Cleveland1

Interesting thoughts here. My two cents. I think the uniform is fine and does not need to be updated or changed in a big way, but i wouldnt mind if it did (then again i'm not an alum). Ive only seen this year's show once so i am not too familiar with it, but it does seem to me that the cadets have lacked the same powerful design as angels and demons had. There was a story, it was explicitly shown on the field, the corps were actors not just performers. Side by side and this year's the power of 10 don't have the oomph i think. Meanwhile i found 12.25 and american portrait to be rather silly. But the cadets don't need to really change their ways to still compete at the top, i don't think anyone wants the cadets becoming BD in terms of style. They just need to put out better shows, which is easier said than done. In regards to staging, i thought that side by side is a good example that the cadets can do it well. There is a fine line that corps like BD walk between clutter and well designed, i dont want DCI to become a field of as many props as there are people. In essence, i think that the cadets just need "that show" in order to win. Most corps need "that show" in order to beat BD. Cadets had it in 11, crown had it in 13. "that show" is hard to come by and force to happen. But the staff at cadets are capable of making "that show" and their members are capable of performing it. Will next year be "that show"? What will" that show" look like now?

This hasn't necessarily been a typical season so far though, even this early. Typically BD is about 4 points ahead of SCV early on, this year its been less than 2. In the east 3 corps have been near each other, with 2 swapping firsts head to head, and the third not too far behind. Typically when the corps meet, the tops line up and things fill in from there. While its certainly possible that at Minnesota there will be a 3+ point spread between 1 and 4 (bluecoats will be in Colorado) do we think that this is likely this year?

Understandable, ive only seen the cinecast in theaters and the Stanford show on dci live. Phantom and BK have two stellar shows in my opinion. While i felt cavies left much to be desired, ive heard its greatly improved and is a world better live. But i think its that the top 5 could, potentially, each win it all. With the right changes, panel, and performance. But no one 6-8 is really in the neighborhood to medal, and usually i think it tends to group like 5-6 and 7-9 instead of this gap between 5 and 6.

To me it seems like the top 5 are just so good right now, this year and last, and no one is falling. But the cavies, phantom, and BK are on an upswing too. Just not quite at the level of the top 5. Look at where BK and Cavies were in 2012,and where phantom was after rennick then shaw left (yes 2012 phantom placed 3rd but they've been wildly inconsistent overall). Im willing to say that while the 1-5 quality is as good as its ever been, the 6-8 range is better than it has ever been.

Nothing will beat the godfather part blue.

Do you mean performance caption (guard, brass, percussion) or do you mean GE, Visual, and Music?

typically we can tell which 2 or 3 shows will be contending for a title by this point in the season. but so far these top 5 are championship quality shows, that if performed well enough would probably win in a different season. The questions about who will win depend on judging, and with it, captions. Crown and BD will likely be 1 2 in brass (in some order). Not to say things cant change, but lets be realistic. And someone out of SCV, Bluecoats, and Cadets will be 5th. In percussion we have 4 percussion juggernauts in SCV, BD, Cadets, and Bloo, and crown isn't too far off anymore. Crown will likely get 5th here though, with how the others have been performing. But whether SCV, Cadets, or Bluecoats can get first here will really make up for their brass score. Not to mention of BD manage to get 4th in percussion, that will influence their ability to win this year? yes, but how much? Color guard is another messy situation. BD has been the standard in color guard for a while now, but Crown is besting the east in this caption and SCV have even topped BD in a show, and have been narrowly behind at other shows. With CG being a weak spot for the cadets this season, they really need to improve on the other corps here if they want the gold. VP is mostly cleanliness, and i believe that SCV and Cadets have the most room to gain from cleaning than the others. Just my opinion, but with how SCV's drill is designed it definitely looks messier when the members don't hit their dots than i feel BD or the bluecoats. Meanwhile the cadets strength is typically marching excellence, and when this caption is weak their scores do suffer. Their uniforms definitely don't hide any mistakes, and cleanliness in this show will elevate it. If these corps continue to compete at this level, each regional will be very exciting, especially the recaps. Which i imagine will be very jumbled and no corps will be getting straight 1s, 2s, 3s, 4s, or 5s.

