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Absolutely - one of the best musical programs I've heard in decades, and visually they managed to do things we'd never seen done. Mike

I thought they were a bit overrated. I would have ad them battling SCV for silver. Thought Crown got robbed. Cleanest, top brass, top guard... seriously.

I liked the early DCI judge uniforms.... the baseball caps the judges wore all seemed to be three sizes too big. LOL.

Is it, really? I have lost count of how many other corps and bands have marched up/down ramps. They are not the first to put their drums down and dance, and just one of many to ground the horns for a dance feature. Meanwhile, while the Bluecoats put their instruments down, some other corps asked their musicians to play more instead. Which is better? Not disputing that. But if the exposure of uniform color is worth points, every top corps will soon be wearing the same colors. Hats do not hide faces. They only hide hair. Yes, they did. Extended lateral jazz running that taxed the shorter marchers visibly more than the taller ones. Uncomfortable to watch.

Yeah it was difficult to hear the battery and hornline over the roar of the crowd.

I have no recollection of BD's show. That's how boring I thought it was. GE wins today. And the judges have always liked the new and innovative. On both counts, nobody was close to Bluecoats. I'm surprised the score was as close as it was. So I guess we all have our opinions. Dirty feet? When's the last time that mattered. The 1980's?

You really had to see this show live to fully appreciate it. Were they dirtier than BD and Crown? You bet. Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable show to watch. Oozing GE, and enough achievement to keep them in the mix. That monster of a show design was going to win regardless of how technically proficient those below them were. They sold that show and deserved the win.

18 tubas this year. Bring on the bottom.

1. ...and zero did it the way Bloo did. 2. True. And again, zero did like Bloo did (or any of the other corps who grounded their instruments). Dude, it's not that anyone's doing anything new...it's HOW and WHAt they are doing with it! Bloo's "game changer" was the over-all encompassing production (GE) AND musical performance (Which they also won!) 3. "better" is in the eye of the beholder on this, and not mentioned on the sheet. Granted, if one hornline played for 1 minute, and another played for 10 minutes, points would have to be taken into consideration where exposure is slightly measured (it's not much). On the other hand, if you take this into consideration, then you also have to consider Bloo's hornline exposure with 15 BRASS SOLOISTS. (5 trumpets, 4 bass bones, 6 tenor bones in the octet). That alone would (did?) wipe out any perceived measurement of elapsed time playing (again, as it relates to sheets, which is all that matters...not our personal musical values). 4. Yep. 5. Totally wrong on that one. Aussies are intended (the way they're worn by SCV and Cavies) to hide faces. Shakos do to a certain degree as well, and certainly do from any angle above 10° (that is, anyone sitting above, say row 20). There's no doubt the "no head gear" decision was a design necessity to sell THAT SHOW AT THAT TIME. I'm sure the head gear decision will be just as important this year, and the correct call will be made, head gear or not, and if so, what it will be. 6. For you. All good. There's no measure for that on the sheet. Do you watch shows from the sideline often? Your issues seem to indicate that you do.

I would just like to see a corps post...." The ________________ will be playing the 6 cool songs with no theme! Sit back and enjoy!"

It's fine -- you're not supposed to resurrect old threads. Crown -- there ability to adapt to a theme with same base is awesome. Academy -- I dunno I just like it. BK -- despite the phantom leg while marching or maybe because of it?

It's a balance of achievement weighted against the content. You all are counting ticks thinking that the content for all the groups is the same and it isn't. The bloo members were marching up walls while doing body and keeping formations. That's a whole energy and technique that no one has explored, ever. Their movement vocab was much denser than other groups. It isn't a bunch of keep the right hand on the horns and use the other three limbs. They actually put their instruments down and dance. They started their show with the drum line dancing with no drums on. No one else took their drums off and asked their drummers to dance. Exposure, look at the uniform. The opening dance block? No one was as exposed as that. They actually had to be performers who used their faces. Every other drum corps hid their faces under a big hat. That's a whole responsibility that no one else had. Bloo was hauling around the field. They jazz ran a lot. Their drill isn't all on, 2 off and splitting like most other groups have been moving towards. Thanks Pyware... I mean Obama! I really mean pyware. Their content was denser and when you weight that against their achievement they did a great job. They had blemishes but they were good enough visually to get them in a winning position and they did. Looking forward to 2017.

Sloppy as hell, visually. Inventive and fun as hell in every other way. Should have won, did win.

It will stand the test of time. It was deserving of the championship.

One thing I'm that I'm very excited about the Colts this year, is the strength of the organization. Under current leadership, the Colts Youth Organization has retired old debt, took the corps in a new competitive direction, and are now working in a new headquarters. If you haven't been keeping up with their #WarehouseWedneday posts, you should. It's great to see them transition into a very workable space for the long term. The corps is also attempting to organize their alumni base through an Alumni Steering Committee to create an Alumni Board. This is something that the corps desperately needs to move into the next left. All of these thing may not mean that the Colts make finals this year, but organizational stability can only help you in the long term.

I wondered if anyone would try do do more of Enigma. I love Elgar.

The Hanover Lancers' "Profiles in Music" show is set for Saturday, April 8, at the same venue... the Pullo Center in York, PA.

The Academy as of 2016 is still my favorite like every year since 2011. Adore that uniform. And has some how been perfect for most of their shows. I mean tuxes for their 2016 undead wedding? Come on. Perfect. The day they abandon that one will be a very sad day for me.

