wvu80

It's late and I'm tired, 2.5 hour drive home after the show and I have to go to work in the AM, so here's the quick review. This are my impressions without seeing the scores or recaps. Columbus, Ohio. Fantastic line up. Weather about 95 degrees at 7:00pm. Large HS stadium, large knowledgeable Ohio crowd. Very polite crowd, little talking during performances. Man and wife beside me were watching their first show of the year, their second show ever. Their son was a Madison snare. Good organization and a well run show. The aluminum bleachers were tough on the back, but good seats were available for $25 at game time. Seats were $25, $22 and the $19 seats helped fill the stadium from the 40 yard line out to the end zones. Parking was free and highly organized by the HS, and the glossy 10-page FIRST CLASS program was free. The two bottles of water I paid 5 bucks for was not free. Madison Scouts: WOW. GREAT show, my personal favorite of the night. No, they won't win DCI but they showed some innovation, played great music, and just in general did a GREAT job. I like them the way everybody liked Santa Clara Vanguard last year. The new short sleeve unis are well designed, you can't even tell they are short sleeved due to long white gloves which go up to the elbow. They used 20 contras, but they lacked the "Madison sound" which is traditionally sop heavy. The sound was balanced, but not loud, and did not have the screamers Madison has had in the past. I wonder if they will turn the lads loose later in the season, or is this all they have? They have a big sound, and I bet they attract new fans who can go away from this show humming the music. I can't say that for some of the other Big Boys who were here tonight. The guard was too effeminate in their dancing for my taste, too much trying to put on a musical (I suppose Slaughter on 10th Avenue) which meant prancing about the field and being theatrical. They should have been bad-### like in the Old Days with the killer attitude and precision gun spins but they just weren't. Still, this is a top 12 show, and I'll say 10th. Blue Stars: They did a Houdini show, and I would say they did the best job of the night pulling off a show using the corps and the color guard in combo. Terrific CG. They used boxes for Houdini as props and they used chairs to great effect with the Houdini CG escaping using straight jackets and later tied up with ropes. They play great and have a good show concept. My second favorite of the night, if not my favorite. Cavaliers: Their unis took a big step backward IMO after last year's great unis. The effect of the guard with those flowing coats is very much like BD's use of skirts last year. They didn't play very loud and they were a bit boring, doing some goofy marching with rubber legs that just looked dumb. The entire brass line picking up rifles was really cool, and they made good use of humor (hard to pull off on a marching field) with the chant from the movie Stripes with "boom chack-a-lack-a, etc." Very cute, good audience reaction. I really didn't like their show after that. I'm tired, so I apologize Cavs fans, I'm sure it's just me who is dull right now. Cavs had the best use of the HUGE speakers, 5 clusters spread from about 30 to 30. It rattled my cage 40 rows up, on the the 40 yard line with the huge low-end rumble, which was very effective IMO. Carolina Crown: Wow HUGE horn sound, with some beautiful playing in the ballad in the middle. I've been reading about their "tears" (sounds like "tare") in the middle with the horns spread from goal line to goal line, but there were no tears tonight, they nailed just about everything. I saw the "new" ending for the first time, and as usual for this group they played the heck out of it, but it left me a bit confused as it didn't seem to take me anywhere. No big ending here, at least not so far. They score BIG points for continuously spreading the corps from goal line to goal line, 100 yards apart. That is OUTRAGEOUSLY difficult, and very effective musically. Is this a championship show? Yes. Bluecoats: This is like a home show for them, and they really looked ready to play, great attitude, lots of energy on this 90 degree evening. I haven't read the results yet and I had to leave before the encore by Crown, but this corps should have won. They looked VERY professional, just like BD does when they absolutely take over a field performance and own the crowd. The drum line was stunning and they are really crisp with the playing. This viewing I noticed the brass feature where the drum line doesn't play for a minute of so, so they are probably not scoring big by standing, but they really add to the show at this point by staying out of that huge beautiful brass sound. You know how to score big GE points? Do a cheerleader-type lift of the guard girl front and center on the 50 as the horn line does a "ta-dah" to end the show. You know how to lose GE points? Drop the girl. That will work itself out later in the season, but I wonder how many points they lost (didn't gain in the build-up point system, same thing) when they dropped the girl? Early in the season, I said Crown had the biggest sound; not any longer, it's Bluecoats. Coats play loud and they play great, and their moving is non-stop. If you didn't know, it's open mike night with the Coats as their soloists play into a mike and the sound is digitally enhanced for effect. The boys can play, but the sound is really different and pleasing. Personally I'm not sure I like the idea of changing the sound, but it is effective. The way the 2 mikes are placed, I'm wondering if they amplify the sound of the entire corps? By the symmetrical placement of the mikes, I would guess they do. I would place Bluecoats in first over Crown, then Bluestars over Cavaliers. Madison was a flat out blast from the past with the most pleasing music and old school stuff made modern and relevant. This is the best Madison corps I've heard since 1988 (I missed some of those mid 90's shows, btw). Madison was well worth the $25 cost of admission. Great show tonight.

