MikeRapp

Blue Devils, if anything, has a strict and innate understanding of the structure of live event production. I worked in the music business for over a decade, and the way you design a live concert is the same, regardless of music style. BD gets this at a molecular level, everything ties into the basic structure of the show and supports each act. Which means everyone understands that each act has a purpose, and a focal point that pays it off and into the next act. Crown is similar to this, it's a big reason they have climbed so quickly to medalist. Academy seems to understand this as well, and with more talent and consistency with people sticking around, I think they will continue to climb in popularity. But no one does it like BD.

I love the idea of the guard dressing the same as the players. But you really need to spread the field and work on ideas that don't get jumbled. That's not been a strong point for this corps in the past, in my opinion. Of all the corps, it seems to me that Blue Knights have the potential to establish themselves as a challenger for a medal every year. I just don't know that it will happen with concepts that are so intentionally unapproachable. I don't see how they will ever compete with BC, BD, Crown and SCV for GE scores. Maybe they don't care about that, which is awesome. But man they can play with anyone, and when they land concepts that walk that line (as they did two seasons ago) they are one of the best in the activity.

I certainly get that many are emotionally tied to the traditional red and black of BAC, but I love this new uniform concept and I think it will be spectacular on the field.

Agree, and that's not a bad thing. Kudos to BAC for stepping out and challenging their own status quo.

Got a feeling we are going to see a major uniform change during this show.

Is the Bluecoats show titled n0n st0p?

I'm just glad they're moving away from their recent past commitment to strictly fine art-driven concepts. They did them all well, but their execution ideas were becoming too similar for a corps that has sought to define the activity creatively.

Someone is bound to eventually use 3D projection on drum corps. Why not BD?

Well, look what I found on Vimeo. It's called...Metamorphosis.

They have done a terrific job, but last year just felt very been there, done that. Execution was off the charts, almost literally, but I was ready for something more unexpected. One thing about this concept is that it is literally built to evolve as the season progresses. So they are all but telling us that they are going to add to and evolve the production as they go. And knowing them, they already have some amazing visual concepts up their sleeve.

I dig it. Finally moving away from the literature and arts expression (not that that was bad). So many awesome things could be done with this visually. Gonna be an awesome show!

WTH with those cuffs?

Glad I saw Bluecoats last year in Nashville. It's a show you almost had to see live to appreciate.

Cadets' problems in 2016 had nothing to do with when they announced, but what they announced.

But this is the Egyptian Army Band, playing for heads of other nations! I mean, really, how about tuning your instrument! This sounds like a carnival band!

http://scoopempire.com/video-egypts-national-anthem-destroyed-army-orchestra/

Would be very surprised if they chose two California corps. My guess is Bluecoats and SCV.

By PR, I assume you don't mean Phantom Regiment... :-)

The main creative forces at Bluecoats came from Star, and then moved on to create and run Blast!.

In case you didn't know, there is significant Star DNA at Bluecoats as well. Maybe even more so.

Thank you for this. Also, saying placement doesn't matter to Cadets implies that the competition itself isn't really "right." It also implies that Cadets is somehow "more better" than those other corps in which "it's all about placement." If anything, one thing that is very unique about DCI is the altruistic motives of nearly everyone involved at every organization. There isn't a single corps in which placement is more important than teaching and the overall experience.

But it appears as though you are implying that, because they won GE and visual captions, their musicianship was scored higher than it should have been. Bluecoats, to my ears, were obviously and clearly one of the three most proficient musicianship Corps on tour. I don't even think that's honestly arguable. They played in front of every judging combination out there and rarely scored below fourth in any musical caption. They were likely the most consistent Corps on tour last year.

I can criticize judging as much as anyone, but to imply or just outright state that the judges were unduly influcenced by the crowd reaction and scored technical areas higher as a result is angering. This is the same crap levied at Cavaliers and BD when they started to win gold with shows that were designed largely around a visual concept.

I personally think it is absurd to claim that brass was "relegated" to a supporting role in this show. If anything, brass soloists dominated the musical performances. Blueoats have purposefully designed shows to maximize General Effect. That is the whole point of this scoring system. Whomever wins GE likely wins the gold. Everything should "bleed into" everything in a great show.