Matt_S

both 1999 and 2001 had, IMO, better hornlines than 2000. I'll agree with the others that voted for 2001. 1998 was a very good line, but I also compare that show to a late Star show.

2000 had some good moments, but certainly can't be considered the best. For winning the caption that year, the line was surprisingly raucous on finals night. Yeah, it had the power, and yeah it was their first year on the Bb's. Still, there was a noticable lack of blend across the line. Cadets have long been one of the most musical corps out there, and in most years you can listen to the line, close your eyes, and imagine that there is only one instrument on the field. Not that year. Especially in the upper voices, it sounded strained. Even if you don't agree with that opinion, you have to consider the last minute and half of show. They simply sounded tired, and came through in their sound. Phasing was a big problem, not to mention the fact that they didn't produce a very full sound. I'm not trying to rag on Cadets. I've heard some great hornlines from them, which is why I can't say that 2000 deserves to be called their best. Surely several other years have been far more musical.

I'll be catching the show tonight, also at the IU auditorium. from the first row of the balcony. I saw Blast at the Murat and thought it was absolutely incredible. I have my doubts about this show, because Iit doesn't sound like this show sticks as close to its drum corps roots as I would prefer. Still, I expect to have a great time.

I'm seeing the show on October 19th, at IU-Bloomington. I may end up writing my own review, but I'd like to ask those who have seen the show, what was the playlist for the show? Blast seemed to be 'Drum Corp's Greatest Hits', but it already sounds like there is a much broader focus this time around.

Resubmitted, without the annoying accusations about my girlfriend. Yeah it's shameless, but I finally got that DVD player, and nothing would be sweeter than starting my collection with 2002. What an amazing year it was . . . DCI Midwestern Championship Review - Evening Show Well, the day finally came, and I got to see twelve of the best corps in the nation pack themselves into the RCA Dome. This was my first show of the year, and also my last. I'm beginning to really wish I had bought tickets to Madison . . . actually scratch that. I started wishing that a while ago, when I looked on a map and realized how close I really was. However, tonight made me want to see almost every show one more time. On to the Review: Seats: I ordered ten seats from DCI's website way back in January or February. I asked for the best seats I could get, but in the upper deck. What I got were two rows of five seats, five and six rows back, just a little over from the 40 on side one. Man, they were wonderful. Side one received all the attention, and we could see every set perfectly. The only complaint was the acoustics of the Dome, but I knew that would be a problem when I bought the tickets, so no one to blame but myself Venue: It's really two different experiences, being in the upper deck vs. the lower. In the lower deck, the corps is playing directly at you, so you only hear the echo from the drums. In the upper deck, you get that same drum echo, but a lot of the hornline tends to get lost in the rafters. Still, as someone who buys the CD's every year, this was my one chance to see the visual, so I opted for the upper deck. As stated above, the seats in the RCA Dome were great. The angle was perfect so that no matter how high you were, you could see the corps on the field. Admittedly, I wasn't very high up for this competition, but for BOA Grand Nationals last fall I was, and the view was still agreeable. Anyway, being in the upper deck, you did get the Dome affect, and the drums occasionally drowned out the corps. However, it wasn't nearly as bad as has been commented. Of course, I have marched on the RCA Dome floor a total of 25 times, and I've been a spectator a few times as well, so I've probably gotten used to the acoustical affect. Still, for a majority of the time, I was able to hear everything quite well. In fact, in some cases the indoor echo was a bonus. The Cavaliers come to mind here, when they held out a chord in the second movement, and because of the near-perfect intonation, it just rang and rang long after the corps had stopped playing. So I guess to sum up, indoor = good for horns and = bad for drums. Still, I felt that attending the show was very very much worth the money, and being climate controlled didn't hurt the experience one bit. Boston Crusaders In the very beginning, of their show, they have that same move where they step their left foot forward, then bring it around behind their right leg. I know it's a traditional BAC move, and it was effective the first time, but they did it about five more times in the first minute alone. Overkill. The scrolls didn't make a whole lot of sense. They are unfurled by the guard, revealing phrases such as 'Land of the Free' and 'Home of the Brave', I can only assume to help explain the show. This seems like as good away as any to get around the problem of no voice-overs allowed. I didn't have a problem with the scrolls per se, but how they were used. For example, one scroll was unfurled in the middle of a pinwheeling drill move by the rest of the corps. The guard members had to struggle to keep from getting run over, and the scroll only seemed to distract. Maybe is the scrolls were kept in the front of the field, this wouldn't be a problem. The singing was excellent, they've definitely worked and fine tuned that section. However, in a drum corps show, I think there could have been less of it. It was practically the entire ballad. Singing the words "You are my star" was especially effective, though. My only other complaint was that there