jwillis35

I am in the Youngstown, OH area and it looks like come 8PM or even a little earlier they should be good with no rain. Show starts at 7:00 but even if they had to wait 20 to 30 minutes they should be able to get this in. If it was not for a gig I would be going. My girlfriend is heading out though. So I should get a good report of things. I may be able to catch some on Flo when I get home. Not sure.

Crown has a great percussion section. Some excellent writing in the show. Obviously Blue Devils also have a great percussion line with some great writing. But last night Crown got the better number fair and square. Cavaliers put on a clinic. Seeing all these lines live was a joy. Really nothing to complain about. They are amazing...but when it comes to the numbers Crown did well and BD may have to figure something out. I have no doubt BD will clean this week and show up ready to rock and roll come Quarter FInals. They always do. But so will Crown and so will Cavaliers -- and Boston and Bloo and Cadets. It's a strong year for percussion.

I used to go to this show all the time when it was at Veterans War Memorial Stadium in downtown Erie. A pretty nice stadium for drum corps, too. But times are changing and I am sure the stadium at Edinboro may have more room for parking and warm-ups, etc. Sadly cannot head up this year due to a gig tonight. Hope the weather holds up. We are getting a lot of rain (on and off) here in the Youngstown, OH area which is about 2 hours from Erie, PA. Temps are very cool for this time of the year. Low to mid 70s today.

Personally I love how Blue Devils use their pit. I think they see the pit as more of a rhythm section in a jazz/fusion/rock orchestra kind of way. The writing is excellent. I think they have been trying to pull away from brass, percussion, mallet corps if you will. There is more emphasis on bass, guitar, drum set and keys. The guy on drum set is just incredible. The various sounds used on the guitar and keys really add to the music in an appropriate way -- and when they do use more mallet work it is well done without being overbearing. When you consider how this aspect weaves into the whole sound of their show you can see where they are going with it. Last night they were blended with the field percussion and brass incredibly well.

Having seen Spirit of Atlanta and Blue Knights last night in Pittsburgh I was a little shocked Spirit did not win out. I think Spirit's show just grabs me a little more. BK is really good and they likely use the field a little better, but from a music and guard standpoint I found Spirit more effective. Both are good shows. I would not be surprised to see Spirit make a run this weekend. But as mentioned Crossmen have turned it up too and I have not seen them live. Only from Flo and I like their show as well.

I think it was understandable after the Blue Devils fantastic performance in Atlanta for people to feel they would pull away. It certainly looked like it. But as we usually see in the last few weeks of the season the challengers begin to get clean and tweak little things. I believe Carolina Crown, Boston Crusaders, and Bluecoats have narrowed that gap in a big way. None of this takes away from the amazin accomplishments of Blue Devils who have been fantastic this season. But we definitely have a 4-horse race. The Cavaliers percussion section has thrown a little wrench into the percussion scoring and the spread between them and the top 4 corps could be significant. Last night there were some audible wows form the crowd for the Cavies percussion alone. At one point, in the middle of a snare passage, it felt like the crowd was ready to explode. I think BD is close enough in brass (only a half tenth off Crown last night), extremely good in guard (will likely be 1 or 2) and their GE and Visual numbers are fantastic, even if they do not win Visual Proficiency. With those strengths I still give them the edge. Their percussion is truly wonderful and I love their pit balance and writing. For whatever reason the judges must feel it still needs to clean. If they find themselves .6 below Cavaliers on Finals night (as they were last night) then that could leave an opening for Boston, Bloo, Crown providing they can be super close or better in most of the other areas.

Some photos from last night. Great show all around. Seeing these shows live is the best. I love that we have Flo but nothing comes close to the live sound, power, and visual of seeing these corps perform live. https://photos.app.goo.gl/PMPFUzmkw7kSw21b8

