Buffalo TOC

[cfirwin3]

In a few words for each (although I have PLENTY to say... I will TRY to restrain myself).

Prime Time Brass - Okay... now THIS is how you pump up a drumcorps crowd. These guys are not (pardon my verbiage here) the typical "remember when... wish we were still there... have no real hope of recreating, no matter how hard we try..." sr. or alumni corps. They are older gentlemen hopped up on testosterone and life... and MAN can they scream out some good tunes. Crowd loved them playing in the stands at point blank range!

Cadets - A bit flat tonight. I like the show (I even LOVE parts of it)... but the people who are suggesting that this is contending for the title are indulging in a bit of wishful thinking. It is a good serious show, worthy of the Cadets, but it has no chance at catching the top two (simply due to show design comparisons to the others).

Phantom Regiment - I am a huge fan of Bernard Herrmann (yes 2 r's and 2 n's) and who doesn't love Elgar?. The show has all of the attributes and performance qualities that we should expect from PR. I almost fell asleep... I was bored to tears, and if it wasn't for the campy/strange evil queen... thing... I probably would have. The show is too safe, lacking in visual and musical/technical "red meat." They look and sound good though. Also, the theatrics seemed to have a comic effect that I don't think was intended.

Santa Clara Vanguard - This is what drumcorps used to be. I don't say that with nostalgia... it's just a true observation. Complete formal musical melodies and lots of marching with linear drill sets. It's a good show with GREAT classic marching technique. I think it would have been better if they had dumped some of the smaller themes and developed more of the well known tunes. The brass was a little "crunchy" (balance, blend and cracking issues in the upper brass). They are NOT as close to the Cadets as they were scored. I think that there will be a bigger point spread there in the coming days.

Carolina Crown - Big smiles and giddy laughter... This is the crowd pleaser / smartly scored... good balance of 20th century esoteric minimalism all anchored by a well known romantic tone poem and a chunk of film score. I love "The Abyss"... I love Silvestri... but I never liked this theme from "The Abyss." Crown uses it effectively however. I watched them rehearse the opener earlier in the day. They were making a big deal about arriving at full volume well before the chord resolution at the end. They did it great at rehearsal... and then didn't do it at the show. Shame on them. They move at high velocity (more than the Cadets) and the musical scoring has a ton of "red meat" in it. The only flaw that I notice is that the scoring lacks extreme ranges. The horns seem to play in a comfortable range all the way through (like phantom).

Bluecoats - Apart from Carolina Crown, these guys were the crowd favorite. I think they should be spreading more in point value from Phantom, and SCV should be ranking closer to Bluecoats. But how can you take my judgments on this seriously when I am an alumni? Anyway, there is a lot going on in the show, and they do it well. Loudest opening hit of the night. And one of only two serious attempts at drumcorps bluesy jazz licks all night. It was refreshing.

Blue Devils - Okay... I had an epiphany while I was watching this and listening to the groans of my audience associates. There is no reason why anybody should like this show. There is no reason why liking it should dictate their placement or score. It is wrong for anybody to suggest that crowd pleasure should be a deciding factor when point values are on the line.

BUT

On the other hand... the design team deserves to lose every fan that they lose for choosing this program. Keeping fans requires that they be pleased. They haven't lost me. I actually enjoyed watching the show (although I don't care to see it again). My epiphany is this: They are performing a modern jazz rewrite of one of the most controversial musical/visual masterworks in the history of ballet. The Rite of Spring resulted in fist fights and localized riots... how ironic.

This show deserves to win (if it does). It is difficult, they are clean, there is a lot of "red meat" AND they play with a wide tonal range (something that the Crown show doesn't have). So, it's wrong to demand crowd pleasure... it's a bad idea to push away the fans... and it's wrong to think that this show is in any way the default standard for a winning program. It isn't. But it just might be a winning program.

Cavaliers - where are the Cavaliers and who are these guys? This newer design staff needs to think more about emulation rather than evolution. They have a bunch of Cavalier members to work with... they need to write a Cavalier show and instruct like Cavalier staff. They are suffering from a lack of high standards. Dump the sprocket on the outfit that is trying to remind the crowd that they are watching the "Green Machine"... and just show us the "Green Machine". The corps is weak... and it's a design team problem. This show reminded me of an old div. 2 "campy" program. Sorry for the harsh words... but I hate to see the Cavaliers in such a state.

All corps encore performance - It was loud. We have all heard these before... just loud.

Cavaliers encore - was a bit of a downer. They played a march and their corps song and left the field. Would have loved to see Devils, Cadets, Crown, Bluecoats, SCV, PR... anybody else. Sorry, I don't intend to sound mean. But the order ending with the Cavies and then an encore with more of them was very anticlimactic.

My 2 cents. Thought the show was good. Glad they had a TOC so close by me. Kept me from having to run to Allentown over the weekend.

One bummer is that the Allentown crowd is fun to watch a show with (they love to yell and stand in the middle of performances). When the A-town crowd sees something they like... they let you know it! The Buffalo crowd is not quite so energetic, unfortunately.

[jwillis35]

An excellent review with some good observations about the top corps! I completely agree with you about the Cadets. Really good corps, great performers, but they are missing that one thing (which I think is visual GE) that would put them there with Crown and BD.

Phantom's design just fell apart this summer. They never managed to find the right tweaks for this show.

SCV is classic drum corps with some modernism, but you're right, their brass can be a bit rough. I thought that when watching the webcast, even with all the audio problems.