I will say my top 5. no honorable mentions. All of these shows i have only seen once, which is less than I wanted but DCI Live is what it is. If your favorite show isn't on here, do not take it personally. 1. SCV. Man, what a show! being a fan of SCV I am always afraid going into the season that the show will just fall flat with me. Well, another year this is not the case. Not only is the show entertaining and difficult, they are also playing the heck out of it. But the highlights to me are still the visual design, and man that rendition of pure imagination. I just want to hear it again! The brass is probably the best we have heard from SCV in a long while, and the percussion is as good as ever. Their use of a theramin in their show (live) is a ballsy move, and they throw their sound around like the bluecoats at times. Probably the most electronics we have heard used from SCV, which to me shows how a corps can use it well even while using it sparingly in the past. And the decision to use a theramin in the pit is something that isn't talked much about, but definitely adds another unique sound to this show that we aren't getting from anyone else. 2. Blue Knights. While the show concept seems disconnected from what is currently on the field, this is probably my favorite blue knights show that i have seen. Its very melodic, which in prior years it seemed that they were trying to distract from a weak hornline by emphasizing visuals and concept. Now they are embracing the brass and are being rewarded for it. Its a very moving show, musically, as compared to last year where it was moving in other ways. visually it is what i have grown to expect from the designers from BK, which is outstanding staging and movement. I want to have more to say about this show, but its really more of an experience or a feeling to me than the other shows, and its hard to put into words. Because.... 3. Crown. Where last year their show was arguably distracting visually and scattered, this year they went all in the other way. Minimalist design but powerful and face kicking music. That doesn't mean they aren't telling a story with their show. Crown has really gone for being the intellectual corps with their show designs lately, and I enjoy that. (not to say that other shows aren't intellectual, nor am i saying that i don't enjoy shows that aren't intellectual, and so on....) This show is one that I am probably most excited to see develop throughout the year, as the closer can push them over the top and turn this into an instant classic. Right now its not right there. But its a show I am glad Crown is doing, i feel like its only a show that crown can do with how freaking difficult this book is. Almost like this team has been waiting years to do this show and to get the right members in order to pull it off. 4. Blue Stars. I am typically mild to cold on their shows, especially lately. I always come into the season wanting to be pleasantly surprised, well at the cinecast I was blown away by the blue stars. Unfortunately I only saw this in theaters, because this show seems to have a lot more going on than we saw. Visually the blue stars are on point and look great with their traditional stars look, while really pushing the envelope visually. Fortunately the stages look like stages, unlike the matrix/bourne show where the skyline wasnt up until finals week. The juggler was definitely a treat, but I want to see all the other things going on. I just want to see this show again, badly, and thats why it lands 4th on my list. On top of this, they come out with the Blue Stars sound that we know and love from 2008-2010. 5. Bluecoats. Oh bluecoats. If only I could have gone to Akron to see the show in person, maybe it would be in my top 3. the cinecast likely did not do the effects justice, as they throw their noise from side to side. But i was definitely impressed by this show, the guts that it took to design this show, and the ability of these members to perform it this well so early on. It is hard not to compare this to Tilt from last year, because we definitely would not have this show without the success of Tilt. And overall I already prefer Kinetic Noise to Tilt, despite having less obvious visual references to the theme. Although the hamster balls are fun to watch, and how the MMs interact with them is evident of great design. Tilt had some great moments in it that stand out, but Kinetic Noise has many more WOW! moments spread throughout the production that to me give it the edge.

I think they were referencing the midwest because that is where most of the shows have been. Also i think most, well i do, consider BK to be a "west coast corps" because they almost always tour the west coast to begin the season. maybe thats just me

Its fun, but also tough since not only are we now comparing shows with partial panels to ones with full panels and partial panels (there hasnt been a full panel east of the rockies since Akron on the 20th), we are also comparing scores from 3 different shows. With SCV and Bluecoats not having any competition in their tier. That said, it would blow my mind if these scores could stay this tight for the next month

It was a joke about the banners, though i'm sure it helped. Moving bannerless displays around the field mustve looked odd. But about the judges not giving anyone an 80 yet, it looks that way but the only way they could insure no one went over 80 is if they knew what scores the other judges were giving. And if that is the case, we have a massive score conspiracy on our hands.

