Brian Porter-Szucs

If you haven't seen this Bluecoats show yet, you are in for a treat. Edgy, innovative, a little weird (but in a good way).

The problem is that I've seen the show three times now (twice in person), and it doesn't seem to be getting all that much cleaner visually. But the music--wow, as always.

The Cavies' trombones work really well, I think. They don't seem like a gimmick, which was my first thought when they brought them out. Musically, they make sense.

I think it is the computer, because I'm hearing the same thing. Comparing shows I've seen in person vs. streaming, there seems to be some muffling. Or maybe it's just my speakers.

The way they work with color in the guard is amazing, from the ghostly grey at the start to the rainbows. Best costume design I've seen this year.

I would have never guessed that this was an SCV show if I had seen them march in rehearsal without uniforms. This is a totally new style for them, and I love it. A few crowd-pleasing tricks from the Cavaliers' book, some creative use of electronics like Bluecoats -- all enough to add interest without going overboard. This is not your grandfathers' Vanguard!

Best SVC Opener in years!

I love Phantom Regiment, but this is definitely an off-year for them. Musically they are pretty strong, but the show design left me flat (just a subjective opinion), and there was a sloppiness I've never associated with this great organization.

Agreed 100% I thought nothing could get more annoying than last year's Cadets, but this is indeed worse. And singing, too! She does have a good voice, though. The corps is doing fine, but it's hard to even notice them with the distracting acting and narration.

Just for the fun of it, I went back to the start of the 2014 season to see which corps had improved the most over the course of the year. I took the first recorded score for each World Class corps, and then compared it to the score they received in their final performance. This turned out to be quite revealing, because not only did the Blue Devils set a new record with their amazing score last Saturday, but they came further than any other corps this year when measured against their own season-opening performance. I think this measure is in some ways even more impressive than a corps' overall placement at the end of the season, because this is a marker of how responsive they were to the judges' comments and how hard they worked to resolve any problems. It's possible that I've entered some incorrect numbers here; please correct this list if there are any mistakes. Final Score First Score Difference Blue Devils 99.650 73.200 26.45 Cavaliers 93.675 67.300 26.375 Blue Knights 91.150 65.150 26 Santa Clara Vanguard 96.075 70.150 25.925 Blue Stars 89.600 63.800 25.8 Colts 85.350 60.400 24.95 Carolina Crown 95.675 70.800 24.875 Cadets 96.875 72.100 24.775 Bluecoats 97.175 72.800 24.375 Crossmen 86.225 62.200 24.025 Phantom Regiment 91.425 68.300 23.125 Troopers 84.775 61.700 23.075 Boston Crusaders 88.950 66.400 22.55 Madison Scouts 87.575 66.200 21.375 Pioneer 68.850 47.500 21.35 Spirit of Atlanta 81.550 60.300 21.25 Mandarins 78.150 57.900 20.25 Pacific Crest 78.900 59.450 19.45 Academy 81.875 63.800 18.075 Cascades 72.250 55.100 17.15 Oregon Crusaders 80.100 66.000 14.1 Jersey Surf 75.800 62.600 13.2