MotoSurfBass

They better... Bloo set the bar VERY high last night.

First things first... my theater was the unofficial Allentown, PA theater showing the Premiere last night... the AMC Center Valley 16 at the Promenade Shoppes at Saucon Valley. The crowd was mostly Cadets friends and family with a mixture of Buccaneers people and local HS kids as well. The crowd was VERY welcoming and clapped for all of the groups. It was a fantastic experience, and I'm seriously considering going to the Prelims event now as well, even though I will be attending both DCI East shows in person the week before. Now, on to the corps. I will be doing them in order of finish: 1st: Bluecoats- "Jagged Line" 72.300 Hellz to the yeahz, folks! My biggest concern when it comes to the Bluecoats is that when they have an extremely popular show that charts them higher than they've ever been before, they ALWAYS seem to do a sort of "Part 2" show the next year, to diminishing returns (2011, soooooorta 2015, etc.). This was my biggest fear heading into the show tonight, and within a minute of them starting, all my fears were gone. I had seen the show poster and description before leaving, but had no idea on the uniform. One of the big factors in last year's historic victory was that they caught the world off guard with their "out there" costuming, massive, colorful props, and inescapable groove to their show. It was a tough task to replicate that this year when everyone knew what was coming now (especially with the similar source music), but son-of-a-gun they pulled it off! The Music: I will admit, the early parts of Psychopomp didn't hit me as hard as I was expecting it to. I'm a sucker for that song (and Thank You Scientist in general), and the melody seemed a little muddled at times. It was MUCH clearer when they used it as a tag at the end, and I ate that ish right up! Grow Til Tall was haunting and wonderful, a top 3 musical moment of the night for me. They were talking about the percussion playing from under the stage during that section, and I certainly got hints of that, but it kinda got lost in the sauce. I highly anticipate it being much clearer seeing it live in Allentown. Zomby Woof is fun as hell, perfect for the closer, enough said. One Study, One Summary was the weak point for me, musically, but that's not saying much, as it was still lively and engaging. Every section felt sharper compared to early last year, ESPECIALLY the snares. Maybe it's because they toned down the echo effects, but it was a lot clearer. This show is musically a LOT more conservative than last year's bombastic party, and I think it will work to the Bluecoats' advantage this year. The Visual: HO. LEE. ####. I said last year that the biggest impact the Bluecoats' 2016 show would have in the future was not the costuming, but the incorporation and usage of 3D drill. Tall props were no stranger to DCI, but "Down Side Up" really explored the potential of tall props as more than "stand on top." With "Jagged Line," that idea begins to come to fruition. Not only was the stage used for a TON of different ideas, but it also miraculously didn't get in the way of any other drill that was on the field! The wide open pit allowed for a 2014 Bucs effect with a front field push at the end (which I and the other 2014 Bucs members in attendance certainly appreciated ). The whole package looked tight, controlled, and insanely polished for June 22nd. They could make little to no visual change for the rest of the year and still be right up top in the visual caption. Additionally, after last year's "clean feet" debate, I can tell you for certain that the feet are already MUCH cleaner to start than last year. The tempos are a little more manageable, and it looks sharper as a result. My only complaint? Ya gotta add some color to this show, possibly in the corps proper. There are times where the stark black-and-white palate works to great effect, but it can also turn into a muddled mess rather quickly. The most notable instance of this was the tight horn dance block during One Study, One Summary. I lost most of the moves in a muddle of white, and the black did not help to differentiate members. A splash of blue on the uniform SOMEWHERE could help prevent that from happening. Overall: I'm going to say this now, and stick to it throughout the year... IF THE BLUE DEVILS DON'T LAP THE FIELD AT THEIR FIRST SHOW OUT, THE BLUECOATS WILL WALTZ AWAY WITH ANOTHER CHAMPIONSHIP THIS YEAR. UPDATE EDIT: BLUE DEVILS LAPPED THE FIELD. IT'S ON. Where last year was a surprise party that rode the fan-favorite coattails to victory, this year's show is a more controlled, conservative evolution of the styles the Bluecoats popularized last year. Ultimately, this is massively beneficial to the Bluecoats, as they have the fun of last year's show without all the outrage over a perceived lack of cleanliness. It will take everything the Blue Devils have for them to not lose back-to-back championships for the first time since 2005-2006. The gauntlet has been thrown down HARD. Next up will be the best show about nothing ever made, Carolina Crown... (Seinfeld fans, don't @ me)

This will be GREAT news for Cadets Winter Per... Oh.

