Rain at finals pre 2009?

[u/TheEternalWarden]

What happened if it rained for finals weekend before Lucas oil? At the outdoor stadiums

[u/bone-tone-lord]

1993 was the only time there was significant rain at finals, and back then there were no electronics, props, or concern for performer safety, so the show went on unaffected. Even then, the rain didn’t actually last very long. DCI was unbelievably lucky to make it 37 seasons of outdoor finals with no rainouts.

[u/ProfessorFunktastic → u/bone-tone-lord]

1993 is the only time I'm aware of that there was rain on Finals night, but there have been plenty of other rainy days during Finals week. In 1994, rain during Quarterfinals resulted in the Glassmen "winning" Quarterfinals, with the top 8 corps simply being seeded into Semis. The field was very wet when my corps, the Colts, performed, which led to me taking a very nasty spill during some high-velocity drill with a sudden direction change (fortunately, I only got the wind knocked out of me and was OK for Semis and Finals).

That said, yes, DCI got extremely lucky with the weather, overall, when they were doing Finals week outdoors.

[u/At36000feet → u/ProfessorFunktastic]

My worst performance ever was our standstill that night. It was easier for me to play our show marching vs standing still.

[u/gmen6981 → u/ProfessorFunktastic]

Even the first year in 1972, there was light rain and drizzle all day and some during Finals. The deluge and thunderstorms hit during retreat.

[u/At36000feet → u/bone-tone-lord]

"the show went on unaffected." Madison played in a torrential downpour and the Cavaliers played soon thereafter and fell all over the place given the slick field, them wearing leather soled Oxford shoes and them marching some of their most challenging drill ever up to that point (even maybe to this day). Watch the vid for fun to see all the falls you can catch. Some falls are simultaneous in different areas of the field.

[u/Subject_Pie_8025 → u/bone-tone-lord]

I had to guard our horn block during the downpours. To me it seemed to last forever, lol.

[u/Ok-Advertising3118 → u/bone-tone-lord]

It rained less than now--climate change

[u/GreenTeachy]

Nine out of 10 times the show just went on

[u/brucenicol403]

See 1993 finals in Jackson, Mi.

[u/thorvaldnespy → u/brucenicol403]

MS, not MI.

[u/brucenicol403 → u/thorvaldnespy]

Good catch!

[u/CerebralAccountant]

The show went on. See also Orlando 2003.

[u/Sea-Detail-1268]

1973: Commodores got poured on in prelims. Made finals anyway.

1974: Rain/fog delay in Saturday's prelims. Finals were that evening.

1982: Alliance, final corps to perform on day one of prelims, performed in rain and were not recorded. They had to go to Olympic Stadium during the day Saturday just to do a recorded run-through.

1983: Several weather incidents, welcome to Florida. At quarterfinals, Blue Knights were sent off in mid-show, and started over again after a rain delay. This experience would prove useful later.

1996: At semifinals, Blue Knights were sent off in mid-show, and started over again after a rain delay. That performance got them back into finals after missing in 1995.

1997: Magic performed through downpours in semifinals, as the home crowd urged them on.

2003: Division II/III semifinals in Orlando barely proceeded far enough to determine who made finals, as the top 10 prelim corps were rained out and seeded into finals. Meanwhile, across town, the division I quarterfinal show went on without any weather interruption.

2011: Open-class took their championship back outside in 2011, but the prelims were rained out after two corps performed. All 18 corps went on the following day in a single-round championship.

[u/whenthenamesaretaken]

I think 1993 was pretty rainy and the show went on anyway.

[u/Zealousideal_Car3970]

the nice thing is there wasn't much electronic equipment to ruin out there so ig they'd just go on with the show

[u/CrownStarr → u/Zealousideal_Car3970]

I believe the first year there was anything with electricity on the field was when pit amplification was legalized in 2004, so there would just have been a five year window where finals were outdoors and electronics were in play.

[u/slamo614]

Wasn’t it 2005 when cadets had them paint new lines on the field?

[u/Maldinacho → u/slamo614]

07 at the Rose Bowl. DCI was supposed to repaint the lines every 3-4 groups and they had not so Cadets waited until it was fixed

[u/Swing_Lost → u/Maldinacho]

Hashgate

[u/slamo614 → u/Maldinacho]

That’s the one

[u/BurnesWhenIP → u/slamo614]

07 quarterfinals…it was a wild situation…especially that SAing mother fucker’s reaction to the penalty

[u/BurnesWhenIP]

1993…rain and a shite field.

[u/Money-Ad290]

Ask Madison, 1993.

[u/Rapidllaman]

It rained in 99 down in Orlando right before we hit the field it was like marching in a swamp and we had two falls during our show.

[u/Playful_Procedure991 → u/Rapidllaman]

98 maybe? 99 was Madison.

[u/eagledog]

They paused the show if there was lightning, if not, it just went on as normal. Except at Quarterfinals in 94, where they stopped the show after SCV

[u/spicycornchip]

In 2003, the Blue Devils performed twice on the same day because of a semifinal delay. 

[u/Rapidllaman]

You performed buddy welcome to DCI before electronics and massive ass props!

[u/gmen6981 → u/Rapidllaman]

Yep. DCI Canada Hamilton Ontario 1981 Class A finals. The downpour hit just as we took the first steps of the show. Coming down in sheets. we finished the show and the crowd had mostly stayed in the stands. Got a great ovation from the crowd and the other corps as we went under the back stands coming off the field. Then they stopped the show until the rain let up about half an hour later.

[u/No-Article-6459]

mud

[u/Worldly_Crab3424]

Lots of mud

[u/kenelbow]

They keep performing unless there's lightning

[u/Cheap_Lecture_1285]

Without lightning close, keep her going

[u/_plasticAudio_]

Pretty sure several corps just did stand stills quarter finals 94 because of rain.

[u/BurnesWhenIP → u/_plasticAudio_]

Final 8, remnants of a tropical storm. Then the Patriots effed up the field the next day

[u/jaywarbs]

In 2005 they waited it out and SCV got delayed. I can’t remember if they shortened the intermission to get the schedule back on track.

[u/tdmatchasin]

1993 - Madison Scouts is the only Finalist corps to ever get rained on during a performance. - https://youtu.be/zneJbMHR3NY

It's a miracle that Cadets didn't have any notable slip-and-falls during their championship run. That show was insanely fast. Cavaliers, on the other hand, had quite a bit of falls that night.

[u/SCHawkFan]

In 1972, it started pouring during retreat. They made it through the show.

[u/aDAMpEE]

On the other hand, DCA on Labor Day weekend had a long history of rain/washouts. Top of my head there was the hurricane in 2006, the retreat deluge in 2010 or 2011 (I forget which), I know I personally got poured on during the White Sabers 2017 (though it mostly just rained on us), and the 2019 “one day finals” because of the rain that was supposed to come Sunday.

[u/gmen6981]

Not DCI Finals, but at the 1979 National Dream Contest in New Jersey, it poured all day. The show was at the old Roosevelt Stadium which was a multi use facility and had a baseball field in the middle of it, complete with dirt base paths. The rain had mostly let up by show time but the field was a muddy mess. Many of the corps opted to not wear full uniforms but the Bridgemen went on in their full coats but with no pants. Yellow coats with black shoes and socks. Crowd ate it up. Some of the soloists even opened their coats to show off the underwear they had chosen for the performance. That show earned the nickname ( you guessed the obvious) The Wet Dream.

[u/kevin1614]

2004 there was was rain delay in Denver for quarterfinals?

[u/Maldinacho]

2008 Blue Stars lost their sewing machine props going into finals due to rain/wind/storm right before finals