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Akron OH - June 16, 2012


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Just got home from the show. I will post this in the review section as well. Here are some general thoughts:

A. Stadium and Crowd: Excellent! This is a great stadium for a regional show let alone the first of the year. Big crowd, and the fans seemed very enthusiastic for all the corps (some more than others). Hey, it was a Bluecoats crowd...and you gotta love that here in the Canton/Akron metro area.

B. My placements for tonight:

1. Bluecoats 73.75

2. Phantom Regiment 73.30

3. The Cadets 72.60

4. Carolina Crown 72.00

5. The Cavaliers 71.85

6. Blue Stars 67.25

C. Caption Awards

Brass = 1. Crown, 2. Bluecoats, 3. Phantom Regiment, 4. Cadets, 5. Cavaliers, 6. Blue Stars

Percussion = 1. Cavaliers, 2. Bluecoats, 3. Cadets, 4. Phantom, 5. Crown, 6. Blue Stars

Auxiliary = 1. Phantom, 2. Cadets, 3. Cavaliers, 4. Bluecoats, 5. Crown, 6. Blue Stars

Visual Performance = 1. Bluecoats, 2. Phantom, 3. Cadets, 4. Cavaliers, 5. Crown, 6. Blue Stars

Total GE = 1. Cadets, 2. Bluecoats, 3. Phantom, 4. Crown, 5. Cavaliers, 6. Blue Stars

D. Audience Reaction

1. Bluecoats, 2. Cadets, 3. Phantom, 4. Crown, 5. Blue Stars, 6. Cavaliers

E. Some Overarching Thoughts

I am not sure how the judges saw this, but the above rankings are how I saw the show. Overall I thought it was a great beginning to the 2012 season. The Bluecoats seemed the cleanest to me, but I will also say this: LOOKOUT!!!! The Bluecoats have a wonderful show, great arrangements, high GE impact points (much stronger than last year), and they have players. They will be a tough corps for Crown, Cadets, Cavaliers, BD, Phantom, and others, to deal with. Their show opens with Masquerade from Phantom of the Opera, and it is a gorgeous arrangement that perfectly works with this show. Of course, the inside joke here (more of a tip of the cap) is that SCV, known for Phantom of the Opera in the 1980s, obtained the services of some of the Bluecoats brass staff at the end of last season. BLOOOO has responded in kind, a short tip-of-the-cap, and one great show that follows. They will be a must see this year!

Phantom Regiment came off as the 2nd most clean, and boy do they have a beautiful show, with easily the most striking guard outfits of the night. The music is gorgeous and the brass is really dark. Oh, and Nessum Dorma was just incredible. They will definitely put people on their feet big time when this gets cleaned. Maybe not the most demanding show, but we shall see what they do in the coming weeks. I believe they have a wonderful beginning sketch, and they definitely have that goose-bump moment at the end!

The Cadets Christmas show may have scared some, but on this live viewing I must say that this will be a killer show. It's classic Cadets, and up to the middle of their ballad I had them easily in 1st. The end of the ballad needs cleaned. Lots of phasing due to their incredible field coverage. The closer was only partially played. They basically marched to the end of O Come All Ye Faithful and then held out a big fat chord to end the show. So it wasn't bad, but no doubt we all await the goodies that these guys can bring once the last minute of drill is locked in. This show is beautiful, stunning in effect, and really well played. They will certainly challenge for Gold once again.

Carolina Crown was a bit of a let down for me. The brass is wonderful, with what I thought was the most demanding horn book. But I got lost a good bit with the source material. I love Copland's 3rd symphony, and when that music appears in the show, I just love it. But some of the transitions are not happening just yet, and I am not buying the arrangements of the other music. Drill is good, but not as good as Cadets. And they are really sloppy. Drums are good, but the Guard was almost non-existent to me. I think it was the uniform. No contrast and there was no big visual hit that grabbed my attention. The closing of Fanfare for the Common man is definitely a treat.

The Cavaliers have wonderful drill, but musically this show is not anywhere near Bluecoats, Cadets, Phantom, or Crown. The sound of the brass seemed a step down from the other 4, and I thought Blue Stars actually had a better sounding brass line. Cavaliers definitely have percussion--amazing percussion! And the drill is good. I just question the source material for music and the overall show theme didn't hit me tonight. I need another read. I know they will bring it as the season progresses.

The Blue Stars were easily the dirtiest of the corps, but I really like their show, and I love how the Dvorak "New World Symphony" is woven into the music. Some excellent GE impact points and some really amazing drill by Myron Roseander (sp?). They had probably the 3rd or 4th most demanding visual program of the group tonight. If they can clean, then look out because I believe this show could be a big crowd-pleasing show. They do have to clean fast and they have some serious demand (more visually than musically), but I like what I saw tonight.

Well that's all I got for tonight. We shall see what each of these corps do over the coming weeks. My gut instinct is that The Cadets show is going to surprise a lot of folks, and Jeff Sacktig's drill is AWESOME!

