bgg80

But I just love this closer. Brilliant music and playing

Is it me, or is Crown having a rough brass run tonight? May be the audio on FN. Trumpets sound pitchy in the ballad, and I've heard a few tears in the ensemble.

That .025 gnaws at me :) Something about the two percussion scores on finals night in 2008....

lol -- Where are the 1980s Velvet Knights when you need them...

Can you summarize the key changes that you think will be game changers for this show? The ones I can see are a new dissolving company front in Appalachian Spring (like 1987), changing guard unis and brass cummerbunds, big tarps with different ethnicities represented, a narrator uni change, and new/added presidential quotes, talking over Appalachian Spring. IMHO, none add any mind-bending new GE to the program. I guess the only one that does is cranking up the tempo in the middle of the show. Love that. Classic Cadets. I think 2014 Cadets are outstanding across most captions. That's why they've been holding on to 2nd. I think they'll end up staying there, after some back in forth in prelims and semis w Bluecoats. I don't wonder about the talent in the corps, or the technicians on their staff. I do wonder about the creative leadership though. Ever since Angels vs Demons, I'm not seeing much innovation from their shows. Fast marching full of typical rotating lines, ample narration, clumsy props (giant blocks, huge stage) and virtuoso brass and percussion. But, not much pushing of any envelopes. I think, for me, the issue with this show is a lot of "empty calorie" packaging around an amazing core performance.

Narration/voiceovers during the final beautiful strains of Appalachian Spring???! Nooooooooooooooo!!!

Oh I don't know ... Imagine telling the kids in BD that their show is "crap". Critic is something like .. hmmmm ... let me choose a typical one ... "BD has an easy drill" BD looked fantastic last night. They continue to add subtle changes to their show ... Adding crisp, high octave hits, and several new, interesting musical and visual accents. I do think BD will be challenging 99.15. We'll see.

lol -- someone pull out the stopwatch .. although you've gone from saying BD's not playing and moving to just not playing anything "complex" while moving... except for 5 seconds. LOL Come ON buddy! Fantastic show by BD. Great book, visuals ... and I'd say the drill is fantastic .. particularly the entire closing number. And finally ... a show that fans can sink their teeth into. The last few years have been about esoteric excellence. This looks to be both about excellence and an entertaining show. It's going to be a great, competitive season. Cadets and Crown look outstanding as well.

Just watched the Crown preview show. I was impressed, particularly in how much they have on the field in early June. Usually the visual package is still catching up with the music. But Crown looks like they've worked really hard to get their "starting" full package on the field. The Brass line is, again, excellent. Great, quality sound, and clearly playing a difficult book. Lots of intricate runs, building up to recurring, big, major chords. Constant staple of Crown's style, regardless of the "theme". Guard looks just as strong as last year, to me. The clear facemask stuff seems a bit silly to me, but I suppose I see how it fits with the theme. I think percussion continues to be their weakest section (although weak is relative here -- still a top 5-6 line). I don't think the metallic stuff works well ... at least on video. Overall: Definitely a top 3 show. I will say with this production Crown is definitely starting to feel formulaic, but it's hard to argue with the formula solidified in 2013: High paced, lots of notes, opener with plenty of big impact major chords. Hybrid percussion/brass feature with impressive GE, particularly with the one ULTIMATE brass run. Lush ballad with LOTS of exaggerated, expressive movement, accented with two guard members showing love on the far right end. High-paced, lots of notes in the closer, finishing w big, fat, major chord. Whether 2013 or 2014, this is the same formula. Same order, just different theme and music choices that fit into it. Upon first video viewing, it doesn't grab me as much as 2013 did. But I'm splitting hairs. With that show, you knew it was top 2 vs here I think top 3. When I saw live at Stanford, I had a good sense that it would win. This year .. perhaps it feels too much of the same thing ... a bit stale. But of course, if I saw it live, I'm sure I'd have an improved perspective. Minor note: trampolines and frisbees just don't seem to do much. Random, and perhaps a bit goofy? Perhaps the most clear case of props for props sake I've seen in awhile. But to close on a very positive note -- a very impressive organization bringing together some VERY talented kids. The product on the field shows it. Looks like a great, competitive summer is on the way. I've seen one video of BD, taken from the 10 yard line. Hard to compare, but BD's show looks very interesting and FAR more accessible than past two years. Some great, smooth, classic BD style in it. Far less esoteric stuff. I'm very curious to see Cadets and SCV. The latter, I think, on source material alone, could be the sleeper this summer. Can't wait!

Congratulations Carolina Crown! A truly amazing, entertaining show. I'm really glad I got to see it live at Stanford this year. I loved how competitive this season was, all season long. I also enjoyed seeing such a wide range of shows, designs, styles and concepts. I think DCI continues to evolve and grow. Until next year!

