[CoHmempho04]

Spirit, Crossmen and Phantom 03 are still and probably will always be in my top 10 shows of all time.

[AlbionNY Drum Line]

ess sea vee!

[MikeN]

I thought 2003 was an incredibly deep year for the top 12.

And...

That BD's opening drum solo, at least for drummers, is iconic - that opening "bzzz... da GAK... da dugudaduguda da" has become legendary.

That the Cavaliers show has been, if anything, underrated, considering they came in 2nd. It had just as much visual complexity and musical smoothness as their 2001-2002 shows.

That the Cadets' drum feature in Malaguena - awesome. I know this wasn't Hoppy's favorite year, but I thought they did a fine job of it, nonetheless.

That Phantom's program was phenominal. Not the cleanest ever, but one of the most exciting drum corps shows I've ever seen in person. And their reprise into Sanctus (not "Canon" - this was a piece by the vocal group Libera called "Sanctus" that changed it up a bit)... we've seen it copied for years and years now by marching bands.

That SCV's program hasn't received near the love it should get - and that their drum feature during Anima Mundi was amazing.

That Boston's program was just as good as their 2000 "Red" show, though sadly their ballad didn't come across near as powerful on the CD's that year as they did live, for some reason.

That the Bluecoats show really has grown on me over the years. Libertango was great to listen to, and the whole program shows the kind of cleverness (especially with the boxes that kept forming) that they've refined since.

That of the post-Stewart "new" Madison years, that was by far their best program - it was the perfect layering of sophistication on top of a jazzy book.

That Magic's show at the time seemed kind of meh to me, but the more I see it, the more I like their take on Mass - almost as much as the Cadets at this point. Say it with me - DAH dah dah DAH... dah DAH DAH dah.

That finally - Spirit's "October." The flags. Yeah.

Oh yeah, good year.

Mike

[SynthLine09]

contrajedi8, on Nov 5 2009, 10:25 PM, said:

03 Phantom is THE most overrated shows of all time.

fixed :)

[MikeN]

SynthLine09, on Nov 6 2009, 03:30 PM, said:

fixed :)

I'm not trying to start an argument - just get a discussion going - what do you think was overrated about it?

Mike

[mastermuel]

I agree about Phantom 03 being overrated. Most people realize the visuals are a little sloppy, but from a musical standpoint they had a lot of brass intonation issues and the guard was bleh.

[lowbrasschick]

Phantom '03 was the first drum corps show I heard; my band director showed it to me and I was pretty much in awe. Now, with a couple years of going to/listening to dci shows, I realize it isn't the best visually, and even musically (though I still think their music was great), but it continues to be my favorite show. It really made me think "woah, I want to be a part of something like that someday."
Hopefully, this year, I'll be able to make that a reality.

[SynthLine09]

MikeN, on Nov 6 2009, 04:34 PM, said:

I'm not trying to start an argument - just get a discussion going - what do you think was overrated about it?

Mike

Well theres the visual dirt, but I can generally look past that since I generally just listen. As far as the music, I guess its just not to my taste. There are some sounds that seem bright and unpleasant to my taste throughout.

There are two moments in the show that I love, the last sustain at the end of the ballad and the canon reprise at the end of the show.

Outside of that, I just don't think the music is as wonderfully amazing as everyone hypes it up to be,

[contrajedi8]

MikeN, on Nov 6 2009, 04:34 PM, said:

I'm not trying to start an argument - just get a discussion going - what do you think was overrated about it?

Mike

The brass performance is downright offensive at times. The intonation, in particular the contra section in the closer, is ghastly. It's like whack-a-mole with pitch.

The visual performance is the weakest from a top 4 group ever.

The color guard was very messy. Once again, the closer in particular, is on a different planet.

The Phantom Phaithful can talk about emotion all you want but when the performance is a bad as it was at times, emotion doesn't come into play.

And as far as the show, there is one cool moment. The reprise. Everything else is sort of a snoozefest.

And I don't mean bad. I mean bad for a 4th place finish. Thus, overrated.

This post has been edited by contrajedi8: 06 November 2009 - 05:15 PM

[Musical_Spinner]

mastermuel, on Nov 6 2009, 03:36 PM, said:

I agree about Phantom 03 being overrated. Most people realize the visuals are a little sloppy, but from a musical standpoint they had a lot of brass intonation issues and the guard was bleh.

Exactly what I was going to mention myself. The guard labored through that show and lacked the technique to compete up at the top.