top of page

The Music is About to Come Alive at Millard West

By Quinn Masek, Siouxland Contributor


The 2024 Music Lives competition was one for the books, as Gretna Revolution didn’t place in the top three in prelims but won Grand Champion in finals, taking Best Vocals and Best Choreography. Now that they aren’t attending this season, another group is ready to take those awards.

 

Prep Division

Bryan “Surround Sound”

Benson “Resilience”

Millard North “Intensity”

Smith-Cotton “Broadway Velocity”

Westside “Warrior Express”

 

Two big standouts in the prep division are Intensity and Warrior Express, and the latter group is more likely to win in the division. Warrior Express is coming off a divisional win at Blue Valley, while Intensity placed third in their division at Gretna last week. Benson got the better of Bryan last week at Lincoln in another comparable battle.

 

Womens Division

Lewis Central “Company”

Aberdeen Central “Special Request”

Mercy “Treblemakers”

Omaha South “Amplify”

Brandon “Bellas”

Millard North “Illumination”

Westside “Simply Irresistible”

 

The winner in this division is a tossup between Bellas and Simply Irresistible. SI has already competed this season and placed 6th in finals at Blue Valley. While Bellas hasn’t competed yet, their previous few seasons show they aren’t a group to underestimate. That being said, Illumination does have the opportunity to upset the other two aforementioned groups since they won their division last week at Gretna, beating Hastings, Papillion-La Vista South, and Elkhorn South.

 

Company and Special Request have already competed against each other earlier this season at Sioux Falls Jefferson with the former coming out on top. Now that they’re facing off again, it’ll be interesting to see if anything changes.

 

Mixed Division

Smith-Cotton “New Score Singers”

Lewis Central “Corporation”

Aberdeen Central “Eagle Express”

Omaha South “The Ambassadors”

Brandon “Brio”

Millard North “Infinity”

Westside “Amazing Technicolor Show Choir”

 

This is one heck of a lineup. Smith-Cotton unfortunately missed out of finals at their first two competitions, but they still snagged a best soloist award, and they’re probably looking for more here.

 

Corporation is back at Millard West after not attending in 2024. LC added Ben and Melissa Eklund to the choreography team this year and has started the season off with a pair of strong third-place finishes, meaning they're looking for more than the sixth they took at Music Lives 2023.

 

Aberdeen Central is also back in Omaha for time since 2020, when they started their season at Gretna. This is also Central’s first time competing at Millard West, and they're looking for different results after they placed fifth at Jefferson a few weeks ago, an unusually low placement for the group.

 

Both Omaha South and Millard North were at Gretna last weekend, and both groups placed lower there than they did at any competition in 2024. This could be chalked up to first comp jitters or a deep field, but it’ll be interesting to see if they make any improvements to do better than they did last week in a similarly deep field.

 

The travler award goes to Brandon Brio. Brandon is traveling from Mississippi to Nebraska, an impressive trip that spans over 850 miles! Brio has been a powerhouse in the south for a few years now, and that doesn’t look like it’s slowing down anytime soon. Despite snow cancelling a couple days of school in the leadup to their season debut, Brio and Bellas have brought in several clinicians recently.

 

Westside has been going to Millard West every year since 2017 (ignoring 2021), and has won every year since then - except for last season when Gretna came from behind and took Grand Champion from them. Now with two wins on their belt this season, already ahead of their total last season, Westside came to play and have returned to take back their crown.

 

Final Predictions

Grand Champion: Westside “Amazing Technicolor Show Choir” (BV/BC/BB)

1st Runner Up: Brandon “Brio”

2nd Runner Up: Lewis Central “Corporation”

3rd Runner Up: Millard North “Infinity”

4th Runner Up: Omaha South “The Ambassadors”

5th Runner Up: Aberdeen Central “Eagle Express”

 

If this wasn’t Brandon's first competition of the season, more people would be inclined to put them in first place. Since Westside already has two wins behind them going into this competition, it’s easier to assume they would win. Still, Brandon won’t go down without a fight.

 

Lewis Central has shown serious improvement since last season. At the two competitions they’ve competed at before, they’ve received multiple soloist awards along with placing third at each. It’s possible that they’ll do about as well as they’ve done at previous competitions.

 

Millard North has only been at one competition so far, and they placed fifth. Given a few improvements since that last competition, their Copacabana show could lead them to place higher at this competition. Omaha South placed right behind Millard North last weekend at Gretna, and it’s a safe bet that a similar thing will happen this weekend. Aberdeen Central is a solid finals contender as well and is likely to outpace Smith-Cotton. It’s totally possible for either Omaha Westside Simply Irresistible or Brandon Bellas to take this spot too, but there’s confidence in Aberdeen Central to make finals at this competition and maybe even place higher than predicted.

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • YouTube

© 2020-2024 HomeRoom Show Choir

bottom of page