Well ... Winning Semi's most certainly isn't everything. 2008 still hurts .... in any case, congratulations to Crown. Really is a phenomenal show! What a great, competitive season! Let's be honest though, I don't think anyone will be watching/monitoring tomorrow night and be supremely confident of either a Crown or a BD win. If BD happens to win though I would fear a riot .... Perhaps fitting of the 100 year anniversary of RoS :)

This has to be the best analysis I've read about BD all season on DCP.

BD was absolutely on fire! And a standing O at the end? Maybe they put electric shockers on the seats and pushed a button at the end of the show ;) One thing about this show -- it's very complex, different, and layered. It also doesn't stop. The corps goes from beginning to end, unlike Crown, which essentially plays four pieces with pauses in between. There's also no big, major chord, super loud close to a song that brings everyone out of their seats (including me). It's the kind of show that makes me go "whoa... holy $#@#" out of the sheer excellence of it. But I don't go "Hurray!!!!" like I do w Crown and SCV. I think BD pulls it out again tonight, but still awfully tight. Crown was wonderful. (although boy .. if BD did that ballad narration thing, they would be skewered...

I think these towers really detract/distract from what is a wonderful show. It just seems to hard to move them in form and get the intervals set. It looks like they are too big, and the wheeling is unpredictable and too difficult to control. Will say that it is the best I've seen them handle these things in all of the FN videos this season.

OK ... so first off, I was using quotes similar to how you were in your post. Capturing a category or consensus perception, not to directly quote a person. Sheesh I was simply responding to you post where you were essentially saying BD's CG was dirty, and you questioned how good they are because they don't throw balls or hoops like the Belarus rhythmic gymnastics team (haven't caught that on YouTube yet....), nor do they have strong equipment technique. I think you're wrong, but also tried to make the case that comparing design and execution of the two top CG's in DCI this year is very difficult, because one uses a new, avant garde approach and the other far more conventional. So let me try again: I completely disagree with your comments. BD's equipment technique looks excellent to me, including (and here I'll quote you) "heights, angles, catch positions, ensemble timing and pathways". They exhibit all in this show. In addition, they are best at movement in the activity, and they deliver loads of effect that perfectly suits this very different show. The judging community, who can't all be clueless as CG experts, apparently agree, as they have ranked BD's guard in the top 2 all season. Crown's guard is also excellent, and definitely does more of what I would describe as the conventional style of "framing" the show vs BD's more ... hmmm ... interactive approach. I think both are excellent. I think the balls are cool, and I don't think the guard needs to be an olympic rhythmic gymnastics team to be effective with them. They seem to use them quite well. Looks great in the beginning of the show. BD has a long history of introducing different equipment other than flag/rifle/saber, and relies more on great body movement vs spinning..... wings, ribbons, fans, etc. Innovative and new. That bench that the Crown CG couple sit on in the show is nice too (but maybe they can get more credit for spinning it around...)

Silliness -- BD spins plenty in their show, and they are darn good at it. They are also excellent at body movement/dance. I agree that their ensemble design style is different, and more ... individual-oriented. The don't have the "flag line" in the back doing everything in unison, and the rifles up front doing sequential tosses down the line. I think Crown's CG design is more conventional, but it's also amazing in effect and performance. I think BD is equally is amazing in performance, and the design is quite effective for their "out there" type of show.

Well ... I'm definitely pulling for BD, but think this is very much up in the air. Can anyone remind me what the tie-breaking rule is? I'm having flashbacks to 1996 and 1999....

And of course, Cadets are looking good early.

These two are just too tight and Crown way too good to call it in June. I also recall Phantom losing to BD consistently in early 2008 season, and .... Well ... We know what happened that year :/

Really? I'd like to see that, but also remember seasons like 1999 where SCV was soundly beating BD from June through mid July.

Recap geek out: BD total gap between content/rep and execution sub captions: 2.8 Crown: 2.4 Right now, with this panel, BD considered a slightly bigger potential show and more room to clean. Interesting that BD now skipping Monday and Friday CA shows. Assume they'll be adding closer and, of course, scrubbing away

BD 1st in overall GE, overall Visual and overall Music. Biggest sub-caption gap between the two is percussion. BD's content/repertoire generally a good deal higher than execution. Only CC content/repertoire scores higher than BD were GE Visual and brass (.1 each). With this panel at least, judges seeing a bigger potential show for BD

BD: 76.9 (GE Music, Vis Prof, CG, Mus Analysis) CC: 76.5 (GE Vis, Vis Ens, Brass) SCV: 73.55 (Perc) BK: 69.6 PC: 63.65 Man: 61.25

I guess we agree then. Small minority had such a negative vocal reaction to the scores. Apologies for misunderstanding the issue you raised in the first place :) No finger pointing -- I already said what I thought about Carolina Crown (the actual folks on the field). Amazing corps and a great show that can definitely win this year.

Hallelujah! Thanks! dci.org needs to look at their UI a bit...