MikeRapp

Dunno...have to see them live before I make that call. It's quite a ride, for sure.

I really wish they would move the ballad up to the front, and have a mellophone do the solo. Just seems like a natural fit. that said, after seeing BD, I think this is another Bluecoats year. This score just smokes and you know they will change the ending around Nashville as they did last year (can't wait, I will be on the 15th row). I love the BD ballad, and so much of their book, but I don't get a total picture vibe from this show as I have the last few. Crown, don't see them contending with vocals being so central to their show.

Question: is there an easy way to see who is Facebook live-ing a performance?

It very well could be this year. From what I saw of Academy's first show, I don't think they have anywhere near the difficulty in book or drill to get to finals this year. Obviously it seems BAC is going to be there, though.

Maybe they will burn the drum major at the stake on finals night.

Some people are, but it's not like last year where you basically knew they were going to be the talk of the entire season. Nothing wrong with working in their groove, that's what BD has done for the last decade or so thematically. The most important part is what everyone can see, which is that the kids love being in the corps and performing the show. That just exudes from everything Bluecoats does now, and that makes every performance fun to watch.

Was really hopeful that Cadets would come out of the gate with another Angels and Demons, so we would be talking about how great it is instead of the above. I don't see how the third uniform concept ever got past the first meeting. I realize that things change and evolve as the season progresses, but I was hopeful that it would be how all the other corps evolve, meaning adding to and layering. If Boston comes out with a show that blows us away, look out below. Suddenly I am not looking forward to reading this thread as we go forward.

I like the effort to be more broadway-like in design while still remaining Phantom. Cavaliers have done the same. Some of the stuff seems built to read from a great distance, but will look pretty exaggerated up close, but that's the nature of theatre.

This site was also started by a few very hard core, very inside Cadets people, many who are still very active here. It's their corps, so they obviously want to talk about them. And they have access to a lot of inside info that we don't get from any other corps. i wish all the corps were as interested in social media as Cadets are. Or, maybe not!

I would say Bluecoats have moved their entire rep to freeform in general. That obviously means embracing some of the basic concepts of jazz, most notably soloists.

Totally understand. There is a lot of jazz in Bluecoats now. But to have a corps that did jazz in a way that frankly anyone would recognize as jazz is what I'm referring to. Not goofy or sappy, but big and innovative. Maybe I'm stuck in LaLaLand right now musically...

I don't know that it's a criticism, though. Online is becoming a huge aspect of all live activities. Just not sure a stage this massive, that is flat, is working well for them. Would have been interesting, perhaps, to have it be on a diagonal so you had different soloist staging areas from front to back. It even took me some time to realize the stage was a jagged line at all.

Yeah, I'm not convinced it is wise to split the field in general, esp with a prop that is as large and foreboding as theirs is. I wish they had sloped the stage forward more. Even at a fairly high level you really couldn't tell it was a jagged line. It definitely won't read at field level.

I understand what you are saying, I really do, but I think you know what I mean by jazz.

Cadets, specifically George Hopkins, are controversial and very verbal. They invite arguments and differences of opinion. Cadets, like them or not, are very open about what they are doing, and that is a strategy that no other corps really uses. I hate to say it, but also, Cadets have long been a heavyweight in the activity and are slipping of late. That brings out the critics. And, frankly, a lot of their program decisions have not been all that popular or successful. They're sort of the Dallas Cowboys of DCI. Everyone either loves or hates them, but regardless, they're always in the news, in part because their owner is always loud and controversial. Cadets also are one of the corps that has been there from the beginning and has always pursued leadership in the activity in general.

Understood. There is no question (or at least shouldn't be) that this activity is becoming a "GE" activity as opposed to a mostly technical exposition. The challenge for DCI is to keep both sides fully relevant and important to high scores. We oldsters can bemoan the loss of the old days but without eyeballs, without butts in seats, and without sponsors, DCI disappears. I bristle when people downgrade Bluecoats for being a visual show. They smoked most of not all the field in playing for much of the last three seasons. They are playing an enormously complicated book. Yes their drill is geared toward GE and not toward executing a series of traditional, technical skills—but so what? Kids want to be a part of a show, not a clinical exposition. I am concerned that we are creating a have and have not world, though. The fact is, from a financial and logistics standpoint, only a small handful of corps can put a Bluecoats type of show on tour. I don't want to see finalists have to do things that are obviously a full step below the top corps from a staging standpoint only because of money. I realize, of course, that the answer to that is ultimately to increase the size of the pie, and that means releasing the limits on the corps that can wow the crowds and sponsors. It just does sting a little seeing Madison and Phantom struggle in this new era.

I don't agree with the concept of showboating. It's about creating a show that is entirely focused on the overall (general) effect on the viewer/listener. It's not about marching faster and playing louder anymore, and that's a great thing IMO. Look at the crowds coming to these shows. And look at the kids lining up to audition at the corps that are going in this direction...and contrast that with those that are still stuck in the previous model. It's all about talent and commitment to communicating the concept. It's what BD has perfected, it's what put Crown on the map, and it's what Bluecoats are reinventing. If you didn't think last year's Blue Devils show had deep stories, then you missed it entirely. Same with Crown's Inferno. Look at Academy and tell me that's "showboating;" that's just ###### good concept, story telling and sold out execution among the corps members. It's not about deep stories vs shallow stories, it's about having a great idea and executing it at the highest possible level. That means the kids have to totally buy in. We are seeing what happens with ###### or ill conceived concepts that the kids don't get or believe in, vs. the ones that are very well conceived that the kids totally sell out to communicate. This is the difference. It's going from a two dimensional concept to a three or four dimensional concept. Corps that can get that and do it are going to have a shot at medaling—and selling thousands of t-shirts. Those that don't are going to see audition numbers dwindle, and staffers growing frustrated with their inability to mount any momentum.

I will say this: I don't know why we don't have a jazz-focused corps anymore. Right now, a jazz corps that was a big sound concept as a whole would KILL in GE.

The ballad seemed right out of the Blue Devils book, as did a lot of the staging and drill concepts. That's not a bad thing, just an interesting observation. Now I can't wait to see what BD puts on the field, to see how they might reflect what has been working for Bluecoats.

Those five are going to be serious contenders this year. Would love to see BK make the leap we have been anticipating for the last few years.

If the show was this rough, and they still won by two points, we are likely headed to another BC/BD race. Four up on Cadets is a huge gap for Day 1.

I saw and heard some BD in tonight's Coats show. It will be a fun show to watch evolve, but the shock factor of the last three seasons wasn't quite there w this show. They will likely medal again, not sure they will beat BD.

I wouldn't call it a step back, but not much change from last year.

If ever there was a corps that is a victim of expectations it is Cadets. And deservedly so. They were the pinnacle of the idiom long before it became populated with similarly elite organizations. They are held to the highest standards, which of course Cadets always welcome. thanks for this, George. Very interesting and informative.

While I disliked last year's theme from the first time I saw it, the reality is it's all in the execution of a story. That said, Cadets have struggled to move beyond the "faster and louder" era. There seems to almost be a stubbornness to their show concepts, we will give you what we want, not what you want...and then when people don't like it, they go into panic mode, which results in someone dragging mannequins onto the field. The overall quality of the top 10 corps now, in every respect, means you have to put a cohesive fun show on the field...and march fast and play loud...or you won't have a chance to medal. I am very confident that Cadets will figure it out, they just have too much history and talent on their side.