blue_devil_fan

Interestingly enough, a thread about 3 weeks ago asked if you would boo the Cadets. I will be honest in saying I am very far from being a Cadet fan. But with that sad, quarterfinals was a very sad day for the drum corps activity. I can't begin to think about what the members of the Cadets felt like that night. There should be no place for booing. But with that thread from 3 weeks ago, I wonder how many people said they would never boo the Cadets, and then on the night of Quarterfinals, booed them anyways. It should never happen in this activity. Each member of each corps works way too hard to be put down like that. It wasn't Hopkins fault, it was the fans fault. They should have the intelligence to first understand the situation before they make rash actions.

I just watched the Cadets show again. It has to be my least favorite show ever. It is sad, because the music is awesome. But I can't get around that high schoolesque dialogue. I hope this doesn't turn into an epidemic.

You wouldn't be able to pay me to go to another drum corps show if that happened.

Okay, I'm glad I am not the only one. I just sent an email also. They better fix this, cause I am not paying for another Bluecoat APD.

1. Blue Devils 2. Cadets 3. Cavaliers 4. Bluecoats 5. Phantom Regiment 6. Carolina Crown 7. SCV 8. Blue Knights 9. Boston 10. Colts 11. Glassmen 12. Blue Stars

I am probably one of the people who dislikes the Cadets the most. Each year, I see a Cadets show, and I usually never enjoy it. I don't know why, I just don't like the Cadets. There are some years that I like from them, but most of them I don't. With that being said, if they won, there is no way I would boo them. It's such a lack of respect to the kids that put their heart and soul into the show. Anyone that boos any corps on the field should be ashamed of themselves.

I must say, I'm rather torn over this topic. I loved the stuff that BD did in the early years, but I also enjoy what they are doing now. I think DCI has just changed so much that in order for BD to win, they can't do what they did 15 years ago. If they resorted back to their roots in full force, they probably wouldn't be in the top 3 or even 5. I can imagine that it would be extremely entertaining, but it wouldn't be enough to win the gold.

I think the Blue Devils will win. Out of all the corps, I think they have the full package to win. Cav's show does not flow very well, I don't think the Bluecoats have enough in GE to take it, the Cadets show seems to be the only one that will give BD a run for there money, and Phantom is still 2 points behind. But, anything can happen, so we'll just have to wait and see.

My gut says that BD will win, but I'm going to guess that the Cavaliers are going to cut away at the lead BD had at Allentown.

I'm going to go with 96 or 99, I love both of those shows. I wish I could say 95, because that was just a bad ### show and is and will always be my favorite show of all time.

So here's my short review from Allentown for Sunday. Crossmen was very entertaining, they used a little bit of Birdland in their show, and their show is much better than last years. Their improvements need to be made in their sound, they're just not putting in a big enough sound compared to other corps. Blue Stars had a very nice full sound and overall nice show, I had them just above the Crossmen. The Colts were much stronger than I expected. I was amazed at how this corps has grown since last year. Each area of the corps seems to be improving each year and I hope the trend continues. The Glassmen were ok, I had the Colts over the Glassmen, which was the outcome. It seemed like I was hoping they would play Malaguena throughout the whole entire show, but it never came. The show was just uninteresting from start to finish. For those of you who are Glassmen fans, I mean no disrespect, I just didn't like their show. Blue Knights, well.....I loved their show last year, and this year, I love their show. The sound from the hornline sounds very mature. My only gripe about the show is that they're sitting on the ground just as much as their marching on the field. If they would lay off the kneeling and move a little more, I think they would be higher in ranking. But regardless of that, i still loved their show. Blue Devils, my favorite show of the night.......were great as I expected. Their drumline was smokin as usual and the hornline was loud and more powerful than any corps on the field tonight. It's interesting when they're playing backfield, and you can still tell they're playing loud. But overall, a great show. I do have to agree with a lot of other reviewers that they need to beef up the ending to their show. If they change it, it could make this show much better than it already is. Bluecoats were my 2nd favorite show of the night. This show just had fun written all over it. It's also the first time that I felt narration was used in a tasteful and fun way. I would tell you about it, but it's something you need to witness for yourself. It's just a fun show to watch. After reading plenty of reviews, I now understand what the buzz was about Bluecoats show this year, and it the buzz is well deserved. Finally, The Cavaliers marched on the field. I had very high hopes for them, they haven't been a disappointment over the past 6 years, and I was expecting a great show from them. The visuals were great, but the music wasn't. I was left bored throughout most of the show. The only thing that kept me interested was the drumline. The Cavs drumline is always a joy to watch. Unfortunately, I was just unentertained throughout the show. My rankings afterwards were... 1. Blue Devils 2. Bluecoats 3. Cavaliers 4. Blue Knights 5. Colts 6. Glassmen 7. Blue Stars 8. Crossmen Sorry, I don't have a review for the Cascades or Pioneer b/c I got there late. I was also mad at the end of the show because The Cavaliers did the encore. Since BD won, I was really hoping to get a chance to hear it again. Unfortunately that did not happen. I stayed and listened to the Cav's show, and the second time around did not make me feel any better about the show. I'll still give it a chance come finals weekend when I get the APD's. Also, for those of you who don't know, the Cav's marched their entire show tonight.

