fifer

The two that irk me the most are: the chatty one sitting directly behind you who talks to her friend non-stop and not at a wisper. The second are the people who sit forward in their seats and block half the field for the people in the next few rows. Then, instead of asking them to sit back, the one in the next row sits forward.

So, anything new from Cadets? Seems so strange for it to be so quiet. Most years, we'd be on our third controversy about the next year's show by now!!!

Great to hear about some people's experience with these folks, but seems like a very young and inexperienced group. Maybe good if they stick around, but what can they do for 2019?

I really wish they'd bring back shows like 1993 and 1994. Both those shows had some of the best of Phantom performancewise while also having a fresh, modern feel. I almost think they could do either of those shows today and be competitive.

For those who forgot that Roman Blenski was on the board of DCI and was seen to be one of the people who would save DCI from the "horrible" people in the G7 corps. He did little to prove them right, both then and now.

Funny how many people, even on this site, praised Roman Blenski as a godsend less than ten years back when everyone was up in arms about the G7 movement. Roman even gained power when he became a DCI board member and was seen as one of the leaders who was going to save drum corps for the smaller corps. Just like how Boston was fighting for the little guy back then (even gave the finger with its G7 drill) and now only cares about building their finances so they can buy staff, electronics and props, Roman has turned out to be a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Actually, I find it totally opposite to the show's theme/storyline. They just finish the big push to the "found" visual and then drift back onto the beach where they all drown under the waves. Or maybe it does complete the storyline in that we all thought until now that the lost souls ended up being found alive, but now learn that they were found dead. I wonder if they found all the bodies.

They already have that. It's called top ranking corps in DCI.

With 90% of the top corps' visual shows being in the front 3/4 (make that 1/2) of the field, between the 30's, DCI show save money and move finals into a basketball court.

I guess everyone who was deserted on Boston's island drowned in the mew ending!!!

But when you're comparing all these corps on video from the same show, using the same audio equipment (both at the source and by the listener), with the same mic set-up, etc. you can trust your comparison. And, compared to other horn lines, Phantom's trumpet line is noticeably weaker than the rest of the line, often being lost in the sound of the rest of the horn sections with frequent points of intonation and a somewhat squeaky tone. The rest of the line is very good, but they're not getting dinged for the sopranos/trumpets as much as they should.

And GE1 had Cavies at same .4 spread over Cadets the previous night (read my post again, I was comparing last night to night before). But previous night, GE2 had Cadets over Cavies by .30. Last night, it was Cavies over Cadets in GE2 by .60. So, .60 plus .30 equals a .90 jump in GE2 in one contest. Leaving only .20 of Cavies' increased spread over Cadets attributed to performance.

But .90 of the 1.2 increase in that gap came from one judge. So we have to wait for a few more head-to-heads in big shows to see if it was the GE2 judge in the South Carolina show who "over-scored" the Cadets or the GE2 judge in the Florida who "over-scored" the Cavies. With only .2 increase in spread coming for the performance itself, it's hard to imagine that Cavies had such a better show last night or Cadets the night before.

I feel the total opposite about how Bluecoats are using mics in their ballad. I was actually disgusted when I heard about this in the movie when their show was discussed. When I heard that they thought it would be a great effect to have the horns playing in and toward the back corner of the field but "sound like they are playing at you" due to the mics aimed at the full corps I was like, "then why march into and play toward the back corner of the field? I always love it when a corps uses the haunting, echo effect of playing backfield." Beyond that, I agree with the many who feel mics on the entire ensemble is a very bad direction for DCI. I may be a dino, but have liked most of the other changes up to this point. But this is worse, IMHO, than even the thought of adding woodwinds. At least that would be adding other acoustical sounds. Mics on the full ensemble, and even worse turning up and down the mics on different sections of the ensemble, drastically reduces the skills needed by that hornline to learn how to achieve a balance between the voices, especially as they move to different areas of the field. STOP IT NOW PLEASE!!!!!

What is a "cap ceremony"?

Or the last sentence might read "Any mic'd up horns that are added that perform a bunch of soli stuff? I can hear that done as well or better from a lot of different places." But, it seems to be what needs to be done to win these days. Why risk it with your entire hornline playing most of the time when the judges will give you higher scores if you feature soloists and small ensembles. Especially when these soloists/ensembles can play standing still and can modify their sound through electronic means? Or when they can record themselves and then replay it over and over on as many amps as possible? Hey, but if the "right" corps does it, it's OK.

Once again, DCI has an issue with their service, it inconveniences hundreds of people, and DCI does nothing to compensate the people who paid for the service. Their idea of customer service is to say you can go back an watch the shows you missed live later. So I should stay up until 2 am to watch these shows and DCI should do nothing to compensate me? They're like the cable company that has a monopoly on your neighborhood, You pay them, get crappy service, waste your time trying to find a solution to their problem, and they get to do nothing to compensate for their being so inept. Thanks DCI for proving once again you're totally incompetent.

Thanks! Glad someone caught that! So even the judges aren't sophisticated enough to get BD's show. Now I see why the audience just goes crazy over it!

Sorry, but IMHO, that was the "Wrong Write of Spring"!

What I noticed more tonight after multiple listenings is that there are a lot of bad musical transitions in Phantom's show. Once they get going with another piece, it's great; but the mix from one song to the next is not good.

Hoppy must be loving this - the big Manilow fan that he is

WOW – great performance SCV – major step up from last year. However, I still don't care for the over the top drum corpsey meets cocktail lounge arrangements.

This memory game is only mildly more interesting than the old game of getting dizzy and trying to hit the gong first. Only MILDLY more interesting.

My opinion of BD visually and musically in one word - tedious.