Egon

Yup. I can confirm I am STILL in the CV Front Ensemble doing my best to put the "age" in "all-age".

Humidity pretty low today in Rockmart. Going to be a very pleasant evening.

Thanks very much for the great review! I think your numbers are off for CV though. Should be more like (48H/12FE/19 Battery/29 Guard/3DM)

Excellent! About 14,000 fans get to see two DCA corps instead of one.

This is great news. So glad to see Gold back in Open Class. Looks like the Atlanta CV home show (Southern Showdown) now has 3 Class A and 3 Open Class corps.

Was a bit disheartening to see both Corpsvets and Alliance enter the field each with about 25 less members from last year’s numbers at finals, but both groups seem to have enough personnel in each section to make it happen for sure. Was hard to see and hear from high up over the 10 yard line but I enjoyed both shows. On the Corpsvets side the guard and the contras were the stars in my opinion. With Alliance it was the pit and the baritones. Alliance battery not the huge juggernaut from last year but still big and brought the right aggressive attitude to the field. Would agree with the topic starter the Alliance show is more complex. Corpsvets had a cleaner show in drill and musicality in my opinion. Was sitting with some coworkers who are band parents for Woodstock High School and they are excited about working with Alliance again on next weekend’s DCA South show. It’s a great facility and I am sure everybody will be well taken care of throughout the day. Best of luck to all four corps competing!

Clue: Read the bottom of our signatures.

Yea, I heard that somewhere also John!

Wow! Wonderful, just wonderful. The CV/Alliance matchups the next two weekends are going to be VERY interesting.

Hornline sounds fantastic Ken! I have been living and working in Australia all year where there seems to be no drum corps activity at all so video samples like this are much appreciated. I hope to be home in time to get my DCA South fix at a local show this summer. Seems like all southern corps are doing well so far. Could we see three in the top ten at finals this time?

Great review John. Hope you don't mind me piggybacking onto this thread to add some random comments. I brought some friends who were seeing a DCA show for the first time and they very much enjoyed it - definitely worth the $12 admission and the hour drive to get there in their opinion. I believe they will be return customers. We got there early and managed seats right on the 50 about halfway up. Weather was fantastic. Knowing the DCA-South championship was hotly contested certainly added drama to the evening. It was also interesting for me personally that four of the corps had people in them I marched with during my time with CV. The showmanship trophy for the night needs to go to TJ and Alex who entertained the crowd with their 50/50 sales antics. Sales figures were high. Sun Devils came on strong to lead off Class A for the night. I AM a video gamer and loved the tune from Civilization IV at the end that I normally hear only on my computer headsets. Nice percussion work by the Pit there (Go Tammy!). Overall, I was hoping for more improvement from the Devils since I saw them last in Valdosta, but it was a solid performance nonetheless. What a great base from which to grow on in the coming years. Was pleased to see a Shenandoah Sound about twice the size of when I saw them last a couple years ago. Wasn't really into their choice of music but the concept and story telling with the aliens was interesting. Nice acting by the whole corps when the taller alien infiltrated the horn line. The Alliance percussion section was incredible. I think they'll certainly be in the top 5 as a section at Finals. John on tympani looked to be having a great time out there with the rest of the gazillion pit members. Good for him! The kid on concert bass was right on and added a lot to the impacts. If I counted right, Alliance had the largest corps (90?) of the night so recruitment efforts this year have gone well it seems. MCL marching onto the field with somebody calling out a drill sergeant cadence was just plain cool. It's effective. Do it LOUDER. The hornline cracked some concrete under our feet several times during the show with their power. Percussion was nothing but tight. MCL comes off very confident and they have the chops to back up that attitude. Really enjoyed their show from top to bottom. CV was improved significantly over their Valdosta performance I saw. Seems much work was done, in percussion especially, to clean things up a bit. Whitney and the marimba's down front have some wicked runs they nailed. Drill by all was pretty darn clean. As a corps, I would agree with some other posters that CV was not as aggressive (or loud) as the other two open class corps, but IMHO, they were the only corps of the night to get all sections together into a seamless package. I can't explain it other than to say when they were done, I just thought "man, that was just as sweet as can be." In looking at the recap, I would agree with the judges' assessments everywhere except the hornline scores. With the balance, intonation, musicality, and especially the maturity of the CV hornline I heard, I would have ranked it CV, MCL, then Alliance, but with the same close score spread. Something perhaps missed by many fans who didn't stay for CV's victory concert at the end was the GE moment of the night: At exactly 10:00 PM when CV was holding the very last note of the last tune, the sprinklers suddenly came on attacking the guard who was out on the field. I think the battery and the hornline were puzzled as to why the crowds cheer turned into laughter until they turned around to see the malaise. Georgia was nice to hear again. Femur on bottom bass really got into it. I think all three open class corps should have scored about five points higher based on what I saw. They were THAT good. Going to be very interesting to see how these three groups mix in with the rest of Open Class in Rochester. Good luck to all!