wasn't a whole lot of marching. The corps seemed to dance and use body moves to transit sets, at least half the time. I would have preferred to have seen more marching, but still this was a solid corps to open up with. I know I focused on the negative here, but after all, that's easier to remember and describe. Strong performance, about average for what the night would hold, and I thought placed where they deserved. Spirit From the very beginning of the show, it reminded me of Avon High School's 2001 show. The same music was used, though certainly Spirit's performance was higher. Still, this show reminded me of a high school group in it's show design. That's not to knock the corps, just classifying it. I was in one of the best high school's in the nation, and was surrounded by excellent groups whenever I competed. Spirit certainly was an excellent group as well, but their show design didn't stand out much for me. I caught the idea of darkness to light, but it could have been emphasized far more. Instead, we saw guard flags, light and dark, but also small and fleeting. I enjoyed their performance, but at least one trademark moment would have helped. Crossmen Wow! Cool show. I didn't recognize them at first, because they have a sparkly sash running from shoulder to waist, as the border between the gray and black on their uniforms. The hornline comes into the field from the back right corner, in a revolving gate pattern, the guard comes in from the left corner, and already you're anticipating what comes next. The Metheny piece was very Crossmen. I thought it was an excellent selection to put on the field. Strawberry Soup was very cool to hear, as well. Some interesting drill, and some very cool ensemble work (typical Crossmen) as well in the show. I thought this was a pretty clean show, and deserved a higher score than they recieved, one of the few corps I would say that for. I'd love to see them again. Colts Here's where I find myself without much to say. My girlfriend had been at camp all last week, and we hadn't talked all that time. She got back home, just in time to catch me as I was leaving for the Dome. She had tickets as well, though a few sections away from me. Colts was the corps that I ducked out of and went to go find her. No offense to the Colts, but I would do it again in a second . It was good to see her again. I do remember hearing the Colts, and recognized it as a Gillingham show rather quickly. However, that's as much as I can say, since I wasn't giving them my full attention. Seattle Cascades I'm familiar with the Cadets playing Bernstein, but not familiar enough to the point where I even slightly thought of this as someone else's show. If I were more of a Cadet history buff, I might be bothered, but I viewed this as a uniquely Seattle Cascades show, and as a result, I thourougly enjoyed it. My girlfriend really liked it, too. It was her favorite up to this point. I hear they got a penalty, which would explain their placing not being as high as I would have had them. This was a clean show, with some demanding moments, and you could tell the members had fun performing it. I can't wait to hear from these guys in the upcoming years. The scores would suggest that Seattle has peaked, but trust me, they will be there come finals night. I don't see enough corps better than them for them to finish any worse than top ten. Bluecoats Say it with me now, "Bluuuuuuuuuuuuu" I'm not a die hard fan of these guys, but I found myself yelling that out. Try it sometime, it's too much fun to resist. When I read the notes to this show, it reminded me almost exactly of Santa Clara's 2001 show. However, this is very much a different show, done in the Bluecoats character. Enjoyable opener, though not much to say about it. The soloists throughout were d### fine, especially the baritone or mello player. I dubbed him nails. Second best soloist of the night. The guard girl that hangs on him, then ends up slapping his rear had me and my friend laughing. The closer is obviously Daugherty, even if you didn't read the notes. Still, I like the man's work, especially on the field. Bluecoats sold this show well, and completely deserved their placing. Should find themselves squarely on Disc One of the Championship CD's this year. Intermission Glassmen I own the Michael Kamen piece they played, so I was really looking forward to hearing it. However, they played three movements, and the opener and closer were both Javelin. The middle piece was the second movement of Kamen's Symphony, but unfortunately it wasn't the adagio that I loved so much. Rather it was a relatively fast paced ballad. The soloist was back, but this time he certainly didn't receive the emphasis that he did before. It was also a different color of sound than last year, as though he were on trumpet this year. He was in the drill much of the time, so I couldn't really tell. Overall it wasn't necessarily a boring show. However, much of it rides on your opinion of Javelin. Personally I would have liked to see more of the Kamen Symphony, but I'm just one man. Santa Clara Vanguard Wow! Again, what a show! This was the most powerful Vanguard show I can remember in quite some time. Add to that the fact that there were numerous characteristic Vanguard moments, and this was a show I loved. In a way, it almost reminded me of the Cavaliers, in that they played obscure and even original music, and matched it with extremely well thought out drill. In fact, besides the Cavaliers, SCV had the best visual design of the night. Despite the obscurity of the music, the show was still very easy to get in to, and I think that was due to the power of the performance. Once they started, you could tell the difference between one of the top four corps, and any other. In my opinion, this show is still a fourth-place show, though it should