[Danhobl]

I just got back from Rockford. It was a great show, but the lowlight for me was the Blue Devils show. In my opinion, it was by far the least audience engaging show of the night. They went on first, and I liked all the shows that followed better. And the the judges put them in first by a comfortable margin? I understand they are an extremely talented group of kids, but aren't the new scoring sheets supposed to reward entertaining and engaging the audience? They sounded like they were back to bleeps and blops which the judges apparently still eat up. Play a frickin melody that will leave me humming to myself after the show.

My only other gripe is that there were no 'instant encores' this year at this TOC event. Disappointing. Guess the corps wanted to get out of there. Long drive ahead of them.

Otherwise, the show was great. Great venue. Nice summer evening. Phantom was great. Also enjoyed the Cadets much more than I thought I would.

[tabadabadoo]

Danhobl, on 16 July 2012 - 12:26 AM, said:

I just got back from Rockford. It was a great show, but the lowlight for me was the Blue Devils show. In my opinion, it was by far the least audience engaging show of the night. They went on first, and I liked all the shows that followed better. And the the judges put them in first by a comfortable margin? I understand they are an extremely talented group of kids, but aren't the new scoring sheets supposed to reward entertaining and engaging the audience? They sounded like they were back to bleeps and blops which the judges apparently still eat up. Play a frickin melody that will leave me humming to myself after the show.

My only other gripe is that there were no 'instant encores' this year at this TOC event. Disappointing. Guess the corps wanted to get out of there. Long drive ahead of them.

Otherwise, the show was great. Great venue. Nice summer evening. Phantom was great. Also enjoyed the Cadets much more than I thought I would.

You can't argue with clean. So until anyone can execute their show better than they can, get use to seeing them dominate.

[FlamMan]

Danhobl, on 16 July 2012 - 12:26 AM, said:

I just got back from Rockford. It was a great show, but the lowlight for me was the Blue Devils show. In my opinion, it was by far the least audience engaging show of the night. They went on first, and I liked all the shows that followed better. And the the judges put them in first by a comfortable margin? I understand they are an extremely talented group of kids, but aren't the new scoring sheets supposed to reward entertaining and engaging the audience? They sounded like they were back to bleeps and blops which the judges apparently still eat up. Play a frickin melody that will leave me humming to myself after the show.

My only other gripe is that there were no 'instant encores' this year at this TOC event. Disappointing. Guess the corps wanted to get out of there. Long drive ahead of them.

Otherwise, the show was great. Great venue. Nice summer evening. Phantom was great. Also enjoyed the Cadets much more than I thought I would.

I agree 100%. I used to love BD back when they payed jazz. Now I cant stand them...& either can most fans. I also agree with you about Garfield. 12.25 is already one of my all time favorite shows.

[flammaster]

Oh here it goes.

[jmc5682]

FlamMan, on 16 July 2012 - 12:38 AM, said:

I agree 100%. I used to love BD back when they payed jazz. Now I cant stand them...& either can most fans. I also agree with you about Garfield. 12.25 is already one of my all time favorite shows.

Please do not speak for most fans.

[Kamarag]

if you aren't hearing melodies in this year's Devils show, you are probably deaf. They are there, and they are fantastic. Also, there's a ton of jazz in the show as well. Two pieces the corps has tackled before.

[Dylan Ford]

Yes, the new sheets may address the entertainment/audience factor, but you need to realize that just because something wasn't entertaining to YOU doesn't mean it wasn't entertaining to other people. I happen to be very entertained by BD's show this year. Am I wrong? No. Are you wrong? No. NEITHER of us can get mad when things don't end up the way we think they should in terms of being entertained by a corps because it is solely our own opinion. In my eyes, the "entertainment" variable is one that is EXTREMELY ambiguous and not a variable that one can rightfully use to argue scores. Again, that's my opinion. Take it as you will.

Also... it's not as if entertainment/audience engagement is a huge part of the score. I'm not too familiar with the new sheets yet, but I can't imagine the "entertainment" caption would be a super game-changing caption. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, though. I just don't see it having enough weight of the total score to be able to drastically influence results.

[SFZFAN]

Clean wins. Crown will be sloppy in comparison for the rest of the year even though they have that sweet horn sound.

[FlamMan]

jmc5682, on 16 July 2012 - 12:44 AM, said:

Please do not speak for most fans.

The fans speak after each BD performance...& the silence is deafening.

[JayM]

What engages a person is entirely subjective.

I haven't liked BD since the early 2000s but of all the shows performed in Minneapolis this past weekend, BD's show was the only one that really engaged me.

So how do we reconcile that with your viewpoint?