It was a great show tonight. I had pretty good seats and did take some photos of all the corps. I will post more tomorrow. I loved everyone and had a blast with the exception of parking and waiting for the buses to shuttle fans to the stadium. The stadium is wonderful for drum corps, but the H.S. is a logistical nightmare. It sits on a hillside. There are 3 skinny roads that take you up the hill. The main 2 were closed by police and only let the corps or souvie vehicles in. The back entrance is where the buses shuttled the fans. We had to park at a car dealership down the street or at one of two churches. Then we got the shuttles. Some fans did manage to park in some back neighborhoods or at other closed businesses down the hill. As for the corps themselves there was not a bad show in the bunch. Cascades are young but I love the show and their music. You can tell they are young, and one of the mello players looked 12 or 13 and I was cheering for that kid by the end. They marched their tail-end off. I loved Spirit of Atlanta. This show in person is a delight. Brass is really good. Guard was awesome and so were drums. I love their music and the sound effects and staging are very strong. Seeing them live is sooooo different from on Flo. Frankly this was the case with everyone. It was nice to see and hear LIVE drum corps. It is so different. Blue Knights are very good and I like their show more visually than musically. Parts of the show just need more focus but they really use the field. I really really LOVED the Cavaliers tonight. Seeing them live is so different. They sounded warm and beautiful tonight and also powerful when needed. Guard was great. Percussion just absolutely put on a CLINIC!!! I mean, they beat Crown by .250 (and Crown was really in top form tonight), and they beat Blue Devils by .6 in percussion. Unreal. The ending is coming around. Pacing seems better. I think the 3rd section of the show (right before the percussion feature) is over-arranged and lacks focus. Everything else seems to be locking in. I really thought they marched well. Carolina Crown lit-up the crowd. Brass is unreal. Flawless almost. Percussion had a strong night. Guard was crazy good. Visual proficiency is looking good. GE is also getting there. Seeing this show live was great. They can challenge for sure. It's an exceptional show. My first time seeing Blue Devils live since 2016. I loved it. Visually they are just so masterful to watch. I love the music book and the dynamic contrast they play with is wonderful. From a Flo perspective you don't always catch the little things, but I could hear them tonight. A few rifle drops and 1 big sword drop. They stand out so much in part because the rest of their show is sooooooo CLEAN. Overall their guard just captivates and helps to focus the show. They are amazing. Their attention to detail in the body is one of the things that usually separates them from others. I did think Carolina was close to that tonight. Fabulous show by BD. Placements were about what I had. I did have Spirit over BK

There was nothing they could do. See my post above.

If you are talking about the Pittsburgh show tonight I will explain. 1. I was there tonight and because of many factors the parking was crazy. Most of the corps were locked into a small area and there was no room for them to move various sections to appropriate warm-up areas. For BD they got stuck in a small lot to one side of the stadium where the other corps were up the hill or far down the street. There simply were no other places to go. 2. So I do know that DCI did their best to have people communicating with the corps. BD was doing their best to only warm up when a corps finished and while the next corps was setting up. I think for the most part the team on hand did a good job with the communication, but there were two small moments when BD's brass cut through. For about 5 or 6 seconds at the onset of Cavaliers show and an even smaller few seconds into Carolina's. 3. It was wild tonight because even the fans could not park at the H.S. We had to park down the street at a car dealership or one of two churches. They then provided school buses that picked up the fans and shuttled us to the stadium. It was a zoo. So yes, BD had a really bad spot being closest to the stadium and essentially had very little warm-up time they could use. There was just no where they could take the brass or percussion. None of the corps could really move anywhere for warm-ups other than guard who did have a field behind the stadium. DCI realized this and knew there would be some bleed-over with warm-ups. They did their best to communicate and because none of this was the fault of the corps - especially BD who had no where to go and were confined to a small parking lot south of the H.S. and directly to the side of the stadium -- I believe penalties for this sort of thing were waived for tonight.

I'm at the Pittsburgh show right now and Cavaliers had a fantastic performance -- and the percussion put on a Clinic!

Just my observation from a few subjects coming up. A) if a corps scores higher than BD tonight you can make the argument that you have caught up, narrowed the gap...that kind of thing. You can say corps X has the highest score to date. You cannot say you are now beating BD or that BD has been defeated. Only Head to head determines that. Unless you defeat a corps head to head you have not won. B) you can draw some conclusions from the two days of DCI East. But as others have said one set of corps get an extra day to practice. It's two different shows on different nights. C) it does seem we may have a race for the title down the stretch run. I did not see the show due to gigs. Was BD on fire or was it an average performance by their standards? Same for Bloo. It is exciting when things tighten up. Sounds like it was a big crowd too from what @Jeff Ream mentioned.

Personally I enjoy their show. The kids are working extremely hard. The visual program is likely what really hurts the scores, but that's just an on-field issue. I assume the members are loving tour, eating well, making friends, and working hard to perform their show for fans everytime they are on the field. The music is pertty good and brass and drums have some excellent talent. Guard has improved a lot. The visual program is what is hurting them, and perhaps the concept of the show to some extent. The big thing for Madison is to 1) make sure the corps is operated and funded well, 2) retain the talent you have this year, and 3) perhaps look for a simple concept that can be driven by music for next year's show. As a brass player I think the brass staff and writing is really good.

The dome is Syracuse is horrible. The boom effect in there is 3 times worse than Indy. Logistically it is a nightmare as it was setup many years ago. I personally think an outdoor stadium is best for DCI East. I get the reasons for wanting a dome but Drum & Bugle Corps is still best served outdoors in a nice stadium. If -- and this is a big if -- DCI gets to the point where they decide to leave Allentown there are some good options in Delware, D.C.-Maryland, PA, even in Buffalo NY, etc., but it would be nice to have at least one Regional outdoors. Just my 2 cents on this.

They represent, very loosely, Olympic Flag poles the way you would see them in an Olympic village or near the competing venus.