Yeah, great show. I've listened to the APD about a billion times now. And I'll probably listen to it another billion. I just can't get enough of it.

Madison 97 and 99 definitely. Jesus Christ Superstar was easily a crowd favorite that year.

Yeah, I doubt they fear anyone. To be honest, the top 3 was up for grabs. It was very very close. The only consitency was the Cav's on top for the last few weeks. I wasn't expecting them to be topped by either BD or Phantom. And why would BD fear anyone. They're the most consistent drum corps out there. They haven't been outside the top 5 in 32 years and haven't scored under a 95 in 15 years. I mean, that just automatically puts a bulls eye on their back. But should they fear Phantom, no. You look at Phantom, and they haven't been consistent. Some years they're good, some years they're bad. I do hope they stay within the top 5 for a while now. The past 3 yrs have been good entertaining shows. BD should be more worried about the Cav's. I mean, they've been the powerhouse since 2000. Yeah, BD has 11 championships, but since 2000, the Cav's have been on a roll. We're all just goign to have to wait until next year to see what happens.

I saw them at Allentown. I loved the blend that the brass had. It was just gorgeous. A lot of people around were kind of bored with the show, but I enjoyed the entire show. I wasn't expecting such a good show from them. I think i might go buy that APD.

I am a crazy BD fan. And as much as I love to BD win. I can't think of a better corps to win it all. I always think, "Wow, the Cavalier's can't top this show." And what do they do, but come out with a show just as interesting and fun to watch as the past few years. SO yes, GREAT job Cavalier's. Can't wait until next season.

Cause the Cavaliers are unique. I for one wouldn't want every corps to emulate what the Cavalier's are doing. Cause then it would get old really quick. The visual concepts wouldn't be as fascinating as they are now. If you went to a show and the drill designs were all the same, then people would start saying, "You see one corps, you've seen them all." I wouldn't really want that. It's nice to watch the designs from corps to corps. Yeah, the Cavalier's have been a power house for 6-7 years now, and I believe it'll continue for a very long time. It's up to the other corps to out design them. It's a hard task, but if you've payed attention this year, both BD and Phantom aren't far behind. And who knows what will happen next year. Cadets, SCV, and Bluecoats could pull something too. We just have to wait and see.

VAAAAAANNNNGGGGGUUUUUUAAAAAARRRRRRDDDDDDDD I saw them at Allentown and thought their show was amazing. Now.......one more night.......I am praying they can keep it up and pass the Cadets, since they're not too far behind them.

