Row 25

I think Cavies won because the drill and color guard were incredible. Of course a music GE judge that was out to lunch (my opinion) and a cushy spread from the field visual judge didn't hurt.

Like others have said, it sounded great with a few hundred brass players at finals, but did not sound impressive the couple of times I heard it prior to that.

I had to cast one more vote for Nimrod from Enigma Variations. Phantom's percussion battery could enhance this like no other drum line based on what they did with Ave Maria this year. This piece could not only give Phantom bragging rights for the best ballad of the year but also the best musical moment of the year for the second year in a row.

I for one enjoyed the Cadet's show this year. I didn't LOVE it however. George is free to do whatever he wants, but I think his time would be better spent starting now to help create a great show for '07 than proposing changes to the activity. Good luck in '07 Cadets. We will all be looking forward to it!

Where is the single finals ticket located?

Phantom, the darkest dark horse, will likely be the fan's favorite all 3 nights in Madison, and can only hope that the judges come over to the dark side by finals. I don't see them coming in first on Thursday, 10% chance on Friday, and 30% chance on Saturday.

I'm betting Cadets take fourth rather easily. They've earned their reputation for making the greatest strides right up to the end.

2% chance.

The Cavaliers' horn line has the best blend, intonation, tone, and just plain lack of errors of any horn line this summer in my opinion, BUT (also in my opinion) the most impressive thing a horn line can do OUTDOORS is play loud. If I were listening to them indoors while they were seated on a stage I am sure I would LOVE them. But I do not love them outdoors. They actually made me mad at their encore performance Friday night when they started Stars and Stripes mezzo piano and brought it home mezzo forte. I'm getting mad again just thinking about it. The judges seem to agree that this is the best approach. I don't really care who wins, but I do care that rewarding this approach will make drum corps less appealing to me and I would guess at least 95% of drum corps fans. Thank you to all who at least TRIED to blow my face off this year!!!

IF Phantom wins it will be because they have... 1. the best drum line 2. the best music book 3. the most GE packed show for the second year in a row

Enjoyed the review. Even though it was short and to the point, I thought it was the most insightful I've read this summer. I agree that it is very possible that a different corps could win each of the 3 nights in Madison.

1. Tie, Cavies & Phantom 98.425 3. Blue Devils 98 4. Cadets 97 5. Bluecoats 96 6. SCV 94 7. Crown 93 8. Boston 92 9. Blue Knights 91 10. Madison 89 11. Spirit 88 12. Glassmen 87 Cavies win visual and brass. Phantom wins GE and percussion. Blue Devils win guard. Audience wins the best finalists corps ever. DCI, order extra gold medals.

I was there last night. Cavaliers and Phantom are both GREAT. Cavaliers have a flawless show. Attention to detail is impeccable. Phantom doesn't perform as cleanly as Cavaliers, but their show was more emotion packed and they display a wider range of effects than Cavaliers. Cavies' brass is lush and flawless like their show, but I wish they played louder in general. Cavaliers' show is accesible to the masses and rely's heavily on the humorous portrayal of robots. Phantom's show is darker, but they nevertheless connected with the audience better. The crowd gave Phantom a much louder and longer ovation. If Phantom gets a little cleaner it will be a close race. Congrats to both. Cadets have improved immensely. The crowd seemed to immediately break into buzzing conversations as soon as their ovation had ended. Would love to have been a fly in the middle of each of those. Right when the Cadets' show started the person sitting behind me said under her breath, "Oh no, they're doing that door thing again this year."

Cavaliers need to drum better. Phantom needs to clean and make the story line crystal clear. Devils need to make their show seem more fresh and innovative (hard to do in 10 days). I think it will be close. Phantom has the easiest road to improvement. My prediction is Phantom, Cavaliers, Cadets, Devils, Bluecoats. Cadets have rid the show of some of the clutter, and even though I'm not sure what a lot of it means I'm intrigued by it all. Devils strong card is just how well they do what they do. I don't think that will be enough for a medal this year.

Enjoyed hearing your thoughts. I was there too. I agree that Phantom has the best shot at catching Cavaliers. And agree that Blue Devils were flat, just didn't have enough fresh ideas in the program. And I thought you were right about Cadets. They were great. Have made changes. Watch out Bloo and B.D. Everyone has said this, but the top 12 corps are the highest caliber ever. The Colts' horn line may be the best to not get to perform on finals night.