have been much closer, and there is still much to be cleaned. Phantom Regiment Good thing they came on after SCV, because they're opener was loud, and intense, if a little crass. Unfortunately, it was the highlight of their show. The rest of the music is definitely Shostakovich, but doesn't have anywhere near the impact of some of his pieces that have been used in the past. I spent much of my time during this show with my friends, trying to find a good friend of mine in Phantom's guard. We think we did, but there was no way to be sure, since we were just too far away. Well performed, and deserves the lead over Glassmen, but not in the league of the top four, or even of last year's Phantom show, in my opinion. The Cavaliers I don't even know where to begin. I guess I should tell you that I watched this corps rehearse that afternoon, working on the opener for a while. I was blown away by their musicianship, and when I saw them in the Dome, that's what impressed me even more than their visual program. There's a chord in their second number that absolutely rang forever in the Dome. No other corps even came close to the sound they acheived. Say what you want about their horn book this year, but the Cavaliers have everyone waxed in music performance, especially in quality of sound, and it's not even close. As for that horn book, I heard a great number of changes since the July 8th show alone. The closer especially received some needed jazzing up. I would suggest to everyone that they wait for the night of Finals to judge this music show, because it keeps getting better and better. The drill . . . well do I even need to say anything? Someone mentioned earlier that the Cavaliers seem to move at a different rate of speed than the rest of the world around them, and that describes it perfectly. No one can match their velocity, or their intricacy either. I sat there the whole time, wondering how anyone could possibly write this. It's amazing. I'm not sure what else to say, other than that you have to see it for yourself. After the corps was done, Jeff Fiedler was interviewed, and someone had the gall to ask if the Cavaliers wouldn't peak too soon. That's something I've never seen the Cavaliers do, and they aren't about to start. Believe it or not, this actually had some of the dirtiest drill from the top four corps. A large portion of the closer, almost half of it, was extremely ragged. I'm guessing this is due to the changes they've made recently, adding in the second Fight Club sequence, but even when entering the first one, they've got some cleaning to do. The amazing thing is, they've already topped 95, and still have a lot of work to do. I don't see how these guys are going to be caught. The Cadets I went into this show trying to keep an open mind, and to be honest I wasn't too disappointed. The theme is not nearly as overly patriotic as I'd been hearing. I do think that the pledge is entirely unnecessary. It got a mixed crowd response, but then a large contingent of CadetBorg were on hand that night, too, especially just a few seats away. The "monolith" has three gray rectangle shapes, providing the background for a flag. I was under the impression that there were just two, but apparently one was added to remove the impression of two towers, and it was moved upfield. At this point, it only seems to accentuate the flag, and nothing more reprehensible than that. I do think adding the firefighter outfits would be far too much, just as I didn't appreciate the pledge being added, but all in all, this wasn't too patriotic for me. It was definitely a rehash of '95, but what really got to me this year was that the Cadets simply didn't march. Only about half the show consisted of any real sets. The rest of the time the members were taking random scatter drill walks to their next spot. There were no set forms to follow, no spot for them to make, no spacing for them to hold. It was impossible to judge their visual performance, because there wasn't enough precision written in to the show. Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy was d### effective, and even had me toe tapping, but the rest of the show seemed really flat to me, design wise. Maybe the Cavaliers spoiled me, but I thought this show was simply flat random drill, exciting music and theme of show, performed very very cleanly. That seems like it would be enough, but I don't see how they can catch the Cavaliers with this show. In fact, it seems about as clean as it's going to be for the rest of this season. I honestly believe that the Blue Devils will soon catch up to the Cadets, and overtake second place, though Cadets certainly deserved it this night. Blue Devils Last show of the night. This show had a lot of circle sets, and I mean a lot. That made it tough to judge their visual, because a circle is the hardest set to clean on the move. As a result, they were pretty ragged. However, I'm of the opinion that this gives them something to still work on. The opener was "feh". Rather forgettable. However, the rest of the show rocked out. BD easily had the best extended soloist of the night. He was showing off a bit too much, in the style of the Cadets, when he ripped the horn off his face three times. However, he was wailing, and proved himself worthy of the "Blue Devils soloist" title. Rising Sun had some of the best moments of the show musically, with power chords that gave me chill bumps. Channel One Suite did, as well, but mainly because I was so familiar with the other shows. After all, Channel One Suite is a part of DCI history. I hear the sideline cymbal set was added just recently, and d### does it work! I couldn't believe the way the battery was flying around, banging away on that thing. There's no way they avoided a collision, it's amazing. Still, there's other visual that needs to be cleaned, and I