Finally, I got to see a show for the first time this year. I've had a little money trouble since i'm a college student, so i'm poor. So I was just glad to get to at least one show. And boy was I pleased with this lineup. The first corps i got to see was Crossmen. And I'm a little biased cause I have some friends marching there this season. The show was fairly descent and very entertaining. It was one of the more entertaining shows of the night. One thing I noticed was their closer was simply dirty. It was hard to make out what they were trying to play by the end, and it just seemed to end on a bad note. Spirit of JSU was quite a step up from Crossmen. There was a lot more impact in their brass than Crossmen, and you could easily tell. They had a lot of fun sections to their show. The drill got muddy from time to time. Sometimes it was hard to tell what they were trying to accomplish. Madison was next. I don't know why some people have a problem with their show. Their brass was awesome. There was a lot of exposed runs in that book and I'm really surprised their score wasn't a little higher. Blue Knights came on, and I really wasn't expecting much, and I was proven wrong. Their show was dark and fun to watch. The blend in that brassline was beautiful to listen to. It could've used a little more drive to it. But other than that, I was a great show to watch. Carolina Crown was next. Their show was ok. Had some nice visual impact, but the music i didn't care for too much. And the drumline didn't too much either, which I found kind of odd. It used to be that their drumline was smokin and ther brassline was lacking. It was completely different for this show. Santa Clara Vanguard.........what can i say. My second favorite show of the night. I loved every second of the show. The end of the show was great with them marching off the field. I just thought it put the icing on the cake. Bluecoats were next. Great first half, not so great second half. I don't know. The first half of the show was fun and exciting. I loved it. The second half was just bland. Their brass should not be .2 points behind BD. Musically i don't think their close at all. Secondly, the drum scores. There should be a much larger spread between BD and Bluecoats. I'm sorry, but the Bluecoats were super dirty tonight. Not sure why, cause I've heard the D-line has been smokin this year. But my brother and I were cringing at some of the sections because of all the dirt. I just hope that it was a bad night. Finally, I've been waiting all year to see BD. They didn't disappoint. They were in a league of their own. I haven't seen Cav's show, and since they've been beating them, they have to have another crazy show, cause Blue Devil's show was too much fun to watch. The first minute and a half was all percussion with some brass solos here and their. The drumline was just nuts. I think the drumline got a 19.5. Doesn't surprise me. They were really clean. When the brass played the Godfather theme, the whole crowd went nuts. Their sound was much bigger and a lot louder than the rest of the corps. I'm also glad to see that they have a lot of General Effect visually. The past few years their drilll has taken a back seat to the music. But this year musically and visually they're pretty even. This show was just fun and exciting all around. My favorite show of the night by far. Overall, I haven't been more pleased with a drum corps show. One of my favorite years was 1999, and this year may contest for that spot. There wasn't much I didn't like about any of this shows tonight. I'm very happy that all of the corps were able to put out some fun and exciting shows. I'm not understand much of the bad comments about some of these corps. I think they're all doing a fantastic job. I'm just glad myself that I can watch all of these corps and just enjoy them without giving harsh criticism towards them, because I normally do. Granted, I haven't seen the Cadets this year, lol. So I should probably shut my mouth. But that's a topic for another day.

BD 1996 Tess's Theme from #### Tracy and Trouble from Mission Impossible Love the ending to that show. It wasn't a full Danny Elfman show, but those two pieces I absolutely loved for that show.

I think in 2002, the sop soloist for BD cracked a note. I can't remember, but I know it was somewhere around or during "House of the Rising Sun" I think on finals night in 03 the Blue Devil soloist cracked then too. I'm not sure if it was Finals night or Quarterfinals, but i was one of them. Cadets in 2002. It was near the end. I think a mellophone player came in a little too early, and a lot of rifles were dropped that night. And Cav's 2001, right before the snare solo and the brass were in the 2 big circles, the one guy fell over. I just love how he took his good ole time getting up from it too.

1. 1996 2. 1995 3. 2000 4. 1999 5. 1998 6. 1987 7. 2004 8. 2003 9. 1988 10. 2002 Although, I've been listening to the APD of BD's show this year. And after I see them in Allentown, I can almost be safe to say that this show will move into the number 1 spot.

Don't for get about Bluecoats. They just beat Phantom by a point.