pudding

Bloo was not on fire tonight like I've seen from them in the past. I definitely think that the electronics issues has a psychological effect on the performers.

Also, I find it absolutely abhorrent that Crown is not being penalized in Music Analysis for their first minute of music. Bach, especially a fugue, needs to be absolutely perfectly aligned vertically, but there is tearing between the first brass pod and the marimbas, the second brass pod and the vibraphones, and the first brass pod and the second brass pod, and it only gets fixed when the drumline enters with the third brass pod. It's BACH; a Music Analysis judge has no business letting those things slide when they would disqualify you from passing your freshman jury in any conservatory.

At the live show in Chester, 2/3 up and on the side two 48, the hat effects with the differently-colored inserts that mirrored the guard equipment colors were actually quite effective. They were never remarkable to me on video, but at the live show I found myself drawn to them.

The new ending is, in a word, garbage. You have this fantastic final chord, you break down the Crown into a pseudo-scatter, everyone stands up and claps, drum major salutes. Then the brass puts their horns down, the drums start playing, and the horns wind their way to some kind of BD-esque circle, and they elevate someone (I think the vocalist, can't quite remember) into the air. And then that's it. I sort of get the idea of "playing after the show is over", but it's just so, so poorly executed that I can't possibly give it any credit.

Musically, I enjoyed Crossmen's show very much. They have a lot of dynamic nuance that is beginning to get phased out of many top-tier corps' design vocabularies, and their sound is extremely well-balanced. That said, I can't buy into the visual design at all. There is seemingly no relation between the guard/props and the music, or the theme of the show. "Enigma" might as well be about the visual program itself; why were these design choices made? It's an enigma... Sorry, I'm not buying it.

Bluecoats' visual design is superior to the Cavaliers, in my opinion, but their execution is far below what the Cavies are putting out. If Bloo manages to clean all of their hyper-exposed dance and body movement, then I don't believe that the Cavaliers can catch them. That's a huge "if", though, and if they don't then I can very easily see the Cavies beating Bloo in visual. Musically, though, the Cavaliers' book doesn't hold a candle to Bloo's. The Cavies' book never seems to finish a musical idea, and revolves (hehe) almost exclusively around a series of gimmicks, in a show that's full to bursting of gimmicks. Again, though, the Cavies are executing at a higher level right now; they're "selling" their gimmicks better than Bloo is executing their better-designed music. At this point, it comes down to: Will Bloo clean? If they do, then they can set their eyes ahead of them. If not, then they have hungry competition behind them.

You forgot the Cavaliers. Regarding BD, I think that, as always, they are absolutely nailing their performance; they are the most mature and talented kids on the field this year by far. Design-wise, I'm not 100% sold on the back half of their show, and I have criticism of their old standby visual choices. What will hold them back, if anything, will be the design, and if other groups can clean up and reveal their own demands, because while BD's demands are certainly there, I think that other corps have higher demands that simply aren't being met yet.

I thought that the intonation of the Bluecoats' ballad soloist was very good tonight, staticky speakers notwithstanding. He was really flat in the Zappa trombone feature, though.

Tonight I felt that it was very difficult to evaluate brasslines, because when there was goo and/or electronic reinforcement, the sound was artificially loud and hard to discern, but when those things were lacking (and hence there was just the natural sound of the horns) it sounded way too quiet to distinguish quality. I would say that the Cavaliers definitely deserved 2nd in brass tonight, they had a very powerful mello line (and, as someone else pointed out, a very good center of tone). However, even with them, there was a LOT of artificial volume inflation. The Cadets play very well, they just don't play enough. If they played more, I think their brass scores would be higher. They also need to dial WAY back on the goo, it's loud to the point of being offensive.

My scores: Bluecoats: 91.9 Carolina Crown: 91.8 Cavaliers: 91.0 Cadets: 88.7 Phantom Regiment: 84.7 Crossmen: 81.65 Actual scores: Carolina Crown: 93.15 (+1.25) Bluecoats: 92.825 (0.925) Cavaliers: 92.45 (+1.45) Cadets: 90.50 (+1.8) Phantom Regiment: 86.35 (+1.65) Crossmen: 84.80 (+3.15) In general it seems that I am more critical than the judges are. My only big differences in terms of differential were Bluecoats over Crown (I think that the GE gap should be wider) and Crossmen (I slammed their visual program, where the judges didn't).

Just got home, sorry for the delay. My primary reasoning is the visual package. Musically, I think that Crossmen are actually a little bit better than Phantom this year. However, the visual program for Crossmen is just so inaccessible and seemingly unrelated to their music that I can't justify giving them any significant credit in terms of visual design. Phantom's visual program, while not very clean, is at least clear in its tie-in with the show theme, and their integration of the guard and horns in the visual program is a step above Crossmen's.

Cleanest show I've ever seen live is 2014 Blue Devils. The cleanest show ever, in my opinion, was 2002 Cavaliers. Sure, their drums had some mistakes, but other than those few blemishes the whole corps was spotless.

Cadets: When they play, they play excellently. The drumline is playing some really tasty stuff, and the brass is very powerful. However, they play only sporadically, between vocal features (which I will admit are nicely sung, and true to the source material. I just want to hear less voice and more brass). In addition, they are by far the worst offenders of goo, to the point where I couldn't help but say "holy s***" several times during the show". It's way too high, and completely detracts from the power of the brass. The very last chord is great, and then there's a huge synthetic bass that ruins it. Visually not very strong, lots of drill dirt. I shudder to think of all of the bruised shins from blind marching around the pews. My score: 88.7.