wouldn't mind hearing a bit more from Channel One Suite, but this is sleezy jazz as only BD can play it, and I really enjoyed hearing it again, after a few years off. Victory Concert Stuck around for the standstill of Frameworks. Also heard Stars and Stripes, and Rainbow. Rainbow was what I was there for, and I wasn't disappointed. However, you could tell the kids were getting tired. The tone was spreading the more they played. Still, they managed to make an echo in the dome like no other corps did all night. I would like to have heard Jupiter, but I won't complain. Tried to find that friend of mine back at Pahntom's busses, but the parking garage I was in locked down at 12:30, so I had to book it out of there. It took me another hour at least, just to get home, which was only 12 miles away. Traffic was backed up for miles, because of some silly bicycle ride at 1 in the morning. Utterly ridiculous, but that's an editorial I'm saving for the local paper. OK, so that wasn't very brief at all, like I claimed in the title. i just started typing, and a lot came out. It was a wonderful show all around, and I just wish I could be there for Madison.

My thoughts on the domed enviroment. Venue: It's really two different experiences, being in the upper deck vs. the lower. In the lower deck, the corps is playing directly at you, so you only hear the echo from the drums. In the upper deck, you get that same drum echo, but a lot of the hornline tends to get lost in the rafters. Still, as someone who buys the CD's every year, this was my one chance to see the visual, so I opted for the upper deck. As stated above, the seats in the RCA Dome were great. The angle was perfect so that no matter how high you were, you could see the corps on the field. Admittedly, I wasn't very high up for this competition, but for BOA Grand Nationals last fall I was, and the view was still agreeable. Anyway, being in the upper deck, you did get the Dome affect, and the drums occasionally drowned out the corps. However, it wasn't nearly as bad as has been commented. Of course, I have marched on the RCA Dome floor a total of 25 times, and I've been a spectator a few times as well, so I've probably gotten used to the acoustical affect. Still, for a majority of the time, I was able to hear everything quite well. In fact, in some cases the indoor echo was a bonus. The Cavaliers come to mind here, when they held out a chord in the second movement, and because of the near-perfect intonation, it just rang and rang long after the corps had stopped playing. So I guess to sum up, indoor = good for horns and = bad for drums. Still, I felt that attending the show was very very much worth the money, and being climate controlled didn't hurt the experience one bit.

Heh, you've got a point there, but that was a low blow.

Please don't let these last two posts ruin this thread. I'd love to hear any questions or comments, and the more the better. Now that I've seen all the corps, I just want to keep talking and talking and talking about them all!

I wonder if we are all big people when my relationship with my girlfriend comes under attack like this. If you want to know, yes I was being entirely truthful with my comments in my review. Remember that I had ordered these tickets at least six months ago. At the time, we hadn't been together very long, so I was still learning her interests. I knew my girlfriend had marched in her high school band, but I had no idea what kind of drum corps fan she was. Like me, she ended up buying a group of tickets, comprised of friends of hers from her high school marching band. My group of ten was people I also knew through marching band, but my girlfriend and I went to different high schools, and we only just met this year at college. I do indeed wish I had bought a ticket for her, but at the time, Ididn't think she'd be interested. She bought her own set shortly afterwards, anyway. Both of us were the people responsible for organizing our respective groups, and therefore had obligations to other people, i.e. transportation and such. I left for the show around 5 o'clock, and she left around six. We knew where each other would be sitting, so we told each other we would find ourselves then. She found me just moments before the Crossmen were set to take the field. She was in the tunnel entrance, and I was about eight seats from where she was. I tried to get her to come sit with us, but she didnt' think there was enough room for her to sit on the bleachers, and once the corps started playing, obviously neither of us could move from where we were. The Crossmen finished, and I immediately got up and left the stands to go talk with her. The Colts just happened to be next. Were it a top four corps coming on, I probably would have made her sit with me, and we would both have seen the show. However, I did get up, and leave the stands, and I would have done the same if Crossmen, Phantom, Glassmen, Bluecoats, whoever had been coming on the field next. The fact that it was the Colts was pure coincidence. I'm very dissappointed that you took this turn of events so personally. I never meant anything against the Colts for it. My girlfriend had been a counselor for younger kids, including her own sister at camp. Not band camp, where there's a phone always handy, but a church camp, with real cabins, and no chance for a phone call. Trust me that I missed her greatly while she was gone. I can't believe you saw fit to accuse otherwise, especially on a public forum. This really has nothing to do with my review at all, but everything to do with your perceived slight against the Colts, which I assure you is ill-founded, at the very best. I can only wonder why you didn't think to E-mail or PM me with these concerns beforehand, so I could explain things more clearly. Please be more considerate in the future.

