2018 Tour Premiere

[ThirdValvesAreForWimps]

8 minutes ago, Jim Schehr said:

I get to hear it up close Monday. 

Will you be in Mason, Ohio?

[N.E. Brigand]

15 minutes ago, MikeN said:

Someone please tell me the song the Cavs sang in their closer. I’m dying here.

And now I see that Wainwright's song incorporates Ravel's Bolero into it, as Cavs did throughout their show.

[Jim Schehr]

Just now, ThirdValvesAreForWimps said:

Will you be in Mason, Ohio?

Yes 

[Terri Schehr]

7 minutes ago, pistolpete said:

Big crowd in Farmingdale NY. I thought Crown would edge out Bloo. First half of Cavaliers was great but second half needs work. Boston will be in contention all year.

Next year DCI should do away with showing highlight clips from the previous year and end the pre-show interviews BEFORE the the performance begins. Stop talking over the corps!

 

I totally agree with you about Cavaliers.  That first half is gangbusters.  Second half, less gangbusters. 

[ShortAndFast]

I liked Crown and Bluecoats across the board. Crown has an excellent music book, save for a boring ballad. Bluecoats have a fantastic music book, and are trying some really interesting things with their singer.

Cavaliers and Boston struck me similarly - clear performance improvements from last year, but sadly not as many design improvements. I though Boston bringing back the fire prop, but for like 75% of the show this time just in case you missed it last year, was a total eye-roller. I thought the Cavaliers brass line was a really pleasant surprise.

The only show I really disliked was Phantom. You know, after waiting 29 years, maybe they should have just kept on waiting....

Overall

- In general, everyone seemed to have backed off the amped brass, which was refreshing. It was especially interesting to hear the Bluecoats do a much more "unplugged" show.

- Seeing them right in a row, it really struck me that PR, Cavaliers and Boston had the same show. All are built around one familiar musical theme, that they keep bringing back in similar ways at similar points in the show. It felt very much like Hollywood movies that hit the same story "beats" at the same time markers, no matter what the ostensible theme of the movie is.

- Crown's costume is pretty well done. I also liked Bluecoats' "non-uniform" - very clear overall look despite everyone being a little bit different. Blue Stars with everyone in the same uniform was interesting, but mostly seemed to make the guard hard to see. I thought Boston's corps' uniforms were the worst of the night - I'm not sure what about purple spandex was supposed to suggest "shipwrecked survivor".

[mfrontz]

53 minutes ago, Terri Schehr said:

Theater was practically empty.  Drum corps interest is not thriving in my area of the world. 

We couldn't get into our preferred theater in Pittsburgh. Our second choice was 3/4 full. Good stuff!

[denverjohn]

Something on that tube place about Madera CA 6/19/2018.

[KVG_DC]

A few additional things I forgot in my previous post:

I'd put Phantom over Blue Stars mostly on their design at this point. The staging works so much better.  I think as Phantom cleans up, they'll remain ahead of Blue Stars. But I could see them in the mix with one another. Blue Stars seemed to have more fun tonight, although that's the nature of their show and perhaps being the 'corps to open the season.'

I loved Cavies corps wide singing. It seemed every bit a part of their character as a corps and the most effective use of mass singing since BAC did it for Red.

Crown has oodles to grow this show.  It seemed very incomplete. It's an aggressive show like Inferno sound wise and...I like that out of Crown.  I remember Inferno's opening hit live in Ft. Wayne and it was jaw dropping, like a series of punches to the face followed by the "Abandon All Hope" cloth which asked for a full throated roar.  Yet even early July, you could feel Inferno wasn't fully done story wise.  This show reads to me at its very start with growth.  They're definitely going to be using the beast rocker more, they're definitely going to be interacting with it as a corps in a way that tells their theme.  When that starts to come together, look out, this show will transform.  This has been Crown's design development since Inferno it seems, it just changes and grows through the entire season, we don't see the final product until August.  BD grows their shows this way too.

BAC has some great drill movement.  There's a bit where they're doing variations on a compass rotating in the drill and it's mesmerizing.  Recalls some of the kaleidoscopic stuff Cavies were doing in the 00s 

Speaking of...Cavies have their drill game back too. This Cavies show is great.  They need the new ending though, I'm half wondering if that isn't even their actual "early season ending" but something they tagged in there to be 'more done' for the premiere show.  Same goes for Phantom's ending, there's a need for something more than what they have.

Bloo. I'm gonna be listening to your show a lot this winter.  The false opening hit is clever but you need to sort out how you sell it.  I'd concur that it feels like this show has the 'least room to grow' in comparison to Cavies and Crown, but like I said, I don't care where it places in the end, thanks for bringing the jazz back on the field, I'll love it right along with BD's offering.

[BlueStainGlass]

4 minutes ago, denverjohn said:

Something on that tube place about Madera CA 6/19/2018.

Didn't know potatoes could record

[Forevergreen]

37 minutes ago, Huntington Mallets said:

https://recaps.competitionsuite.com/618bd260-2740-4d64-b16e-73446c6a8a4b.htm

Thank you !!!