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Fairfield Show Review


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I really enjoyed last night's show here in Fairfield, OH. All of the corps managed to pull off spirited performances.

First off, many thanks to the members of the all-age Cincinnati Tradition for performing and entertaining us with your talent, enthusiasm, and your fine music. Well done!

World Class Division Scores

(I was sitting very low for this show, so I got a different perspective on sound, feet, demand, etc.)

1 The Cadets 79.300 - This is an excellent show, they are an amazing corps, and they have plenty to clean and fix/edit. What first strikes me about The Cadets is that they look like the youngest and skinniest corps out there, and then they just crush the competition. Serious training and discipline is the hallmark of this group and it was evident tonight. Boy do these guys march. Even if they miss a set, they hold it and continue as if nothing happened. They have 3 holes to be filled, but I believe 2 have been filled and they now just have one mello spot that needs placed. The show is called "Side X Side." It's basically a simple concept. Two things are happening at all times on each side of the field. The sides could be front and back, back and right side, left and right, front-right and front-left, etc. Typically the two things happening work in relation to each other but are somewhat contrasting in musical style, and occasionally they collide. The mellophone soloist is one of the best soloists you will hear this summer. The middle of their show is beautiful with a gorgeous long phrase that builds to the climax in the most powerful of ways. The closer is Medea...not the easiest of works to perform. They are still filthy dirty with this piece, but I can see where this is going. When clean and up to tempo this will drop some jaws. They do need to figure out how to best build to the end of the show, and then how to more quickly get into the soft closing theme and re-occurrence of the mello solo.

The Cadets also graced us with an amazing encore in which they did not play any of their show music. They played "On a Hymnsong by Philip Bliss," a Mahler 2 except, an outstanding arrangement of "Live or Let Die" from the James Bond movie of the same name, and "Swing, Swing, Swing" from the movie 1941. The crowd went bananas and ate it up!! This is a polished and professional looking and sounding drum corps that just oozes top 3 come World Finals. Weirder things have happened, and they have some good competition. BD and Carolina are amazing; and Bluecoats and Phantom and SCV can all make moves, so there is much work to be done. But to me, this show spells GOLD or SILVER come August.

2 Bluecoats 75.400 - BLOOO has a stellar production this year that showcases American patriotism in the modern age. I need to read more about some of the Middle-Eastern chants (or at least it sounds like this to me) that flow in and out of the musical context from time to time. The Bluecoats seem to have painted a portrait of America in which the people are going through their daily lives, loving their country, supporting their troops, all the while living in the midst of terrorism and uncertainty of war. It's very well done. The opening parade sequence is really brilliant and well performed. I love the musical selections. I want more from the big jazz hit in the middle of the show that sound like a "shout" at the end of a nice jazz chart, but they don't elaborate on it. The same is true with the closer where we are treated to some beautiful melody, but only for a short snippet, then we get chords and colors to help setup the next section and not enough thematic development. This would be my only caveat with their music. At times it feels like small cuts of various songs that have been pasted together. This works brilliantly in the opening of the show when setting the stage, but the melodic fragments need more development as the show moves forward. It will help their GE Music scores. As always, Bluecoats have an amazing brass line, fabulous percussion, and the guard is wonderful. I love how the guard is used in this show. The balloons at the beginning are well used, and the blankets in "picnic" section are also well done. I can't speak about drill so much since I had a low vantage point, but from my view they were polished marchers with great control of body, articulation, and tone. Clearly this group is going to be a powerhouse when this show cleans. There is a lot of demand here, folks. Last night was not their best performance. It's still an amazing show top to bottom and come World Finals I can see this top 4, or it could end up 5 or 6. I know the Bluecoats are up for the challenge, and the staff is outstanding, so I am excited to see where it goes from here.

3 Madison Scouts 73.000 - Whew! Madison, I do love you guys! The Scouts are giving us a patriotic theme as well (in fact Madison, Bluecoats, and Troopers all have patriotic shows). The show is titled "Corps of Brothers - 75 Years of Survival." The music is primarily from two works: Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain" and Rogers and Hammerstein's "You'll Never Walk Alone." Madison's interpretation on the patriotic theme is more literal. They depict a regiment of military men going through their basic training, then they depict battle (with helicopters, voice-overs that sound like military commands being given, and eventually there is death), and finally they depict remembrance and honoring our heroes. The guard is in military fatigues (think Desert Storm), the corps enters the field from end zone 1 in a company front and then, as the music builds, they begin to rotate that form as they build to their first HIT of the show. Goosebumps! By the end of the main battle scene 3 soldiers die, with one of them being the most obvious at center stage. At this point the Corps pulls together and they sing "You'll Never Walk Alone" in 4-part harmony...and it's stunning! Eventually the horns are added in a slow thematic build and your heart is racing, and this all leads to a slow-pushing company front that will bring you to your feet and make you cry (as they carry the dead off the field). They need to work out the timing of the faster music right after the company front so they don't take away from the heart-felt emotions while keeping the intensity of the moment.. Overall, this is a fabulous show with a solid brass line. Thank you, Scouts!

