ukcjs

2 years drum corps 7 years marching band (high school & college)

29 (Just shy of 30) Bought the 1995 VHS tapes in 99 and never looked back. First live show in 2000 (Methods of Madness from BD and Adagio for Strings from SCV!) Wondering where the last 8 years went since ageing out

I was just thinking today, "I really hope they did a horn cam video of this show" and here it is, from the victory run no less! Really gives you an idea of how insanely demanding these shows are and how talented the members are. Awesome! Thank you Crown for getting me back into drum corps again after several years of waning interest. I'm so glad I got to see the show in person; I'll definitely be listening to this one for years to come. Congratulations on your hard fought and well deserved win. And keep the amazing hornlines coming!

I was going to say music from Newsies since it's a Broadway show now. Looks like it was already done by Cardinals in 93 and Capital Sound in 2000. Still, it would be fun hear it get the full World Class treatment. Vanguard maybe?

So jealous you get to do this! I usually only get to see one show in June every year. I'd love to take a week off and experience some late season action. One day...

Oh man, this brings back bad memories of struggling to keep the horn up with my shaking arms during long periods in the arc during the preseason. Feels like your muscles are tearing themselves apart. It does get easier the more you do it, so practice as much as you can because they really push you during the camps. Euphs are HEAVY, but more importantly they are long, so a lot of the weight is centered farther from your body, making it even tougher to hold up. For all the pain, low brass is the way to go, though; can't beat that sound. It's a rewarding experience being part of that section. Edit: Also, as mentioned above, you need to push a lot of air through the horn. And you'll have to do this while running around the field frenetically for a 11 minute show. You have to learn how to control your breathing or you'll just end up on the ground hyperventilating :)

I just want to say that Crown's show this year is really something special. I was lucky enough to see them at DCI West (thanks so much for making the trek out to California) and I found myself jumping up at the end muttering an awed holy sh** under my breath. It's been a while since a corps has moved me so much with their performance, which is all the more impressive considering how early in the season this was. I am truly sad that I won't get to experience this show live again, especially as I know it will improve by leaps and bounds by the end of the season. Such is the curse of the California drumcorps fan! After the show in Stanford, they arced up and played the parade music as well as the closer from the show, which I LOVE. What a powerful hornline. I fail to see why anyone would take issue with their parade performance; kudos to them for reaching out to the crowd. This is simply more fun both for the corps members and the audience. Keep doing what you're doing, Crown. Wish I could make it out to finals to see you again.

Great review. I agree with your friend that BK and the Cadets were standouts. This is the 5th straight year I've attended this show, and I really do appreciate the Cadets and Phantom in particular making the long trek over to the west coast. This is the first year I've gone in knowing nothing about the corps' repertoires, recent scores and criticisms, etc... Here are a few thoughts mostly focused on brass: PC/Mandarins: Both shows seem to be missing the closer (at least) as they both ended suddenly. This is unfortunate, as I would rather see a full show with dirt, than a partial show which is slightly cleaner. What PC did have on the field looked promising though, with some nice drill moves and a big sound. As in recent years, Mandarins seem to be lacking numbers in the hornline, which hurts their overall sound. Their show didn't do much to draw me in. BK: Probably the highlight of the night for me was BK's hornline; they are so very loud. I was sitting way up near the pressbox on the 40 yard line, and they still melted my face with a full, rich wall of sound. The crowd was very appreciative of this. I also enjoyed their musical selections and the pit's cameo on field drums. SCV: I'm usually a big fan of Vanguard, but this year's show just came off as chaotic and unfocused. I appreciate the difficulty level, but they just don't seem to be pulling it off just yet. The hornline was seriously lacking volume, which was a surprise and disappointment to me. It will be interesting to see where they take this show by the end of the season. PR: I was excited to see Phantom, as they have put on so many great shows in the past. This one however, did not grab me. While they provided some of the most beautiful brass moments of the night, the overall theme seemed to be lacking, and the passion just wasn't there. BD: More accessible music than usual from the blue crew. Although they did some interesting things with the props, I still found them to be a distraction. To my ears, their hornline is top heavy, lacking the full bottom end of Phantom and BK. They do however have the best screaming sopranos and insanely talented/confident soloists. My biggest issue with this show is the prevalence of park and blow. There seemed to be very few sections of the show where both high musical and drill demand were combined. Maybe it's just that they make it look easy, but the drill just didn't seem as impressive as many of the other corps. Cadets: I was expecting to once again roll my eyes at cheesy costumes and narration, but wow, was I wrong. This was by far the most coherent and effective show of the night. I really dug the dual uniforms and how the two groups were staged and interacted throughout the performance. The hornline was powerful and the drill was fast and furious. There are still too many synthesized and recorded effects for my taste, but it is much more toned down than what they have done in recent years. Count me as a fan this year; no doubt they will be near the top at championships. Unfortunately, this is my only live show of the year. I'd love to see the various corps mature over the course of the season and I'm sure some of my opinions would change with repeated viewings. We're lucky to have a great venue and line up each year, so I can't complain too much.

