Achin' for Akron/Cinecast

[N.E. Brigand]

Speaking of which, Dennis DeLucia mentioned in his closing notes that Bluecoats took percussion, but not, I think, that they were tied in that regard with Cavaliers!

[Huntington Mallets]

I mean really: how in the hell do you have a 3 point spread in percussion achievement between 6 corps in a show with 7 corps. DO SOME #### JUDGING IT'S WHAT YOU'RE BEING PAID TO DO.

[DrumManTx]

My thoughts on the Cinecast:

Cavaliers - LOVE this show! It's pretty bare bones right now, but it's so dark and playful at the same time. Tons of cool stuff, that Marimba feature is off the charts awesome! Drill is great, music is fun, and the overall theme is presented well right now. A pleasant surprise! MILES better than the last two years!

Madison Scouts - LOVED the music! Classic Madison, and they sounded great! The visual program was the complete opposite, I'm sorry but that was one of my least favorite visual programs I've seen in awhile. I get what they were saying about the color scheme, and I loved the second half, but eek. They could of done the theme easily without the guy aimlessly walking across the field and doing a couple backflips at the end. And the visual performance wasn't spectacular either, cleaner than Boston, but that was....well I'll get there in a minute. And the all white highlighted that. We'll see, but visually, not a fan at all. Musically, FANTASTIC!

Boston Crusaders - First, let me say that I LOVE DARK SHOWS! And this is THE darkest one I've ever seen in drum corps, by far. That said, it is CLEARLY UNFINISHED. But I see the bones, and they're calcium enriched and STRONG. This show right now is music and drill with a couple thematic moments and is filthy dirty. That said, the difficulty they are putting on these performers isn't even on the same level as Madison, they are HAULING ### and playing HARD stuff the WHOLE show. They are ALL over the place from a field coverage standpoint. Clearly not the closer either. But this show is monster, and once and IF they can clean it, watch out, they'll blow right past everyone that's close right now and into the top 6. Once they add show silks, more thematic elements, some re-writes, this could be a monumental show for them. I dunno, I have a gut feeling these guys have tasted blood, and they're out for more. If they clean, they're seriously going to do some damage. Was HUGELY impressed by them tonight despite being the dirtiest, least finished, and the lowest. Boston, BRING IT!

Phantom Regiment - It feels like I've seen them, Cadets, and Crown a million times already by watching videos......show is nice, not as bad as I thought on first impression, but I dunno, didn't hit me too hard. I think they performed VERY well tonight and that's what got them that great score, but that happened with The Red Violin, and by finals they were in 9th. There's an absolute bull of a show behind them, even if it was 6 points behind them tonight.

The Cadets - I'VE ALREADY SEEN THEM SO MUCH. Great show, like the narration, fantastic performance levels. Contender.

Carolina Crown - See the above two. Great job tonight, still feel the field is cluttered. Already stated my thoughts a million times on other threads.......onto THE show:

Bluecoats - Holy Mother ####### ####. JESUS this show is AWESOME! Usually when I hype a show this much I'm dissapointed. They BLEW PAST ALL EXPECTATIONS! The show.....oh my God. I love what he said, no underlying meanings, no cheesy storyline's, just a simple theme and FULL ON YOUR FACE DRUM CORPS! Their visual design is their best in YEARS, back to heel first technique, LOVED the guard, the brass is phenomenal, and the percussion is un ####### believable! Rarick and Thrower have absolutely outdone themselves here. Best use of props, electronics, staging I've EVER seen in my opinion. The show is beautifully simplistic, fantastically arranged, and just downright amazing. My new all time favorite show from any marching idiom. As far as winning goes, who gives a ####. When a show made me feel that way I don't give two flying........maybe I should stop cussing now. BLOO!

Ranking of enjoyment:

1. Bluecoats
2. Boston Crusaders
3. Cavaliers
4. Carolina Crown
5. The Cadets
6. Phantom Regiment
7. Madison Scouts

Best Use of the Color Orange:

1. Bluecoats

Edited June 24, 2014 by DrumManTx

[geluf]

Some general thoughts and reviews.

DISCLAIMER: I am a marching band judge, wind book arranger and designer. You don't care (and rightly so), but as such, a lot of my comments are going to be about design, effect and the arranging. While the theater provides a neat venue, these are things that you really can't evaluate fully in that setting. I'll need to wait until San Antonio next month to catch all of this live. Please don't take any of this personally.

VENUE

My theater was absolutely packed. It was wonderful to see. They used one of the larger houses for the cast and they filled it! A lot of high schoolers with band directors, alumni from a myriad of corps, and various other fans. Picture quality was excellent. Sound was just the right volume. No complaints here!

CAVALIERS

I saw this show on the fan network live feed a few nights ago and wasn't impressed. I'm happy to report that in the superior theater venue, this show absolutely sells. This was the audience's second favorite of the night, easily. It's great to see the Cavies start getting back to what they do best. This design isn't going to contend for a medal as it stands, but it will make a play for the Top 6. Percussion is the absolute highlight here. Getting the pit involved to the extent that they do is a masterstroke. The marimba feature drew big applause. The visual package is more ambitious than the past few years and that level of demand is obviously causing some issues here in the early season. Get it clean and I could see it as high as 6th.

MADISON SCOUTS

OK, Madison. I love you. I really do. But man, I just don't know about this show. For starters, the uniforms. I hadn't seen them before tonight....but ugh. They look like someone raided the costume department over on broadway's Book of Mormon. Those *short sleeve* white shirts with the ties make me think you're about to ask me if you can talk to me about your Lord and Savior. Not an improvement in my opinion.