Cavaliers: I'm not a fan of their constant bashing over your head of "WE ARE MEN LOOK AT US BEING MEN" but they do it very well. Guard is extremely talented, drumline has some nice gimmicks. Front ensemble is not notable. Brass was very nicely balanced, though they had some major goo. Overall, my impression is that I don't like what they do, but they are doing it very, very well. I don't like so many vocal samples. My score: 91.0.

Phone problems, sorry for the delay. Bluecoats: Big static issues tonight, I think out of the side 2 front on-field speakers. It really distracted and detracted from the overall effect of the show. First hit is not as big as Crown's, primarily because of being more front-back instead of side-to-side in terms of location. Goo is definitely there, including in places that aren't expected (like as a rhythmic bass line instead of just as boosting the low end of an impact). Non-goo electronics blend is very good, primarily because of the on-field speakers. Lots of slipping tonight, attributable to a wet grass field and the high velocity demands of the feet. The turn backfield was different than I expected, I wanted more 2015-raque playing with space, and instead it just gets played out of the left speakers. The low note after the front field is very satisfying, though. Most of my other impressions of the general effect of the music and visual have been said elsewhere, and tonight didn't really change any of them. My score: 91.9.

Phantom Regiment: Biggest takeaway is that the balance is all over the place. He spoken words are way too loud, the tutti brass statements are way too quiet, the front ensemble mixing is all over the place by typically too loud. Visually, I appreciated their integration of the guard and brass in terms of body work, but when the brass was marching, there were noticeable mistakes all over. Thematically, I think I got the show, but it was not as compelling as, say, Faust. Their sound was only marginally bigger than Crossmen, which was disappointing. Their frontline mics were almost unnoticed in terms of sound levels, except for a few times when it was obvious they were boosting. My score: 84.7.

Carolina Crown: Brass is powerful as always, although I noticed some uncharacteristic, very small holes in their sound at a few moments. Opener triple tonguing was a bit out. The props behind the front ensemble are more distracting than I expected. The yard line gag is nice, but it's not developed into anything. The Bach in the beginning was phasing pretty badly both between the brass choirs and the brass and percussion. Vocalist had a rough night in terms of intonation and sound levels. Balance between the vocalist and brass needs to be addressed in the ballad. They don't use goo all that much, but when they do it's very noticeable and it detracts from the moments that they don't. They have a new percussion break tag at the end, which in my opinion adds nothing to the show. Drumline is improved in general, although still noticeably dirty in spots; front ensemble is mixed so low that they may as well not be there. The best thing about this show is the brass, and then everything else (including design) takes a big step down. My score: 91.8.

Crossmen: Very nice musically. I got nothing out of the visual program. I appreciated their dynamics and balanced brass sound. Battery had some interesting material, front ensemble less so. In terms of GE, I didn't get much out of the show. I think there were hints of an "imprisoned" theme at some point? I didn't understand the green or the balls. My score: 81.65.

Don't worry, the audience stood, albeit with confusion as to where to address their respect.

2/3 up on the side 2 48. Beautiful night.

I hear and understand what you are saying (and appreciate your civility while doing so). That said, there seems to be a one-sided impetus of understanding regarding eras; young fans are expected to understand and appreciate older drum corps, and are criticized if they are not, while the converse does not apply nearly as heavily against older fans. If a young fan came on here and trashed 1983 Cadets as garfield trashes Kinetic Noise, there would be a s****-storm the likes of which has never been seen. All I'm doing is advocating for the educated and informed younger audience in the face of what appears to be an "accepted" hidden bias toward older fans against younger fans.

For someone who claims to appreciate the relative perspective of posters, you sure do like to marginalize the younger crowd in favor of what you clearly think is the superior older crowd. Ageism at its finest.

We get it, you don't like the Bluecoats. You don't need to trash them at every opportunity in every thread. Is Kinetic Noise the only show that I love? Of course not. Among others, my favorites include 1980 Bridgemen, 1983 Cadets, 1989 SCV, 1989 Phantom, 1991 Star, 1992 Velvet Knights, 1993 Star, 1995 Cavaliers, 1996 Phantom, 1999 SCV, 1999 Blue Devils, 2000 Cadets, 2000-2008 Cavaliers, 2003 Phantom, 2006 Phantom, 2008 Phantom, 2008 Crown, 2009 Crown, 2008-2016 Bluecoats, 2010 Cavaliers, 2010 Phantom, 2010 Cadets, 2011 Cadets, 2013 Crown, 2014 SCV, 2014 Blue Devils. Is this list more heavily biased toward more recent shows? Yes, because I'm only 24 and my tastes are more aligned toward more recent design aesthetics. Does that mean that I have no appreciation for the old style? Of course not. But this thread was about my singular favorite show, so I posted about my singular favorite show. Stop assuming that because I'm young, or because I only marched recently, that I have no knowledge or understanding or appreciation for old school drum corps.

Anyone attending: Should I bring earplugs this year? I typically like to hear corps unfiltered, but this stadium is just so #### loud, and apparently there's a noticeable increase in the loudness war this year.

Disappointed that SCV won't be here as they have been in previous years. I wanted to be able to see all of the top corps live (I had already written off BD because they're never at this show).