October 17th, 2009 at 5:01 PM ^
I thought the DSU band was fantastic. Their instruments were nice and shiny. No polish needed.
October 17th, 2009 at 5:03 PM ^
I thought they were pretty entertaining and I enjoyed the performance. They seemed to enjoy Michgan's drum line as well. They also enjoyed the wave we did, which was run to absolute perfection, and got in on it. Even during our fight song they seemed to learn the beat and raised their arms on Hail. I'm pretty sure they were sincere in all of that, and weren't making fun of us. Anybody that was close to the band hear any band members making fun of us at all? Seemed like a grateful bunch of people that enjoyed the big crowd.
October 17th, 2009 at 5:06 PM ^
I sat right behind the band in row 1. They were definitely having fun with the wave. That was cool to see. The mascot did nothing the whole game which was sort of weird.
October 17th, 2009 at 5:11 PM ^
I agree that the band was cool; it amused me to no end that they participated in the waves.
October 17th, 2009 at 6:36 PM ^
DSU sealed being my favorite I-AA team when their band did the wave. That was awesome.
October 17th, 2009 at 5:14 PM ^
Yeah the mascot was pretty weird overall. Crazy looking guy and he wasn't really used for anything.
October 17th, 2009 at 5:25 PM ^
The DSU band was entertaining. The guy they had on the P.A. system wasn't so much so. Must say, I was a little surprised that the MMB didn't have something waiting for them instead of going with the Opera theme. Thought they may want to strut their own stuff but it didn't happen.
October 17th, 2009 at 7:46 PM ^
I thought the PA guy for the DSU band was one of the best parts. He was really entertaining in a kind of hilarious way.
I loved the DSU band though.
October 18th, 2009 at 12:41 AM ^
Less is more...The PA guy acted more as Captain Obvious than anything else. I felt he took more away from the performance as you heard him more than the band. Yes I knew what DSU stood for and yes I know what a Diamond looks like. All in all I could have done without the PA guy. Would have been nice to have seen a drumline competion between the bands though.
October 18th, 2009 at 2:50 AM ^
I have to disagree, the PA guy made the entire performance. The diamonds: they connect AND rotate!
October 17th, 2009 at 5:04 PM ^
They were loud, but really really sacrificed pitch control and accuracy. There were a few moments that resembled violent and unfortunate bodily functions.
They were pretty good for the most part though.
October 17th, 2009 at 5:10 PM ^
That's find and dandy that you noticed the pitch issues, but the vast majority, and I do mean VAST majority, of fans do not care one bit. That includes myself. They sounded pretty good to me and they were pretty entertaining. They lived up to the hype in my book. I did see members of our band go over and talk to the DSU band, and that was cool.
October 17th, 2009 at 5:28 PM ^
I thought I detected some sarcasm from the OP, but my meter may be off.
October 17th, 2009 at 5:32 PM ^
My bad if he was, but even so my comment still stands. Most people dont care about that.
October 18th, 2009 at 2:04 AM ^
I understand that most fans don't care about pitch control and accuracy, hence the general approving final sentence that completed my comment.
Your qualms with something which leans toward objective over subjective seems quite weak. The DSU band had pitch control issues. They were excellent on some songs, quite bad on others and in general, sacrificed accuracy for the sake of being loud. Was this due to a larger stadium compared to what they are normally accustomed? Perhaps, and I thought they did a pretty good job in those circumstances.
See, this is evenly-handed review of a marching band. Please continue masturbating to your gospel hand bell choir CD. They may have poor accuracy and hit the wrong notes occasionally, but damnit, you just don't care about that. Your there for the bells. Glorious bells.
October 17th, 2009 at 5:19 PM ^
I wish the Michigan Marching Band would sacrifice pitch control and play louder. Same with the basketball pep band.
October 19th, 2009 at 12:57 PM ^
I know him. He wrote an arrangement of Mexican Hat Dance that I danced to at the basketball games.
He seems like a good guy, but I'm not gonna tell him how to do his job after he satisfied my desire for a comical interlude during basketball games.
October 17th, 2009 at 7:37 PM ^
I noticed the MMB directing their instruments towards different sections. This seemed to help when compared to other games this season where they faced the field for a majority of the time.
October 17th, 2009 at 5:33 PM ^
Hmmm, a band that actually entertained everyone with upbeat music for halftime. Nah, I think opera is better!
3...2....1.....
October 17th, 2009 at 5:33 PM ^
I've never had so much fun listening to an opponent's marching band PA guy.
"Now watch as the band forms three diamonds! And then watch as the diamonds rotate!"
"Side two: get down! Hit it!"
"Thrillllller!"
I definitely enjoyed it
October 17th, 2009 at 7:25 PM ^
The announcer was awesome in a stupid kind of way. The thriller thing cracked me up. I enjoyed it as well.
October 17th, 2009 at 9:44 PM ^
Oh, man, that got me to remember all that, and literally had me LOL. He started off as kind of annoying over the band, but morfed into hilarious wonderfulness. THRILLER!!!
October 17th, 2009 at 5:33 PM ^
was much more entertaining than the MMB. The Michael Jackson was much better than the opera that we were playing.
October 17th, 2009 at 5:42 PM ^
I did like the new? drum line thing the MMB did in the first half.
October 17th, 2009 at 6:33 PM ^
You mean when they went into the endzone and played? If so, not new.
October 17th, 2009 at 6:41 PM ^
I've seen them play in the endzone before, just not with detached drumheads, quads on stands, and that choreographed circle thing.