4 The Cavaliers 70.300 - The Cavies were much better tonight. Visual was better received. The end is wonderful, but most of the show lacks energy, flow, and performance quality. The show is called "Secret Society." It's a better overall production than what they had last year. Percussion seems solid, but pit is nowhere near what they used to have. Brass is weaker than in past years. Lots of stick outs, bad attacks, tuning issues, phasing, and control issues. Clearly they are struggling with the music...which was one of the easier books on the field tonight. The demand of this show is good from a visual perspective, but somewhat on the intermediate side musically. I have no doubt that they will clean, but I'm not sure how much that will push them up the ladder. After seeing Madison, I just don't see Cavies making that kind of jump, but they can certainly stay on pace with Spirit and Boston. The later two, however, have better shows with more potential in terms of theme and GE. Time will tell. Bottom line: I hope the members are enjoying themselves and that the corps continues to push. That is all they can do.

5 Spirit of Atlanta 70.000 - Spirit has a great show with all the demand and flow needed to put them in the top 12. The show is titled "Speakeasy" and tries to re-create the musical images of a lost time. It's not a story but an imaginative series of vignettes that each depict some time and place in this lost art of music making. The following are the musical selections: Concerto in F by Gershwin, Crazy World by Mancini, Overture from Chicago, Solace by Joplin, Songs for Simon by Psathas, and Sweet Georgia Brown by Bernie, and a few others are heard. They are dirty visually and musically, even more so than Cavaliers. They will be a worthy adversary to the Cavaliers all season I think and they have the edge in GE and total show construction. I Love the bar drinking scene, and the dancing segments are fantastic. This is an entertaining show from top to bottom. Way to go, Spirit!

6 Crossmen 65.100 - The Crossmen are good, but I am not sure if they are top 12 good. The show is nice, somewhat safe, and it is entertaining. The show is titled "Protest." Their musical selections include: The Prophet’s Song – Queen, She’s Too Good For Me – Sting, The Sound of Silence – Simon & Garfunkel, They Don’t Care About Us – Michael Jackson, Some Nights – Fun, We Shall Overcome – Pete Seeger, Goodbye Blue Sky – Pink Floyd, Find The Cost Of Freedom - Crosby, Stills, & Nash. The brass was nice and controlled, as was percussion. I love their guard. They were featured very nicely in the show and are primarily used to carry the theme. I like that their brass is playing controlled and not overly loud right now. This is probably hurting their GE numbers, but the kids are beginning to master the book. I really like the show but I worry it doesn't have enough highs. I also worry that their Civil Rights theme isn't tied into the music as well as they might think. Either you take a literal interpretation of idea (which I think would be difficult to do) or you utilize an impressionistic view. The later would work, and I think it's what they're trying for, but the effect is not pushing through. Still, they will be a very clean corps come August; and with the right changes who knows.

7 Troopers 64.800 - BRAVO TROOPERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Folks, the Troopers are BACK!!! They are also featuring a patriotic show, but in a more impressionistic sense that very clearly draws the fan into the music and the heroic visions of this great country. The music is wonderfully arranged and it's everything we could want from the Casper Troopers. The show features the following: The Magnificent Seven, The Theme “Jon Dunbar” from Dances With Wolves, The Battle Hymn of the Republic, and Original compositions by Robert W. Smith and Paul Rennick. The demand is probably just right for this group and I felt that all sections displayed strength and good command of the show. They have plenty to clean, and I also feel they have wonderful room to grow. This was one of the better shows of the night. Patriotism TROOPER Style! The Battle Hymn segment is done in the most elegant manner and features some great drill, including the famous starburst (but not quite like you envision). The brass line is really playing well and all instrumental groups are strong. The staging of this show is partly why it works so well and it has some wonderful GE hit points. I love the use of the American flag. If I could buy a corps into the top 12, this is the show right here. Come on Troopers...clean this beauty!!!

Thanks for reading and, as always, support Drum & Bugle Corps!

JW

Edited by jwillis35
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Great review as always! The "Middle-Eastern chants" in Bluecoats' show is from Agnus Dei by Rufus Wainwright. They're not Middle Eastern, but I can see that they sound that way. Not sure the story of the song or how it fits into the show either.

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Great review, thanks! I was at the show last night and agree with just about all of your points.

I was extremely impressed with Spirit of Atlanta. Where did these guys come from this year? Wow. Keep an eye on them this season, they have a lot of potential.

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I was at this show as well, and I'd have to agree with almost everything you said. I particularly enjoyed Troopers a lot more than I expected to coming into the night. That and I can't wait to see Bluecoats once they get clean and have the endurance to make the end of that show as powerful as the opening.

Great review!

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Thanks for 2 great reviews this week, Jonathan!

Harvey

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Jonathan, I always look forward to your reviews... and you have delivered the goods once again. Great stuff!!!

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