Jofus Posted August 14, 2011 Posted August 14, 2011 I flew back from Japan a few weeks ago with a pair of tickets to DCI finals waiting on me. I hadn't actually seen a show live since I marched in 2008 since I had joined the military in 2009. Going into finals with eyes an ears untouched by drum corps in several years had me pumped, but not really sure what to expect. Here are the slightly biased, mostly uneducated, rusty opinions I came up with last night! Spirit of Atlanta: In all honestly I don't remember too much of this show other than the fact that I was so excited just to actually watch a live show. I wasn't disappointed, but not blown away either. Not sure how I feel about the uniforms. Blue Stars: Cool show, and holy drums batman! Those guys were throwing out a lot of notes, which makes sense once I heard Tom Aungst was over there. Their new uniforms are pretty cool looking too. Madison Scouts: Really good to see them back in finals again. In typical Madison fashion they went out with the "blow your balls off" mentality. Visual execution still had some dirt, but they entertained and played very well. Blue Knights: A difficult music selection to make entertaining IMO. It felt like a real struggle to turn English folk music into a contemporary American marching music show. Though, I did really like the old school drumming with the pit along with some other moments. Boston Crusaders: Without trying to sound like a jerk, I really don't remember Boston's show. Nothing really sticks out in my mind. Bluecoats: Sick drum parts! I couldn't stop following the drumline around the whole show to catch the rest of the corps. Overall fun to watch! Vanguard: I really liked the show concept. The visual design was easy to follow and made perfect sense to me. It was funny hearing Brandt Crocker say "imagine you're in hell, and you want out" almost anticlimactically. Phantom Regiment: Loved the brass. Really. A very powerful show, but I did think it was funny when everyone started cheering when Juliet stabbed herself on stage! Crown: These guys really did go out there like "Rach" stars. Definite crowd-pleaser! It was an all around challenging and extremely fun show. The guard definitely deserved their win! They had my favorite drumline of the year, too. Cavaliers: Some of the message was lost on me, unless I was trying to dig deeper than the concept of doing stuff that's literally extraordinary. Finally got to see the upside-down tenors I've heard so much about. Great show, and it lived up to its name. 2nd place IMO. Blue Devils: Uhhhh... What? Execution was great, don't get me wrong. But, I had no idea WHAT I had just watched once it was over. Maybe it's one of those "you have to see it more than once" shows. Cadets: It was pretty clear they were going to be the winner. I loved the visual design and execution. The show made ME tired just by watching it, because they were booking it as usual! It was a good night to be a Cadet, for sure. 5 Quote
BRASSO Posted August 14, 2011 Posted August 14, 2011 Thanks for your military service. ( and your review ) Quote
SteelPanz Posted August 14, 2011 Posted August 14, 2011 ... Blue Devils: Uhhhh... What? Execution was great, don't get me wrong. But, I had no idea WHAT I had just watched once it was over. Maybe it's one of those "you have to see it more than once" shows.... Saw it live once, in the theater once and several times online; and I still didn't get it. Michael Boo did a pretty good job trying to explain it on his live blog (which I read for the first time last night). Maybe the show is just too deep for common fans to understand up until the point where you just see the blatant roof arise from the house. Quote
splat-a-drag-a-phonium Posted August 14, 2011 Posted August 14, 2011 Welcome home and THANK YOU very much for your service. Home of the free because of the brave just like you. Quote
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