Canton/Massillon DCI Show

[jwillis35]

So I attended last nights DCI show in the Canton area (Massillon) with some good friends. We were split up a little but our seats were on the 47 about 2/3rds of the way up.

Pro Football HOF Enshrinement Festival

The metro area of Canton, OH hosts the annual Enshrinement Festival for Pro Football and, of course, Canton is the home to the Hall of Fame. The annual festival runs from July through the 1st week in August, with a few events scattered in the early spring. This DCI show is a co-sponsorship between the Bluecoats organization and the Enshrinement Festival Committee (not exactly sure if that means Chamber of Commerce is also involved, but I think they are). This is significant because there are lots of people in town for all the events who are not necessarily drum corps nuts. Many of them do attend the DCI show.

Stadium

The show is held at Paul Brown Stadium in Massillon, OH. This is a monster of a HS football stadium. If it holds 7500 to 8,000 people on the home side, then I'd say it was just about filled to the max last night. The stadium has a roof that hangs over a 3rd of the top portion of the home side, giving it a resonance seemingly perfect for drum corps. The volumes that we hear in this venue are vastly superior to most stadiums, and certainly better than what fans will hear in Indianapolis this coming weekend (sad to say).

The combination of this great stadium and the Pro Football HOF Enshrinement Festival makes this particular show a rarity in the drum corps world. Trust me, I am not saying this because I live in Canton. I have traveled far and to many venues over my 33 years of drum corps experiences. I have been to many DCI Finals, many regional shows, and without a doubt this venue is right up there with the best. For seeing a DCI show in North America, it ranks in my top 5 easily. The sound is loud, crystal clear, and there is almost no bad seats in the house, even though they do have those old-school scaffold-like braces that hold up the roof. Very few seats are affected by those.

The Crowd

For some reason, and perhaps because of the venue, the sound, the unique blend of people, and the time of the summer (2 days before prelims) it seems the crowds at this DCI show are just ready to "give it up." Last night was no exception. The crowd was eager to praise all, ready to clap (and they did often, during shows and after), hollering their approval, whoopin' it up, and just have some fun. When a crowd is like this, I just have way more fun. The only other time I experience this type of crowd is at DCI Finals when the fans are ready to "give-it-up" for everyone. I love when we get to this time of the summer.

The Show

(in order of appearance)

1. Seattle Cascades - and solid performance for the group. The show lacks highs and lows. They have talented players and marchers and I feel the show could be a bit more tailored to their ability. The crowd showed them a lot of love, but design was definitely a problem and will hold them back in Indy.

2. Oregon Crusaders - My 2nd read on this show (live) was much better. The talent of this group is really something. All of the music educators I spoke with afterward felt the same way. This is really an up-an-comer that with the right show will be top 12. They have some great solos, and in particular their lead trumpet played some wonderful lines for us. They can march, drum, brass, and their guard was quite talented. Their show design is a bit hit and miss. The first 2 sections of the show just lay there and the first big hit really doesn't grab you. There is a young lady who sings (beautifully done I might add), but I feel they utilized her too often and it almost feels like a vocal recital during the first few sections. When they get to "Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho" they begin to groove, and their percussion feature using Donald Grantham's Southern Harmony (Mvt. 3 - Exhilaration) is wonderful. So the last half of the show is really good, and it's at that point that you realize just how good this group can be in the coming years. They cover a lot of field, but usually at the expense of readability. They march in 4-step intervals too often, and that tends to create less definition. All that said I very much enjoyed their show and was very impressed with the talent. I sense a top 12 "run" coming from these guys.

3. Pacific Crest - Holy cow, I really liked these guys. Love the uniforms, love their aggressive sound, the musical arrangements were excellent, and the drill was well done. The staging always seemed very good to me. Much like Oregon Crusaders, Pacific Crest seems to be an up-an-comer, ready to make a "run" at the top 12. They have a lot of what is needed, but design is key. It's not just having the talent. You have to have design. If their instructors and designers can make this happen and be open to change immediately upon the season so changes have time to gel, then I see this group also making a push for top 12.

4. The Academy - Again, I got a much better read on this show from my earlier showing in Erie, PA. The corps is good, talented, and they have some nicely arranged music. The show has design flaws but the music itself is not the problem. Conceptually it seems the show is trying to play out a Cabaret setting, but it comes across a bit disjointed and cluttered. The crowd seemed to love the Billy Joel tune (Piano Man) and sang along with the corps. Sadly, when that sing-along is done the corps doesn't drive home that theme. It seems like they are going to, but the music is not grand enough. They need to build to the new key, hit a company front, and push it slowly toward the fans with Piano Man being played in a robust manner. Instead we got an over-arranged, double time drill, weak brass hit that drained any enthusiasm we had from our souls and left us wanting more. Their ending could be a GE sensation, but it's a GE killer at the moment.

5. Spirit of Atlanta - WOW...now that is a drum corps show! I really wish these guys would clean the spots off this show. If they did they would be in the hunt for 7th place. That's right, 7th at World Finals. They have the design. In fact, this is one of the BEST designed shows of the year. The trumpet solos are wonderful. The guard is great and their outfits and color schemes are perhaps the best I have seen in the activity this year. The brass line is big and full sounding, and the musical arrangements are fun. If they would take that silent drill at the end and cut that to maybe 8 counts only I think they would gain in GE and the ending would not lose intensity. Other than that I have no complaints about this show. If you're going to Indy, you will want to see these guys. A fabulous show! Bravo to all for this wonderful effort!!