Thats how it will probably be. Of course Phantom and BK could end up being in the madison/blue stars tier too. Unlikely, but it could happen. Im personally hoping for BK to get 6th though.

Scores are up SCV 79.5 Phantom 74.4 The Academy 67.5 Golden empire 52.8

I remember when Madison did their rendition of empire state of mind on like july 3rd and the city had fireworks going off in the background (unintentionally). That was awesomely unexpected and captured on video.

Brass wasn't judged, one of crown's strengths. And hasnt crown been doing well in Proficiency?

Amazing what putting the banners on the field has done for them

We could also divide dci by eras. 70s being the classical era. 80s the romantic era. 90s the modern era. And tge 21st century thus far being the postmodern era. Although we may be transitioning to the post post modern era or meta-modern.

The internet gives people a power they didn't use to have... The power to make their complaints known every day to hundreds, thousands, millions of people! But its just business as usual. Overall i think thar the complaints this season have been limited. Maybe because its been mostly confined to a couple threads instead of the biweekly (as in twice a week not every other week) thread complaining about electronics or narration or what have you. Anyway, in most activities people complain about the current state of affairs and instead boast about their day. Hell, people bring this up when talking about politics and religion as well as other sports. Its just sortof what people do. I'm as ardent of a defender of DCI today as a "dino" is of their day. Is anyone really "right" though? Certainly there are some specific issues that there can be right or wrong that some are just very stubborn to concede. But overall, if you prefer the sound of drum corps in the 70s,you probably aren't going to be convinced that the quality is better today. If you are a fan of non marching body movements, you probably aren't going to look back and feel very moved by DCI back in the day with rather rigid formations and marching. If you are a pit player today, you probably aren't a fan of the marching pit of yesteryear. If you weren't a fan of microphones when they were first introduced, you probably are still not a fan today and don't like electronics either. If you are a traditionalist about uniforms, you might not be a fan of how most corps change uniforms every year, and not only colors but also the style of the uniforms. And people will do what they can to defend what they perceive to be better. When really its just a different era with different expectations and rules. The designers have the same job, to work within the confines of the rules to create excellent shows. The marchers perform what they are told to perform to the best of their ability, and learn valuable life lessons along the way. And hey, at least i haven't heard about booing after performances like in the last few years!

The moment we've all been waiting for. Being an SCV fan i want to see BD win considerably (by a point or so), so I can feel more confident in Vanguard's prospects of medaling and hopefully competing for the gold. Being a fan of DCI and good old fashioned competition, i am hoping that BD and Cadets are within a half point of each other and Crown is no more than 1.5 behind the leader.

BD is still narrowly ahead of SCV in almost every subcaption. Which is nice for the gap between SCV and BD, but the problem becomes when bloo, cadets, and crown are introduced. Will rmthose spreads widen? Judges dont like to give out ties, and typically give room so they aren't forced to give higher scores than they deserve. So while i am 100% hoping SCV does top BD this season, i am also cautious. These spreads are narrow but will likely widen not shrink next month.

Any updates?

Doesn't 2012 count?

I agree, but i knew they started adding it again in 2011 since it wasn't present in ballet for martha or bartok. It seemed very intentional for 2011's show. And 2012. 2013 seemed forced, and last year's didn't really stick throughout the season. I think i only ever heard it at a few fan network shows, Stanford and Colorado i think. If its worked in, i like it. If its not, its fine. Getting too worked up about what specific things must be in a show in ordet to make fans or alumni happy is a slippery slope that limits creativity.

Lots of good stuff to see tonight. How big of a jump will crown make, how close will the cadets be to 80, crossmen-boston-troopers are competitive with each other.

The vanguard yell was in 2011, 12, and 13's productions.