Galen Posted July 30, 2009 Posted July 30, 2009 Just got back from a rainy Centerville show. Here's the review of tonight's event, complete with some pictures. I was center of the field, about 15 rows up so not the best place for watching drill, but boy did my ears have a good time! A nice new addition to this show is individual cushioned seats for people sitting in the center section. That, combined with the annual bake sale that the Centerville band folks do, makes this one of the best shows to go to. Cincinnati Tradition started the event off after a 20 minute rain delay that may have cost me a cell phone. The corps is very small this year (only 13 brass, 5 battery, 2 honor guard and a DM, no pit or guard). I thought they were going to be a minicorps based on those numbers but they did do a bit of drill. They had a few nice moments in their Mangione show with their bari and sop screamers. That's about all I can say about them. Cascades were the first world class group to perform, and after their opening statement I was surprised that they had been scoring so low. They were certainly better in person than what I had seen on the FN broadcasts. Guard had some very nice accent moments throughout the show with flags and branches. Hornline had a good sound to them and are getting better with their exposed passages. I think there's still time left for them to catch Pioneer this season. The crowd gave them a very good ovation after the performance. Mandarins: This show seemed like a contrast in parts to me. I enjoyed the first half very much, but felt a little let down by the second half. It may have been due to my low vantage point, but there were several times throughout the show when the high brass sounded weak on some of their exposed passages in Festive Overture. Libertango remains my favorite part of this show and they performed it very well tonight. PC: They had a good run of their show, but it seems like this is a definite notch below Mandarins in terms of design. There are some staging issues with the sopranos and soloists all throughout the show, especially in the ballad and 3rd piece. They are getting better and did seem a little cleaner than Mandarins performance-wise, but I don't think they have the vehicle to catch up this year. INT had to pull out of tonight's show after they realized they were allergic to rain. Best wishes for a speedy recovery. Troopers took the field very slowly and very deliberately, with the energy of a corps that wants to be out on the field on Saturday night of finals week. I noticed tonight that they're starting to incorporate some Phantom-esque acting into their pre-show, with several horn players huddled around "campfires" (stacked horns), 3 sopranos marching back and forth on sentry duty on side 1 and another horn player going down the line and doing an old-school inspection. Great stuff and I hope they continue to add to it. Performance wise it felt like the corps had a few hiccups visually. No blowups from members, but there were some big forms that weren't quite locking in as they should. Unfortunately I was too low to get the visual impact from the big impact points in the ballad and the closer, and it also looked like they took out the double sunburst from the end of the opener that had gone in in Atlanta and replaced it with something else. I also had some trouble focusing on the actors in the guard and hornline that were acting out the various characters from WSS- they seemed to get lost in the drill from time to time. Crowd gave them the second-best reaction of the night and I can't wait to see them again in Columbus tomorrow. Academy looked to make up some ground on Troop tonight, but came up just a little bit short on the scoresheet. From my vantage point, they had a cleaner performance than Troopers, but again don't match their level of design or variety of playing within the show. Their hornline started the show off with a big punch of sound in the face, but didn't vary their level of sound much of the time, leaving it all feeling a bit flat. Guard has some extremely nice visual touches in this show, including pulling some yellow flags out of nowhere during the ballad and switching to beautiful white-grey uniforms during the closer that make a nice contrast with what the rest of the corps is wearing. Talent-wise, they have what it takes to keep up with Troopers, but Troop's show has a lot more depth to it and I predict that's what will keep them ahead. BLUUUUUUUUUUUUUUEcoats were the only non-western D1 corps at tonight's show, and the crowd made them feel extra welcome. They've had one of my favorite musical books of the season and it was a real pleasure getting to see it in person not once but twice (they played the encore). The talent level is quite high, the amount of depth and nuance in this show is matching the level of performance. Percussion wise their drumline is just as intense as they've been in the past few seasons. They add some bleeps and bloops in the pit, including some accordion sounds in Wabbits. I loved the flying pig flags in the 2nd piece and noticed the helmets on the flagpoles at the end of the ballad- possibly saying "goodbye to all that, now we're going a completely different direction with our look". I made the suggestion to their souvie workers after the show that they should make some of those blue and white undershirts to give to fans to wear underneath their own shirts at finals week and reveal them as the show goes on. It would certainly be a new twist in audience participation. As for the undershirts, they're now spreading all the way through the corps, from the guard to the percussion to the horn players and now even to the DM himself! Judges better watch out or they might wind up getting a makeover... Blue Devils were the last corps to perform. While I still don't "get" the show, I was absolutely FLOORED by the level of sound coming out of the hornline tonight. Big, bold, brassy, everything you want and expect from this hornline, and despite all the involvement with the chairs, they sound like they're standing still the entire time, no matter what they're doing visually on the field. No way they don't win brass at finals in my opinion (not that that's exactly a bold prediction). Quote
Galen Posted July 30, 2009 Author Posted July 30, 2009 Bluecoats: Apologies for the substandard pictures. Donations for a Nikon D100 with high-speed telephoto lens are always accepted. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.