6. The Cadets - Whatever it is they feed these kids...don't stop. They came out and got this crowd roaring, clapping, oohing, and wowing! Of course, the Cadets are one of four amazing drum corps at the top of the battle for the World Title. They have all the ingredients. Stellar percussion, incredible brass, amazing marching and technique, top-notch drill that just captivated the audience, great music GE that took first place at this show, and a very solid guard that is getting their groove. Their one weakness is perhaps visual GE. Some of that is in part due to the props, some in part due to guard staging and/or execution, but I'm nit-picking here. The music is just fabulous and had me locked into it almost immediately. Their dynamic range was so good that some of the crescendos were so effective they got major applause from the crowd (just for the music alone). Can they win a world title? Sure they can, they're the Cadets and they have 10 World Championships. But it will not be easy, the competition is the most fierce I have seen in many years. But the crowd here didn't care about who won or lost, they were treated to a great show. I will say that I didn't care for the mello soloist on top of the one prop at the end of the show. Wish that would not have changed. That said, BRAVO Cadets! Just amazing!

7. Carolina Crown - Remember what I said about the Cadets breakfast food? Yeah, same thing here. This group can perform and boy do they sell their show. Where do I start? Well, let's begin with brass. Most of what you will take away from a viewing of this show is BRASS...and a lot of it. Their are more notes in their show than the total number of dollars in the last fiscal budget...the U.S. budget. The sound is just big, warm, balanced, and when needed it is thunderous. I felt they really hit the volume lever at the end last night. Crowd went nuts for them. The other thing about this show is the use of harmonized vocals while counting rhythms in a fun, light, whimsical manner. There is also the use of narration, but just for one section of their ballad, and boy was it effective. I know some have commented on not liking the voice over, but I think it works so well in this instance and the guy doing to narration does an impeccable job. Their closer is just pure speed, a John Williams-like fury of notes and fanfare type hits, and an ending that Mahler might be proud of. I love watching the guard at the end. In fact, their guard may just help them win the World Championship. If they can get a good performance out of their percussion, which, by the way, sounded very good last night, then I think their guard could help solidify that top spot.

- A quick aside: beating the 15-time World Champion Blue Devils is not an easy task. BD simply has no weaknesses which is how you win so often. They mesh fabulous performance with design, innovation, and fabulously arranged music that is crafted to show-off the talents of their members. From what I have seen Carolina Crown has the goods. The Cadets could also be right there, especially if that show cleans just a little more. I would not be surprised to see Crown and Cadets go 1 and 2 at Finals, but I also wouldn't be surprised to see BD 2-point the competition. Not like I haven't seen that before. :-)

8. The hometown Canton Bluecoats concluded the evening in Fabulous BLOOOOO style with a roaring crowd that clearly approved of their show and their fabulous performance. Yes, they are the hometown corps, but to be honest I saw a very inspired BLOOO last night. Maybe the best overall performance I have seen from them since Finals in 2010. The brass was spectacular (right there with Crown and Cadets), as was percussion (which took 2nd overall at the show). The demand in their brass and percussion book is really something to behold, and now that they have cleaned this show I think those of you attending Indy are about to see a very clean and ramped-up Bluecoats. You will not be disappointed. In addition to the music, the overall show has cleaned and been edited well enough that the intended general effect is really hitting. The use of flags is excellent, the opening and closing parade sequences are wonderful, and this is their best drill design in a while. I have nothing against Phantom Regiment (love them), but I do not see them topping BLOOOO this weekend. I could be wrong, but I really think Bluecoats are on their way to a nice top 5 finish. Special KUDOS go to Doug Thrower for those fabulous brass arrangements this year. Also, they really fixed the baritone solo in terms of staging and rewriting. I really enjoyed it last night. The bebop section that happens after the jazz shout is really well played and exciting. All in all, this was one heck of a performance and very deserving of that 93+ they got last night. Bravo, Bluecoats!!! Make Canton proud this weekend.

Not a bad night when you get to hear brass books arranged by Jay Bocook, Michael Klesch, and Doug Thrower. Add to that the brilliant book played by Spirit, the powerful show by Pacific Crest, and the last half of the show by Oregon and I was just thrilled to be at a DCI show again.

Sometimes it is easy to be critical, and at times I think we have to be that way in order to give fair, balanced, and truthful assessment back to the designers of these shows. No matter what, I can always watch the kids perform and get something from that. At times I worry that the designers are out for their own egos and their own opportunity to move up and sell their product. The best shows take the talents of the kids and showcase them in a manner that provides an enriching education along with great performance opportunities, but also allows the kids to please the fans so that we (the fans) can give back and respond to their talents. There is still a lot of bad show design out there (for this level of competition), but for this one night I was thrilled to be in the stands and just whooping it up for the kids and for the fun. It's good to feel young once in a while. :-)

~ Peace

Jonathan Willis

Edited August 8, 2013 by jwillis35

[N.E. Brigand]

What a fine review you've written!

[Jeff Ream]

amazing review

[N.E. Brigand]

And so much pithier (and more timely) than what I managed for Avon Lake.

[brichtimp]

Great review.....Bravo!!