When I voted just now, Coats had 574 total votes. I think the key is that when us drum corps people vote, we send out an invite to all our other non-corps friends to really cast a wide net.

Teal Sound has a lead guitar, bass guitar, and two giant keyboards (can't remember the brand, I think Korg)

Reds over Cubs 3-2 in 10.

I like ALL the endings Mr. JW - Santa Clara Vanguard marched in. (check his sig for all the years) Other than that, the Garfield Cadets Z-pull was the classic "best ever" ending. I know that was a long time ago. You had to be there.

You are all discussing Phantom, but what you should be discussing is Bluecoats. They are phenomenal with EVERYTHING the battery does. Playing, moving, stick visuals. They are the REAL DEAL. -WVU 80, Official Cheerleader for Bluecoats Drumline

"Why in the world does someone go to a drum corps show just to ##### and look for the negative?" ROTFLMAO!!!

Hmm, that may not help. You kinda had to be there, to focus all your attention on the right part of the field, if you know what I mean. Cadets 10 has a single male dancer. Suncoast had a single female dancer, with incredible dancer's legs. Huge calves. There's no comparison.

Crown is. They are the loudest I've ever heard in June, and the loudest this year with the limited number of corps I've heard. To those of you who haven't been to a show this year, then you should know that LOUD is back in style.

FYI Cadets scored a 79.3 in Mn tonight, Cavies 2 points behind that.

I accept that explanation 100%, no questions asked. Thank you for taking the time to clarify for those who did not understand.

I know it's really hard for people today to understand that Star 93 show. Mr. Naked Eye's views come the best to help others understand what it was like to be there. I also heard Star about three weeks before finals. They had the old Roman Images uniforms, and frankly the corps played the music like they weren't sure how to interpret it. I remember feeling outraged that drum corps "fans" would boo any corps, but that really did happen, and it was embarrassing. But then I heard Star about a week before finals (I didn't see finals) and WOW! They had the new creme colored uniforms, tempos were up, the volume was up, the INTENSITY was way up and I remember thinking at the time they were really SELLING the show, which I didn't think they did before. Maybe it had to do with the booing, I don't know. Halfway into the season they weren't all that exciting, but at the end of the season the show really was special. I haven't seen SCV 10, so obviously I can't comment. I would say you have to separate the way the two corps actually were, from the sometimes biased opinions of DCP posters.

Who will you see on July 10th?

Well stated Mr. Cron. This is by far the best June shows I've ever seen. Usually around this time the kids are trying to find where their spots are on the field and remember all the notes. These corps have taken the field and are performing their hearts out with rich, full sounds and lots of confidence, in particular, Crown, if you don't me saying so. And the shows I've seen (Crown, Cadets, Bluecoats and Phantom) are all winners that should be within a few points of the top come August.

Actually, I know a few good ones. It wouldn't surprise me if you belonged to that minority. But as a group, it's been my experience that the only thing that band directors can agree on is that all the other band directors don't know anything, especially when it comes to music. Can I get an "amen" from the choir on this?

