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2016 DCI Premiere -- Theater Experience


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Idaho Falls, ID. Probably two dozen people, mostly Troopers fans with myself and two or three other alumni attending along with the kids from Troopercussion (a WGI drumline run out of Rigby, ID by the Troopers, though the membership is pretty much all high school kids with no corps experience).

They had the sound plenty loud.

Bluecoats were the best in my mind. But all six corps definitely threw down! Cavies was a touch of old school and I loved it. Crown's Medea gave me goosebups. It's going to be a great season!

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Saw it in Manhattan, at the 14th Street/Union Square theater. This is where I usually go for the prelims one. I don't consistently attend the premiere. I think this is only my 2nd time.

The theater was probably only 25% full. For prelims, it gets may 2/3rds full.

I didn't have any real problems with the sound, except where Boston's front ensemble and synth overpowered the brass line on occasion.

There was a lot of laughing at Rondinaro's lines, especially the Chester, PA one. I grew up in Chester, PA when it was declining rapidly to the awful state it is in now. The Crossmen actually practiced not far from there in the 70's and early 80's. I hear the stadium is nice, though.

The biggest applause was for Bluecoats, followed by Cadets. There probably were more Cadets alums/fans in the theater. I actually met a fellow Crossmen alum, which you don't always expect in the middle of Manhattan.

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Interesting to hear that Crown hasn't been getting as much applause in some theatres. Opposite of what I would've expected

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Interesting to hear that Crown hasn't been getting as much applause in some theatres. Opposite of what I would've expected

My mom said she really liked them, but all I and her could think about were Bluecoats after they were done all night.

Edited by DrumManTx
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Watched it in theaters at Honolulu. There was a decent amount of people. I would say around 50 people. The experience was a complete upgrade from previous years. This year it was shown in one of the bigger theater rooms with a huge screen, rocking seats, and surround sound. The sound balancing for BAC show was terrible. Glad they fixed it for the rest of the corps. It's the closest thing I have to watching a show live. I would love to see Bluecoats show in person. I am amazed with their show this year and for sure will be a contender for the title. If the next live DCI theatre broadcast is shown in our RPX theater I'd be so happy

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Interesting to hear that Crown hasn't been getting as much applause in some theatres. Opposite of what I would've expected

Not so here. Admittedly I was with a small Crown group, there were about 200-300 other folks in the theater in ATL. Crown, Cavies, and Bloo got great responses -- even a little more than the "home team" Spirit.

That being said, I think we were all a bit shocked (in a good way) at Bloo's performance and were probably still recovering during Crown's show. LOL!

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Was at the Patton Creek 15 in Birmingham AL. The theater was probably 90-95 percent full, and mostly "older" folks (very few college age, and I don't think any high schoolers). Not a lot of applause at the end of each show (I tried to get things going more, to no avail). Crowd favorites seemed to be Bluecoats and Crown, but hard to tell with the lack of emotional feedback.

Had the same issue with the audio mix on BAC's show (too much pit, not enough acoustic brass). The mix was better on subsequent corps, although I wish the overall volume in our theater could have been a bit higher.

Video quality was much improved over previous experience at this theater. The video used to have some digital "stutters," especially when the camera was panning fairly quickly across the field. Last night, the video was stutter-free.

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Bloo and Cavies got the only applause in the theater I was at. Was surprised by this because a cadet honk who entered the theater chanting "go cadets", didn't even clap after the cadets performance.

General reaction from my group was that coats and cavies were the most entertaining.

Cadets drum line is amazing. But their show concept is kind of lost after the first few minutes. Thought they were standing on a cake tier. Felt sorry for violinist whose sound didn't work. Enjoyed last year more

Thought show would work better in Maroon n gold, felt black was used so they could get a few years out of the uniform lol.

Crown should have high guard and brass. Didn't like show as much as last year. Unless you know what your looking for the details will be lost if sitting in the stands. That's the risk of selling a story.

Surprised that phantom beat Boston. Thought that phantom had the most boring show they've seen in a long time. One even said this will be their hot dog corps this year. Did the guard even pick up a rifle? Lack of GE moments. Surprised they even scored that close to Cavies.

Coats were great. Wondered if as the season progresses the concept will tire out. Sort of like in 2011 when everyone saw cavies for the first time with the upside down tenors. By the end of season it had less impact. Need to keep it fresh as season progresses.

Edited by GREENBLUE
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Austin, TX south side theater, pretty full. Late arrivals all had to find seats in the first two rows or try to figure out a way to get to a few individual seats scattered among the crowd. Applause was fairly consistent and given for all corps at various times.

My initial thoughts aren't about the individual corps. Every single one had things to offer that are worth a whole lot of my time and attention, and probably my souvie money. My thoughts at the moment are about what I think is happening, overall, in this activity:

It's clear to me that Cirq de Soleil, modern dance and performance companies pushing their envelopes, the spread of pageantry arts like WGI perc and guard, and lots of other ensemble performer acts and activities are becoming more accessible to more people due to social media and video content on demand. DCI seems poised to capitalize on this new public interest for intriguing, intense and awe-inducing performance spectacle. This is a good thing, and I like it. However, one has to wonder if this will be a problem for judging criteria. Then again, judging is fun for an audience - if people pay to see shows and keep coming back, then it's a win win.

So, I guess I'll add a small blurb about each show:

Boston - love the windmills, enjoyed the music, like the new unis a lot, fix the pit balance

Cavies - I'm diggin' the look and the bravado, please finesse the emotional pace of the show

Phantom - sweet ensemble writing, guard was as elegant as always, not sure I'm sold on their theme yet but it's June

Cadets - me during first half: AWESOME!, me during second half: what's going on? And violin tuning could be a big music issue all year. Started fine, but something changed midway through. (mic issues aside) It was grating. I like the concept and sound of it, but not if it's going to be out of tune.

Bloo - new unis made me notice individual differences in movement a LOT more than I would if they were in a more uniform-like uniform. Not sure that's good, but I like the style they chose. I like the show concept, will enjoy this music a lot.

Crown - huh - I should like this show a lot, so why don't I? 2muchcoffeeman summed it up well - felt lacking in build up for me. Again, it's June and I very well might change my tune come August.

All in all, I'm happy about where things are going. Corps seem to be getting better at selling the theatrical aspect of their nature and character. I hope this translates to broader audience appeal outside of the initiated.

Edited by TerriTroop
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I liked Steve Rondinaro's reference to "beautiful Chester, PA."

Either Steve had his tongue planted firmly in cheek... or he's never been to Chester before. :tongue:

That got a big laugh from some at the theater in Langhorn PA

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