October 17th, 2009 at 7:00 PM ^
They've done that exact thing (with detached drumheads, quads on stands, and circle) for the past two years. It's from a show they did in 2006.
October 17th, 2009 at 8:41 PM ^
is called Sing Sang Sung, a buddy of mine is on the Drumline I was tipped off this was comin'
Here's a link to what is, in my opinion, a better version of it:
October 17th, 2009 at 5:41 PM ^
This was just like the movie Drumline, when the one band plays some cool hip song and the other band responds with flight of the bumblebee. DSU's band won this one easily.
October 17th, 2009 at 6:07 PM ^
they were awesome as far as entertainment value goes. their band has 10x the sound per person than our band does
October 17th, 2009 at 6:09 PM ^
While the DSU band wasn't quite what I was hoping for, I'll definitely remember their announcer more than most halftime performances.
October 17th, 2009 at 6:09 PM ^
"Delaware State needs to hire the Michigan band's fashion designer. Michigan needs to play like Delaware State's band."
Heresy, I know, and I would never trade the Michigan band for anyone. But I thought it was funny my daughter liked DSU's sound better, but thought that light-blue and red was atrocious looking.
October 17th, 2009 at 6:17 PM ^
Now I'm really glad I wasn't at the game. Fucking opera. Sweet. I hope they play opera for Penn State and OSU. That'll really get the crowd charged up. Opera. Jesus Tap-dancing Christ.
October 17th, 2009 at 6:21 PM ^
is that hype music
October 17th, 2009 at 6:36 PM ^
We were expecting something a little more current to go along with the DSU band, but the point of the halftime show isn't really to get the crowd hyped up. I'd rather have opera than another Fall Out Boy song. The arrangements were good.
October 17th, 2009 at 7:53 PM ^
Be glad it wasn't show tunes.
October 17th, 2009 at 6:43 PM ^
This is fucking opera!
October 17th, 2009 at 6:49 PM ^
Why did the DSU band have two different kinds of uniforms?
October 17th, 2009 at 7:36 PM ^
Who the fuck cares that the MMB played opera? The football team won 63-6!!! Be happy!
October 17th, 2009 at 7:54 PM ^
To tell you the truth I couldn't really make out most of the music DSU's band was playing, but the dancing and announcer made the entire experience awesome. My absolute favorite part was when the band was playing and the announcer randomly said in a menacing voice "the approaching stormmmmm," although the connecting AND rotating diamonds were great as well.
Also, like everybody else I was very disappointed that the MMB played opera. Seriously, opera?
October 17th, 2009 at 8:27 PM ^
I am surprised that no one mentioned the DSU Drum Major!
His slow jive walk to the center of the field and then that Whooping Crane stand that seemed to last for 5 minutes! That was really fun to see.
October 17th, 2009 at 10:32 PM ^
Before the game, a few of the people with me were making fun of how they warmed up, but they turned out to be really fun to watch. It's just a different style of entertainment that they're aiming for (relative to the MMB). Those band members were trying to have fun, and while I'm sure ours do too, the MMB is aiming much more for a professional and polished look.
October 17th, 2009 at 9:03 PM ^
As in amazingly loud per person AND amazingly bizarre.
The announcer spent so much time hyping the band that he ended up talking over half of their performance.
Their drum major (with the smooth moves) was the "Hurricane"!
They sounded like a bad high school band (in fact my high school HAD more band members and sounded better).
But they had a good funk, blew hard, and seemed to be all around good sports.
I applauded like hell for them every chance I got (even if I was laughing).
Remember, DSU is a tiny school. I wish it hadn't been Michigan's Opera halftime show however, if anything could have portrayed us as a bunch of wine and cheese snobs, it would be an opera halftime.
They could have at least done Phantom of the Opera. Geez.
Anyway, I've yet to see anyone mention the single best part of the DSU band (and no, I don't mean the semi-talented 19 member "sweet sixteen" flag core).
The "Delegates" dance team were a trip.
October 17th, 2009 at 9:50 PM ^
It's Elegance and Delaware. And yes, I did hear the DSU band director interviewed like 3 times on the radio on the way to the stadium.
Didn't think they were very coordinated, but in those outfits in that weather? They get a point.
October 17th, 2009 at 9:54 PM ^
but now I really wish they were the "Delegates". It just sorta fits.
October 17th, 2009 at 10:34 PM ^
Honestly (and tell me if I'm wrong here) I think that a lot of the fun side of today came from playing/spending part of a day with a team that we really knew nothing about. It's pretty refreshing when you have no idea what to expect, and you're surprisingly entertained by it.
October 17th, 2009 at 10:41 PM ^
It's actually D'Elegance.
October 17th, 2009 at 9:48 PM ^
Me: I'm sorry, this was our most boring show of the year.
DSU band member: Really? I love Pagliacci.
October 17th, 2009 at 10:01 PM ^
At first I was a little disappointed with all the hype. Particularly pregame. They weren't that coordinated. And the announcer talking over them. But by the time they had hit the medley at the end they had me. Dancing, getting down, THRILLER!! (That never gets old).
And then everyone around me in 18 laughed when he announced A Night at the Opera. Talk about a bad contrasting choice. Though they did play likeable and recognizable selections well. But it just seemed stuffy today. Save it for OSU when we're showing how much more cultured we are. lol
And the wave thing may have been the coolest band moment at the Stadium since Rice brought they're band. Couldn't cheer for DSU's band enough.