I for one don't believe you have a music degree. I'll have you know that I'm pretty sharp myself when it comes to detecting these things. You are open minded, friendly, have a good sense of humor, and are tolerant of other people's opinions. In short, you just aren't arrogant enough. Nice try, though. +++ Clarification: I love Mr. Cron's posts. I was trying to be clever with my wit, but I'm not sure if I came across correctly. I'm afraid I was only witty by half.

Open ended topic. Pick the top 3 loudest, top 4, top 6, whatever, it's your call. Loudest horn blast, loudest opener, closer, overall, loudest from 20-to-20, it's up to you. Rank 'em. Your opinion.

I think this is a cool topic. :) Not that it matters...

Yes. These are the best corps performances in June I have ever seen in 30 years of watching. Normally the June shows are not worth the price of admission. This year they ALL are.

This may be the first time EVER that Bluecoats are now the frontrunner representing the midwest. It will be interesting if they can stay on top of their perch, and conversely we'll see how Phantom and Cavaliers do coming from behind. I saw Bluecoats show and their wins over PR and Cavs is no fluke. The win over BD that one year WAS a fluke, but not now. They have got all the pieces, and if you've read my comments, you know that after I saw them they have made me a HUGE Coats drummline fan. If a corps is the frontrunner in the midwest, that automatically puts them in the running for the title.

Thanks! +++ Non-sequtor section: Did I mention Crown's horns are laquer (gold looking) rather than the traditional silver? And Cadets spent a lot of money on those Herold trumpets to start the show. I don't think it adds anything to the show. The people playing them, now THAT adds a lot to the show!

At the Charleston show, I think they plugged right into the outlet at the stadium. Other than that I've seen corps with ultra quiet gasoline generators they park away from the pit, then they can provide their own power using long extension cords +++ I don't think we've discussed electronics. To my ear the Big Boys seem to have toned down the ultra loud kb's and such so you don't even notice them. Spirit kept chanting something, "iron forge", which I found annoying, but at least it was minimal and subtle. Especially for Teal Sound, your "rock band" analagy was right on the money! Unfortunately.

Teal Sound: My first view of this corps. They had a nice complete show, big sound. I was less than impressed with the two guitar players, one lead, one bass. Then there were two HUGE Korg keyboards right behind them, with a drum set in the same area. I found the lead guitar playing distracting to an otherwise nice show. And I bet Teal gets dinged for something I really liked whic is great mello section. They could play, and had a beautiful sound, like the Cadets of the 80's. Spirit: OK show, loud horns. They played great songs, but it certainly did not sound like the Blue Devils. With the little Delta on the breast of the jacket, from the stands they looked like members of Star Fleet academy. They were conspicuous marching about a dozen or so horn holes, which made the drill look dirty. Glassmen: Got the first standing 'O of the night (from myself as well). This is the loudest Glassmen I have ever heard, with nice power and good sounding horn line. I've already pounded the male guard for wearing teal tights and skirts, so I think I'll leave that one alone. Ditto for the screaming Spirit staff member. He looked young, he just needs to see how the Big Boys act and let his corps be the center of attention, not himself. And just so I can end on a positive note, I loved the sound person for Spirit. She was wearing a black outfit, not shorts and flip-flips as a previous corps' sound person did. She looked very professional and blended into the background without drawing undue attention to the electronics or the sound board. Good stuff. :)

Do you know why West Virginians use a tooth brush? To brush their tooth. +++ Back to the subject: I LOVE not having judges on their field. I come to watch drum corps, not to watch judges walk around after the corps has come to a halt. I know I'm in the minority on this, and that's OK. Normally I'm not a big numbers guy, but in this case I'd also like to check recaps, to see if I'm the only one who was totally blown away by Bluecoats battery. It's a show in itself. I watched specifically just the battery of Coats and PR, the last two corps. PR drums stood around A LOT, while Coats were flying all over with spectacular stick tricks CONSTANTLY. I honestly don't know where they could put more STUFF into the notes they were drumming. I'm not wrong about this.

Help keep West Virginia clean. Throw your trash in Ohio.