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Just got home from the show. I will post this in the review section as well. Here are some general thoughts:

A. Stadium and Crowd: Excellent! This is a great stadium for a regional show let alone the first of the year. Big crowd, and the fans seemed very enthusiastic for all the corps (some more than others). Hey, it was a Bluecoats crowd...and you gotta love that here in the Canton/Akron metro area.

B. My placements for tonight:

1. Bluecoats 73.75

2. Phantom Regiment 73.30

3. The Cadets 72.60

4. Carolina Crown 72.00

5. The Cavaliers 71.85

6. Blue Stars 67.25

C. Caption Awards

Brass = 1. Crown, 2. Bluecoats, 3. Phantom Regiment, 4. Cadets, 5. Cavaliers, 6. Blue Stars

Percussion = 1. Cavaliers, 2. Bluecoats, 3. Cadets, 4. Phantom, 5. Crown, 6. Blue Stars

Auxiliary = 1. Phantom, 2. Cadets, 3. Cavaliers, 4. Bluecoats, 5. Crown, 6. Blue Stars

Visual Performance = 1. Bluecoats, 2. Phantom, 3. Cadets, 4. Cavaliers, 5. Crown, 6. Blue Stars

Total GE = 1. Cadets, 2. Bluecoats, 3. Phantom, 4. Crown, 5. Cavaliers, 6. Blue Stars

D. Audience Reaction

1. Bluecoats, 2. Cadets, 3. Phantom, 4. Crown, 5. Blue Stars, 6. Cavaliers

E. Some Overarching Thoughts

I am not sure how the judges saw this, but the above rankings are how I saw the show. Overall I thought it was a great beginning to the 2012 season. The Bluecoats seemed the cleanest to me, but I will also say this: LOOKOUT!!!! The Bluecoats have a wonderful show, great arrangements, high GE impact points (much stronger than last year), and they have players. They will be a tough corps for Crown, Cadets, Cavaliers, BD, Phantom, and others, to deal with. Their show opens with Masquerade from Phantom of the Opera, and it is a gorgeous arrangement that perfectly works with this show. Of course, the inside joke here (more of a tip of the cap) is that SCV, known for Phantom of the Opera in the 1980s, obtained the services of some of the Bluecoats brass staff at the end of last season. BLOOOO has responded in kind, a short tip-of-the-cap, and one great show that follows. They will be a must see this year!

Phantom Regiment came off as the 2nd most clean, and boy do they have a beautiful show, with easily the most striking guard outfits of the night. The music is gorgeous and the brass is really dark. Oh, and Nessum Dorma was just incredible. They will definitely put people on their feet big time when this gets cleaned. Maybe not the most demanding show, but we shall see what they do in the coming weeks. I believe they have a wonderful beginning sketch, and they definitely have that goose-bump moment at the end!

The Cadets Christmas show may have scared some, but on this live viewing I must say that this will be a killer show. It's classic Cadets, and up to the middle of their ballad I had them easily in 1st. The end of the ballad needs cleaned. Lots of phasing due to their incredible field coverage. The closer was only partially played. They basically marched to the end of O Come All Ye Faithful and then held out a big fat chord to end the show. So it wasn't bad, but no doubt we all await the goodies that these guys can bring once the last minute of drill is locked in. This show is beautiful, stunning in effect, and really well played. They will certainly challenge for Gold once again.

Carolina Crown was a bit of a let down for me. The brass is wonderful, with what I thought was the most demanding horn book. But I got lost a good bit with the source material. I love Copland's 3rd symphony, and when that music appears in the show, I just love it. But some of the transitions are not happening just yet, and I am not buying the arrangements of the other music. Drill is good, but not as good as Cadets. And they are really sloppy. Drums are good, but the Guard was almost non-existent to me. I think it was the uniform. No contrast and there was no big visual hit that grabbed my attention. The closing of Fanfare for the Common man is definitely a treat.

The Cavaliers have wonderful drill, but musically this show is not anywhere near Bluecoats, Cadets, Phantom, or Crown. The sound of the brass seemed a step down from the other 4, and I thought Blue Stars actually had a better sounding brass line. Cavaliers definitely have percussion--amazing percussion! And the drill is good. I just question the source material for music and the overall show theme didn't hit me tonight. I need another read. I know they will bring it as the season progresses.

The Blue Stars were easily the dirtiest of the corps, but I really like their show, and I love how the Dvorak "New World Symphony" is woven into the music. Some excellent GE impact points and some really amazing drill by Myron Roseander (sp?). They had probably the 3rd or 4th most demanding visual program of the group tonight. If they can clean, then look out because I believe this show could be a big crowd-pleasing show. They do have to clean fast and they have some serious demand (more visually than musically), but I like what I saw tonight.

Well that's all I got for tonight. We shall see what each of these corps do over the coming weeks. My gut instinct is that The Cadets show is going to surprise a lot of folks, and Jeff Sacktig's drill is AWESOME!

Great review! Thanks! :thumbup:

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Good review. Thanks for the low down.

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Just absolutely one of the very best reviews and REVIEWERS out there. THANK YOU!!!!!!!! (from an old die-hard has-been reviewer)

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Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts and observations. I enjoyed reading it!

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Fantastic Review

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