As for the show itself...this is the safest show I've seen this season so far. It feels like the framework of all the obvious Madison "hits", so to speak...but none of the spark or energy that we expect. Visual program is unfocused (and obviously super dirty), the brass book is, I hate to say, kind of uninspired. You play the hell out of it but there's only so much you can do there. The show just doesn't build to "moments", it just sort of flows casually from one idea to the next with no real aim. I'm worried about this one, to be honest. I hope you can build it into something special, but out of the gate it needs a lot of work. The theater crowd didn't really care for it. Not much action out of them.

BOSTON CRUSADERS

I thought 'ol Rondo was going to have a stammering meltdown. I nearly died laughing.

OK Boston, I have concerns. First: That visual program worries the hell out of me. It is super difficult and your members are having a REALLY hard time with it right now. Not a minute went by in the show that I couldn't pick out someone having a near-wipeout collision out there. Foot timing, linear alignment...of course it's early season, but there are *so many* visual hiccups that I'm worried there isn't enough time in the season to address them all. The laboring of the visual responsibilities is even hurting the musical integrity (particularly in the hornline). The arrangements are solid and it's obvious those kids can play, but they are so overwhelmed and worried about drowning in that visual program that they often completely sacrifice musical clarity, failing to portray musical intent.

I like that you're doing something different. But I think that visual design might need some re-evaluation come mid-season. We'll see where it is by then. On the other hand, if you actually manage to CLEAN that sucker you'll fight for the top half of finals group. This show has me the most worried so far. Best of luck, BAC.

Crowd had NO IDEA how to react to this show...which I found just as funny as Rondo's reaction.

PHANTOM REGIMENT

Well isn't this just the definition of a Phantom Regiment show? The difference here is that the visual package has picked up considerably. Some nice, beefy arrangements of the Tchaikovsky material really put the whole thing together. This was the first show of the night that felt like a coherent whole from start to finish...which unfortunately might also be a problem. The show feels "complete" as-is, and that is something you definitely DON'T want early-season. If you max this show out, as it stands, you'll find yourselves out of the Top 6.

Now, obviously I don't expect there to be no re-tooling. My point here is that you have what I think is the *opposite* problem from BAC: BAC's program feels like it might be too much to pull off, yours feels like it's fitting you like a glove and doesn't have anywhere else to go. Work that Phantom magic and bump the "ooo and aaah" factor and things will be just fine.

Crowd reacted with a respectful round of applause.

CADETS

This is the most traditional show on the field. It's the Cadets doing "AMERICA IS AWESOME" as they are wont to do every decade or so. This was the most "complete" package of the night in terms of all the elements being there. The design is a little safe and I can't help but wonder if they might peak early, but we all know it'll undergo a million versions before they settle. Narration didn't really bother me, although the theater venue wasn't good for it. You often lost the voice in the mix so you couldn't understand what he was saying.

Crowd gave this, too, a respectful round of applause.

CAROLINA CROWN

This show is really bi-polar for me. Neat things happen...then what?....then MORE COOL STUFF....then what?.....it's very disjointed as it stands. Hornline is great. Arrangements: great. Visual program has lot's of bells and whistles but it feels like we're not really tying it all together yet. Happy to report that the percussion is definitely improved for sure. This will contend for a medal come August. I need another read on this show...it is the one probably hurt the most by the theater venue.

Crowd response was pretty good. Probably 3rd favorite.

BLUECOATS

This is it. This is my favorite show of the year. I won't see a better one from a design standpoint. Everything about it works, and it leaves enough space to add on as the season progresses. This show will take you as far as your execution will allow, Coats. That's going to be the key. You absolutely MUST nail the execution of this package for the effect to work. There is no leeway here. If you pull it off, no one will stop you.

This was EASILY the crowds favorite of the night. They lost their collective MINDS over this show. The only Standing O of the night. Audible boos when the scores were shown. I had Bloo in 3rd as well...but not by that spread. Feet are a problem right now, which is cutting into the GE score. That drumline is unbelievable. Clean. Clean. Clean. Add and clean. Add more and clean. Come on, Bloo. You can do this.

[N.E. Brigand]

I'm surprised at the fault-finding with Madison's visual program. It certainly seemed to be more difficult than last year, as there were multiple instances where individuals clearly forgot which way they were supposed to go and caught themselves at, or after, the last moment. They were much cleaner at this time a year ago, which was generally agreed to show that their drill was too easy.

[DWilliams]

the cadets scored a 76 and change

Carolina scored a 74 and change

Cadets barley have any change, Crown basically a 75.

[N.E. Brigand]

Westlake, OH

Huh. We were in the same theatre. I was the one who came in after Cavaliers performed and sat in the middle of the nearly wide-open front section.

Edited June 24, 2014 by N.E. Brigand

[geluf]

I'm surprised at the fault-finding with Madison's visual program. It certainly seemed to be more difficult than last year, as there were multiple instances where individuals clearly forgot which way they were supposed to go and caught themselves at, or after, the last moment. They were much cleaner at this time a year ago, which was generally agreed to show that their drill was too easy.

"More difficult" isn't the same as "focused". Obviously, the dirt doesn't help in that regard.

[ksampsondavis]

Boston 2014 - the most awesome drill design of the season.

Pardon my ignorance...I know this is some sort of jab, but I don't get it.

[Slingerland]

I'm surprised at the fault-finding with Madison's visual program. It certainly seemed to be more difficult than last year, as there were multiple instances where individuals clearly forgot which way they were supposed to go and caught themselves at, or after, the last moment. They were much cleaner at this time a year ago, which was generally agreed to show that their drill was too easy.

The show is a mess, unfortunately. You can't write inspired visual programs when the music has a case of ADHD, which this show does. It takes time to develop more sophisticated visual 'music', but if the arranger is going to change tunes every 16 bars, you're screwed. I found myself mouthing "finish the ___ing phrase!" more than once tonight.

Edited June 24, 2014 by Slingerland