Overall a great show at Valdosta there Sun Devils - well received by the audience and very smooth. Yea, it was not hard to spot some of the new guys we had heard you added very recently but I never got the impression at all that there were "1st show jitters." I think you have a great show package, numbers, and talent and it just needs polishing to be a contender for Class A Finals. With a brand new, sweet sound, the Corpsvets came on afterward and had everybody on their feet pretty soon with those amazing soprano solos. DCA was very well represented at this big DCI show by both corps.

The constant breeze certainly helped make the low 90's temperatures up in the stands bearable. Great show! I brought some musician-type friends with me who normally go see a DCI show or two each year and they were pleasantly surprised by the musicanship, showmanship, and overall quality of what they saw at this show. DCA South has got some great stuff to send to Rochester this year for sure. Derby City Knights and Shenandoah Sound were out to entertain and did not disappoint. Kudos to the percussionist in DCK who played all five tonal basses set up on a rack. You rawked! The guy who did the xylophone solo was very impressive as well. Gulf Coast Sound has definitely stepped way up this year. The hornline is balanced, controlled, and very musical. Loved the set drummer in the Pit as well. Very nice show. Alliance has grown a big battery and pit that is probably a contender for the top percussion award in Class A this year. The tenors were VERY good. I think I recognize the tall one on the end. :-) Music City Legend came out with great confidence and put on a fantastic show far above what we saw at JSU a month ago. Seems like hornline and battery spots were filled in and the overall show is much cleaner. The theatrics, especially at the end, make this a fun and unique show. All sections seemed strong to me. The three snare drummers were a well oiled machine throughout. Very impressive. Will we see MCL in a top ten spot in DCA Open Class? Definitely possible IMHO. CorpsVets? OMG! (Warning: shamelessly biased review to follow) Much better hornline balance than at JSU. Powerful and VERY enjoyable. Fantastic contra sound throughout. There's a gazillion solos and so much going on the whole show one dare's not take a look away for a second. Was that a mexican hat dance being performed by the mellophones around their instruments on the ground? Throwing the roses was a nice touch. The Pit has many great exposed parts and with Jennifer, Whitney, Tammy, and Mighty Joe Hamm keeping all the new guys in line, it's a treat to listen to and watch. Was it just me or did you guys set a speed record for getting on the field to set up? :-) Battery drill and intervals greatly improved over JSU and you guys had quite a presence out there. We have to wait until almost the end of the show for the traditional percussion solo but it's worth the wait. I believe the tenors have topped last year's performance when it comes to musicality while performing acrobatics. By the way, the Air Force has been looking for some missing structural parts from one of their F-117 stealth bombers. Know anything? I know very little about colorguards and apologize but it seems you guys added a great deal to the show with some definate "ooh and ahhhh" moments. I did notice CV's colorguard was bigger than all the other colorguards combined. Seems recruiting efforts have been succesful. I thought the scores for each corps were all about right relative to each other. Chattahoochee High School is a great facility for a drum corps show and the event was well organized. Go Cougars!

Ken!! Gerald!! You guys were great!! Honestly. That loud and aggressive standing ovation CV received at the end was definately earned. VERY enjoyable, emotional show and performed with confidence. I would say CV has stepped up quite a bit in quality over last year. A little work on hornline balance, marching technique by all, and drill cleaning, and this will be a very fine package to send to Rochester at Labor Day. By the way, very impressive warmup session just outside the stadium by the percussion section. So many seasoned veterans in the Battery (tenors and basses OMG!) and a lot of new, solid talent in the Pit. It was no wonder why a big crowd gathered to watch. Leif's effective and famous use of humor to correct/embarrass individual players was half the show! b**bs And at risk of igniting yet another useless debate, myself and another CV percussion alumni, sitting half way up the JSU stadium on the 30 yard line, did in fact hear the tenors and snares JUST FINE. :sshh:

So very sorry to hear this Lisa. My sincerest condolences. This was announced at the conclusion of CV rehearsal tonight and there was a collective gasp from so many of us Vets at CV who know you well and miss you.