If we really want to have fun with the judging system, have the judges only judge the performance of the marching members. Brass, Drums, Pit, Guard, and Visual Proficiency. The judges score only reflects that. Then let the Fans (or DCP) judge Visual Analysis, Music Analysis, and overall GE. These scores are for the staff and design team. 🙂 So at the end of each show their are two sets of scores announced.

It could happen this way, though I tend to reject the idea that only the last corps that performs is allowed to get a perfect score in a caption or sub-caption. But more to the point it doesn't matter if Cavaliers get perfect score. If they beat Blue Devils then no chance for perfect score.

Most likely percussion will keep them back from a perfect 100. Now trust me, I know that their percussion line this year is amazing and I love the book. But up to now they have not been leading. Boston has beat them a few times, and Cadets beat them tonight. The big thing is Cavaliers percussion in ON FIRE. Of course, I know that BD can rise to that level by Finals. They often do. But Cavaliers have been so overwhelming this year in percussion that it may make it difficult for BD to spring a 10. In just about everything else they will come close. It's all a matter of performance for them. I do think they can hit the 99+ mark, but it depends on how the captions play out. Carolina or even Boston are capable of winning brass. Cavaliers could win percussion. Bluecoats could get close in GE and Guard. It will be fun to watch.

The Cadets and Mandarins must have performed super well. Blue Devils must have had a super HOT show tonight. Heck of a score. A little surprised to see Cadets take them in percussion tonight. Both are fabulous percussion sections but Cadets must have been on point tonight. Their GE scores are improving too.

I don't know if everyone said that. I may have missed the memo on their guard. But they must be improving for sure.

I would not be shocked if Cavaliers jump into the pack with Cadets, Phantom, and Mandarins. That would make it a 5-8 race. I have said a few times on this forum that I believe Cavaliers are more talented than people think. Their brass line can be mighty good if the staff can make the right adjustments to allow them to showcase their excellent articulations and blends. They just need to refine the music in a few areas so it's not full bore all the time. They have made changes to the drill that should improve things. And with the percussion section...if the guard starts getting some good scores the watch out. How high can they go? Not sure. I agree with you that they have to hope the changes and the cleaning all peak around Quarters and Semi Finals. But yes, for now I have them in 8th. It would be fun to see Cavaliers start firing on all cylinders and make a push in scores.

I get the frustration. I am sure you are super amazing guy and I would hate to see you leave DCP over your frustrations. Clearly it is not my job to tell you what to like, who to root for, or what topics to bring up. I just hope you can find some happiness in the performances from these corps. There have been many cases of people burning out over the scores and perhaps the judging process in DCI. So I get that frustration. All my best!

I hope they do fix the stadium and I have never had a big problem with J Birney in Allentown, but I don't have a problem with people posting new ideas for DCI East in the future. I think DCI should always keep their options open. I know there is history to Allentown but I am personally not married to it. So to me the discussion is fine.

I am trying to play nice with you but I cannot even comprehend what you are saying here. I think you can apply everything I said about the membership of BD to all the kids marching in every corps. I focused my comments on BD because this thread has made them a focus. I am done. I am sure the Mods are ready to kick me off for a few days. I do not wish to get on my "high horse" any more than I have.

Well, to be honest the activity does exist for those who perform. It is a student-driven arts activity. This is not to say we the fans get no enjoyment from it. But absolutely it is about the kids. I think the biggest lie we tell ourselves -- which also ends up being very disrespectful to the members of the Blue Devils -- is that 1) they are only here to win, 2) they have advantages so that is the only reason they are good, 3) they didn't build that show, design staff did, 4) BD has more full-time teachers and designers so those kids are lucky, 5) they design to the sheets and that's the only reason they win. And there are more I am sure. You can think what you want. You can not like the show. The marching members of Blue Devils are fine with that. You can not like that they win a lot. I think BD members are fine with that too. They understand those things. BUT...regardless of what you think of the show or all the winning we tend to diminish the real hard work, skill, musicianship and the love for performing that the members of the Blue Devils exhibit. I can't think of a worse thing we can do than to diminish just how hard their membership works and how much they love to perform just so we can find an excuse for why they win and then downgrade their accomplishments. That is what really bothers me about a thread like this. Those marching members of the Blue Devils are real humans who have high expectations thrown at them, who have to work hard and perform like all the other kids, who are busting their rear-ends to perfect a show, who love to perform, and they love the activity. Yet we just offer up excuse after excuse for their success in a disgusting, demeaning "you didn't build that" manner. When I see a corps come out and just throw down and perform like they did in Atlanta I am all smiles. Even if I was OK with the show I would be standing and screaming just because I got to see these performers come together and ABSOLUTELY NAIL a truly challenging show with such passion, attention to detail, amazing musicianship, athleticism and love for performing. Bravo to the Members of the Blue Devils Drum & Bugle Corps. Some of us love it when you perform like that. My hair was on FIRE from that Atlanta performance.