I expected no less from you.

Are the Blue Stars putting this in their show too?

Probably a little late for that now since most shows are already on the field, but I'm sure the sentiment is certainly appreciated.

So... Blue Stars are pretty much in a pattern of doing music from Vegas shows now? Interesting...

Other than Prokofiev, that's all music from Baz Luhrmann movie soundtracks. Kissing You and #1 Crush from "Romeo + Juliet" Young and Beautiful from "The Great Gatsby" Nature Boy, Lady Marmalade, and Diamonds from "Moulin Rouge"

A quick look on their website under their Friends and Family Day page would reveal their pieces pretty quickly, FWIW. Behind the Suit An Ideal for Hope, by Hans Zimmer Lex, by Michael Daugherty Symphony No. 1, by Samuel Barber Also Sprach Zarathustra, by Richard Strauss Original music by Buccaneers designers Mark Lortz, Johnny Trujillo and Mike Lalli

For a song about global nuclear destruction, a single repeated vocoder note replacing a drum track is ominous in the most perfect way. If it's not to your taste, try this version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5dRY_EHMjU

I ALMOST SCREAMED WHEN I HEARD THE OPENING BIT OF "O SUPERMAN." I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE THIS SHOW AND YES I KNOW I'M YELLING THAT'S HOW EXCITED THIS REP MAKES ME YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Excited for this one! I LOVE LOVE LOVE Die Moldau, always thought it would be fantastic on the field!

I've kept a log of this, setting it up to start back in '72. I'll post the results sometime soon, but the tiers are for the most part pretty much what you would expect.

Fair enough. Not sure which would be worse though... having dark shoes that don't match the white accents at the end of the arms and neck, or having white shoes that stick out like a sore thumb at the end of a dark uniform.

Honestly, I see the potential in the Spirit uniforms... unfortunately, the ill-fitting bowler and the gaudy white gauntlets, shoes, and high collar kill any other good vibes I had. P.S. Hey Colts, THAT'S how you do a color to black fade!

Which was why I liked that very same post.

Cadets playing [REDACTED] is probably the worst kept secret in east coast marching circles this winter. Everyone knows what it is, they're just waiting for pemission from the estate to officially announce, which at that rate means they'll announce it the day of the first show like Bloo did last year.

I had exactly one freeze last night, right as STRYKE was going on. According to Twitter I was not the only one. A quick refresh, and everything was back to normal. Quality was fine the rest of the night. I have no complaints whatsoever.

Any problems I have had with A Finals tonight so far have been wi-fi bandwidth issues, not necessarily feed issues. Shot selection has been OK, could be a little more proactive in switching shots, but I'm sure that comes with practice in time. All in all, I can't really complain.

Agreed. I thought the red-->purple-->black gradients and the two-tone plumes were ugly as sin. I preferred the simplistic Colt Cadets unis to them, and welcome this change wholeheartedly.

I can assure you that Highland Regiment is working on putting together a productive summer in terms of both public performances and recruitment. They understood the difficulty of going from publicly announcing the formation of the corps to passing evaluation in a span of only 6 months, but persisted nonetheless and ultimately missed passing by the slimmest of margins. They actually had an option to have the evaluator return in April to see if the membership numbers were progressing, but ultimately decided to take a year to build the foundation and come out swinging in 2018. They will not be going radio silent this summer, and while I'm not yet aware of all the details, you will likely see them at some public events in the Somerset and Hunterdon County areas this summer and at band shows in the fall.

Gonna go with a wild card here... It's gonna be the Guardians.

For Crown, I'd counter 2008 with the climax of the 2010 intro (Mahler 2). The build into it was executed perfectly, with several fake-out hits. When the big one finally came at the announcement, it peeled several faces off.

Bull.