Yes! My gut reaction is always to poo-poo a rehash but you're exactly right about today's brass lines bringing an entirely different show with music that's already been on the field.

<pokes head up> Did someone say uniforms? In recent times, I love the floodgates that Crown opened in 2013. Uniforms have started to become combination military uniform and performance wear, and it's made corps look quite distinct from marching band's "full military regalia" and WGI jammies. Bluecoats of course this year, Vanguard Cadets, Genesis, Cavaliers... heck, even Phantom has started using layers on their jackets (and I wish they'd gone with the pit unis for the whole corps). It's a very exciting time for design, I think, and I think we're not far away from almost a dressed-up tracksuit type design being tried. With DCI's draw becoming more and more the sheer athleticism that the members bring to the table, that's not a bad way to go. Mike

That's almost verbatim what a DCI official told me leaving the stadium in 2008. Mike

It didn't keep them from it either. Neither has it pretty much any other time people said in was the the reason they lost. 5th against 4 monster lines isn't a bad place to be anyway, percussion is one of the deepest captions and being in the top 5 in the current competitive climate is a great place to be. They were way more competitive with those 4 in 2016 and were great to listen to which is what really matters. Huge improvement.

Devils uniforms over the last few years have been really cool. Lots of subtle details. I liked the Coats uniform in '13 '14 and '15 but 16 was... a little much up close. Too many love handles. Cadets of course. I'm excited to see what the new uniform will look like. Hopefully it'll be just as awesome as the original.

The differences are VERY subtle!

Any SCV uniform except the one used in 1996.

COMPLETELY agree with you on the point about Crown. I have been thoroughly impressed with their ability to make the uniform fit the theme of the show, while keeping the same template. My favorite from them, Crown 2015. Cadets (Maroon & Gold....NOT black). Cadets 2011

Belleville Black Knights

No politics allowed here

Yes the show was a GE monster, but I'm thinking some are forgetting the Coats also won MUSIC! Win GE and MUSIC = Win GOLD Win GOLD and Win CROWD = a lot of great talent wanting to call Canton, Ohio their home! Welcome to all of the 2017 Bluecoats. On to Hong Kong

Boston crusaders 83 l Think 26 Horns and They Played and marched like 66.Tough bunch too if l remember correctly They took on q local Miami gang Just before Prelims and leaned them a thing or2 about New England Hospitality

I can understand that ... earlier in the season they did not have the jazz groove section that was played for the charges up the slides. The music felt better orchestrated and more holistic before the late season insertion, in my opinion. I am convinced it was only added so that the corps could add the final visual effect. I kind of preferred the earlier season ending, but I am in a minority.

Up close and personal in Denton about 10 rows up they definitely moved around the most and had an incredibly large amount of stuff demonstrated as said above WAY better than I ever could. I guess in the end there was a consensus among pretty much the whole judging community from Texas on Bluecoats were the best overall. I can't remember how many times I heard "this is a Blue Devils/Carolina Crown panel Bluecoats will lose tonight" and it never happened in the back stretch. It's easy to go back afterwards and say otherwise but I will take their collective opinion and trust it. Captions told the story and I pretty much agree with what they said as much as in August. Carolina Crown was obviously the most proficient sans SCVs gorgeous drums, and Bluecoats had the show and enough achievement to pull off the win.

The closer drill, particularly the insanely fast spinning parallel pinwheels in the rotating circle right before the repeating charges up the slides where incredibly insane and consequently visually dirty. However, the feel of the velocity seeing it live is lost in translation in the Blu Rays. It just can't be appreciated unless experienced live.

... someone missed the point...

I thought the show was a really neat idea and was executed probably as well as it could have been. Personally I thought the biggest hot mess on the field was Cadets. By far, IMHO the worst designed show at finals. People ragged on Regiment's design but compared to Cadets...really?

Hey Mods, feel free to close. Looks like I've got some lined up interest in the tapes. Thanks for the help everyone!

Don't throw them out...Just like TennTux said you can digitize them...Looks like he has friends interested in doing just that...I digitized my 1990 performance when I marched corps...back then you could buy single corps performances at championships...or at least that's how I remember it...so for me it was a little easier...

Love the Slane melody in all it's various iterations. They'll be singing the Gaelic lyrics at my funeral someday.It's a family tradition.

Cadets sounded better.

Here's the source music, a fairly recent piece, based on Isaiah and Matthew https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efC-YLzg76A

"You Are Mine" by Christopher Aspaas. The conductor at the Cadets audition was Dee Walker.

My thoughts are pretty much the same they were in the season. I think Blue Devils and Carolina Crown were better corps but their shows still have small things throughout that just don't add up to the absolute seamlessness and production value of what Bluecoats achieved with their show. Seeing them live I still think the right show won. I can totally see an argument for another corps or the over half point gap being way tighter. Still think SCV should have been way closer to the top of the pack than they were.

Not gonna' lie... that vocal ensemble sounds pretty good. I'll be interested to see how they mix/mic/blend this on the field. The acoustics of raw vocals in a choral room differ quite a bit from mic'd ones outdoors. But... I'm encouraged. Not enough to get super hyped and annoy Ghost, but encouraged nonetheless. Also... that piece was definitely religious. Curious if this is something that will be considered for the show, or if its simply a piece for these kids to sing/audition with.

Thank you, Lloyd Bentsen.

I'd like to see some Rutter on the field again (checks corpsreps -- Legend and Pioneer only corps to use recently) . And Magnificat worked very, very well.