Well, the day finally came, and I got to see twelve of the best corps in the nation pack themselves into the RCA Dome. This was my first show of the year, and also my last. I'm beginning to really wish I had bought tickets to Madison . . . actually scratch that. I started wishing that a while ago, when I looked on a map and realized how close I really was. However, tonight made me want to see almost every show one more time. On to the Review: Seats: I ordered ten seats from DCI's website way back in January or February. I asked for the best seats I could get, but in the upper deck. What I got were two rows of five seats, five and six rows back, just a little over from the 40 on side one. Man, they were wonderful. Side one received all the attention, and we could see every set perfectly. The only complaint was the acoustics of the Dome, but I knew that would be a problem when I bought the tickets, so no one to blame but myself Boston Crusaders In the very beginning, of their show, they have that same move where they step their left foot forward, then bring it around behind their right leg. I know it's a traditional BAC move, and it was effective the first time, but they did it about five more times in the first minute alone. Overkill. The scrolls didn't make a whole lot of sense. They are unfurled by the guard, revealing phrases such as 'Land of the Free' and 'Home of the Brave', I can only assume to help explain the show. This seems like as good away as any to get around the problem of no voice-overs allowed. I didn't have a problem with the scrolls per se, but how they were used. For example, one scroll was unfurled in the middle of a pinwheeling drill move by the rest of the corps. The guard members had to struggle to keep from getting run over, and the scroll only seemed to distract. Maybe is the scrolls were kept in the front of the field, this wouldn't be a problem. The singing was excellent, they've definitely worked and fine tuned that section. However, in a drum corps show, I think there could have been less of it. It was practically the entire ballad. Singing the words "You are my star" was especially effective, though. My only other complaint was that there wasn't a whole lot of marching. The corps seemed to dance and use body moves to transit sets, at least half the time. I would have preferred to have seen more marching, but still this was a solid corps to open up with. I know I focused on the negative here, but after all, that's easier to remember and describe. Strong performance, about average for what the night would hold, and I thought placed where they deserved. Spirit From the very beginning of the show, it reminded me of Avon High School's 2001 show. The same music was used, though certainly Spirit's performance was higher. Still, this show reminded me of a high school group in it's show design. That's not to knock the corps, just classifying it. I was in one of the best high school's in the nation, and was surrounded by excellent groups whenever I competed. Spirit certainly was an excellent group as well, but their show design didn't stand out much for me. I caught the idea of darkness to light, but it could have been emphasized far more. Instead, we saw guard flags, light and dark, but also small and fleeting. I enjoyed their performance, but at least one trademark moment would have helped. Crossmen Wow! Cool show. I didn't recognize them at first, because they have a sparkly sash running from shoulder to waist, as the border between the gray and black on their uniforms. The hornline comes into the field from the back right corner, in a revolving gate pattern, the guard comes in from the left corner, and already you're anticipating what comes next. The Metheny piece was very Crossmen. I thought it was an excellent selection to put on the field. Strawberry Soup was very cool to hear, as well. Some interesting drill, and some very cool ensemble work (typical Crossmen) as well in the show. I thought this was a pretty clean show, and deserved a higher score than they recieved, one of the few corps I would say that for. I'd love to see them again. Colts Here's where I find myself without much to say. My girlfriend had been at camp all last week, and we hadn't talked all that time. She got back home, just in time to catch me as I was leaving for the Dome. She had tickets as well, though a few sections away from me. Colts was the corps that I ducked out of and went to go find her. No offense to the Colts, but I would do it again in a second :P . It was good to see her again. I do remember hearing the Colts, and recognized it as a Gillingham show rather quickly. However, that's as much as I can say, since I wasn't giving them my full attention. Seattle Cascades I'm familiar with the Cadets playing Bernstein, but not familiar enough to the point where I even slightly thought of this as someone else's show. If I were more of a Cadet history buff, I might be bothered, but I viewed this as a uniquely Seattle Cascades show, and as a result, I thourougly enjoyed it. My girlfriend really liked it, too. It was her favorite up to this point. I hear they got a penalty, which would explain their placing not being as high as I would have had them. This was a clean show, with some demanding moments, and you could tell the members