bluecoats


It's been an incredible night following along with you folks! Thanks so much for watching with me tonight!