I saw BK's performance at Stanford, and I was blown away; it reminded me of seeing Phantom for the first time in 2003. The hornline gave me the only chills of the night; they are LOUD, but still have a nice dark sound. The music is beautiful and the show features full songs rather than snippets of melodies. I wish I had another chance to see them live again this season. Thanks BK for putting together a classic drum corps show and reminding me what I love so much about this activity.

Yeah I noticed both of these from a majority of the corps. It seems just about every drum solo ends with that stance.

This is very sad news. Yamato offered a truly unique cross-cultural drum corps experience.

I don't think specific details have been released yet, but I was wondering if Div 2/3 finals and Div 1 semifinals are likely to conflict (overlapping times) on Friday, Aug. 10 in Pasadena.

Div II/III never gets enough respect or recognition and is often blown off in favor of div 1. At least they got to play in the big stadium this year. Congratulations to all the corps, it was a great season and very competitive. I'm disappointed that Yamato didn't make finals, but hopefully they'll be back in next year. My favorite show this year out of any division was Academy's. I was lucky enough to see it live twice and I can't wait for the DVDs so I can see them and all the other corps who were right on their heels. Bring on Pasadena!

I agree that the camera angles were terrible, although I only managed to catch the final 4 performances. It seemed about 80% of the shows were colorguard closeups. I felt I was missing a lot of the Cavies' incredible drill because of this, althought there is so much going on in that show it's impossible to take it all in anyway. Oh, and how can you miss the first hit in BD's show and pretty much all the big GE moments? And as for the Cadets, I can only take so much of a prancing bunny. All of that aside, we're lucky to have the theater broadcast and all my complaints are just nitpicking. I Wish I could've seen more corps, but I was marooned in traffic after work <**>. Having the top 3 within one point is amazing. Good luck to everyone in semis and finals!

I'm actually much more excited about div 2/3 finals than div 1 this year. There are so many great shows and intense competition especially for the top spots. It's going to be a great week; I wish I could be there in person. I can't wait for the dvds.

Amen. However, I think there's only so much you can do when the original recording is so bad. My guess is that the equipment quality/mic placement etc. is as much to blame as any mixing that happened afterwards. Still, if they could salvage something from that mess, that would be great news for fans. Maybe Tom Blair could take a shot at it?

I couldn't agree more. All you can hear on the 95 recordings is the pit and the crowd. Every so often, a hint of a hornline or drumline might come through, but it is soon drowned out by a suspended cymbal or applause/chatter from the stands. There were some excellent shows that year (madison, cavaliers and phantom are my favorite) and the fact that they were done this disservice is a travesty. The incredible music and power of these shows is almost lost to history because some company (I've also heard it was IBM) couldn't figure out how to make even a halfway decent recording. I've always hoped there are better recordings out there somewhere from 1995, but I guess that's pretty unlikely. I love watching these shows, but every time I do, I get angry because so much was lost in that churning sea of treble.

So on the west coast, the show is starting at 3pm which unfortunately conflicts with the normal work day. I don't think I want to tell my boss I'm taking the afternoon off to watch a movie, so I think I might have to come up with another excuse, perhaps a dentist appointment? Any other ideas?

So according to the scores on DCI.org, Impulse moved back up to Div II?

Wow, what a way to start their East Coast tour. I really feel for them, going on first in that heat. I didn't know they had people passing out and being sent to the ER; I hope everyone is ok now. Their second score seems to show that they're recovering just fine. Good luck PC, and stay safe!

I was very impressed by Oregon Crusaders. They had some demanding drill and a nice sounding hornline. They'll definitely be high in the mix at finals. Yamato made a great first showing with the entire corps. Remember that they only just put the whole show together with the Japanese half of the corps over the past week. There are a few sections of the show that don't seem to flow very well into each other at the moment, but I'm sure these will be worked out. They will be improving very quickly during their short tour. Best of luck at finals! I stayed around to watch their standstill at the end of the show, and they're putting out a lot of volume and energy. I was glad to see that Jester finally had a drum major, and a few more horns. I dug the rifle solo. The chanting section took me by surprise and seemed to be suspiciously similar to SCV's "new era." They seemed to pull it off fairly well though. It was good too see how all the corps had improved from earlier California shows. DII/III finals are going to be exciting this year for sure. I wish I could be there in Madison, but I guess I'll have to wait for the DVDs.

I love the songs from the South Park movie! Must be a heck of a fun show to perform. Good luck!

Five days until the first performance! Working backwards from the closer should be interesting. Good luck putting the show together, I'm rooting for you guys.

I downloaded Phantom's APD. This was my first time hearing their show this year, and I was very impressed. There is a lot of musical demand in all the sections of the corps. The brass is lush and powerful as always and the drumline is on fire. Ave Maria is my personal favorite. I wish I had the chance to see them live this year; there's not much I enjoy more than being up close and personal with Phantom's hornline.

I'm looking forward to seeing Yamato's performance in Riverside on the 28th. Too bad it's their only show in California.