had fun performing it. I can't wait to hear from these guys in the upcoming years. The scores would suggest that Seattle has peaked, but trust me, they will be there come finals night. I don't see enough corps better than them for them to finish any worse than top ten. Bluecoats Say it with me now, "Bluuuuuuuuuuuuu" I'm not a die hard fan of these guys, but I found myself yelling that out. Try it sometime, it's too much fun to resist. When I read the notes to this show, it reminded me almost exactly of Santa Clara's 2001 show. However, this is very much a different show, done in the Bluecoats character. Enjoyable opener, though not much to say about it. The soloists throughout were d### fine, especially the baritone or mello player. I dubbed him nails. Second best soloist of the night. The guard girl that hangs on him, then ends up slapping his rear had me and my friend laughing. The closer is obviously Daugherty, even if you didn't read the notes. Still, I like the man's work, especially on the field. Bluecoats sold this show well, and completely deserved their placing. Should find themselves squarely on Disc One of the Championship CD's this year. Intermission Glassmen I own the Michael Kamen piece they played, so I was really looking forward to hearing it. However, they played three movements, and the opener and closer were both Javelin. The middle piece was the second movement of Kamen's Symphony, but unfortunately it wasn't the adagio that I loved so much. Rather it was a relatively fast paced ballad. The soloist was back, but this time he certainly didn't receive the emphasis that he did before. It was also a different color of sound than last year, as though he were on trumpet this year. He was in the drill much of the time, so I couldn't really tell. Overall it wasn't necessarily a boring show. However, much of it rides on your opinion of Javelin. Personally I would have liked to see more of the Kamen Symphony, but I'm just one man. Santa Clara Vanguard Wow! Again, what a show! This was the most powerful Vanguard show I can remember in quite some time. Add to that the fact that there were numerous characteristic Vanguard moments, and this was a show I loved. In a way, it almost reminded me of the Cavaliers, in that they played obscure and even original music, and matched it with extremely well thought out drill. In fact, besides the Cavaliers, SCV had the best visual design of the night. Despite the obscurity of the music, the show was still very easy to get in to, and I think that was due to the power of the performance. Once they started, you could tell the difference between one of the top four corps, and any other. In my opinion, this show is still a fourth-place show, though it should have been much closer, and there is still much to be cleaned. Phantom Regiment Good thing they came on after SCV, because they're opener was loud, and intense, if a little crass. Unfortunately, it was the highlight of their show. The rest of the music is definitely Shostakovich, but doesn't have anywhere near the impact of some of his pieces that have been used in the past. I spent much of my time during this show with my friends, trying to find a good friend of mine in Phantom's guard. We think we did, but there was no way to be sure, since we were just too far away. Well performed, and deserves the lead over Glassmen, but not in the league of the top four, or even of last year's Phantom show, in my opinion. The Cavaliers I don't even know where to begin. I guess I should tell you that I watched this corps rehearse that afternoon, working on the opener for a while. I was blown away by their musicianship, and when I saw them in the Dome, that's what impressed me even more than their visual program. There's a chord in their second number that absolutely rang forever in the Dome. No other corps even came close to the sound they acheived. Say what you want about their horn book this year, but the Cavaliers have everyone waxed in music performance, especially in quality of sound, and it's not even close. As for that horn book, I heard a great number of changes since the July 8th show alone. The closer especially received some needed jazzing up. I would suggest to everyone that they wait for the night of Finals to judge this music show, because it keeps getting better and better. The drill . . . well do I even need to say anything? Someone mentioned earlier that the Cavaliers seem to move at a different rate of speed than the rest of the world around them, and that describes it perfectly. No one can match their velocity, or their intricacy either. I sat there the whole time, wondering how anyone could possibly write this. It's amazing. I'm not sure what else to say, other than that you have to see it for yourself. After the corps was done, Jeff Fiedler was interviewed, and someone had the gall to ask if the Cavaliers wouldn't peak too soon. That's something I've never seen the Cavaliers do, and they aren't about to start. Believe it or not, this actually had some of the dirtiest drill from the top four corps. A large portion of the closer, almost half of it, was extremely ragged. I'm guessing this is due to the changes they've made recently, adding in the second Fight Club sequence, but even when entering the first one, they've got some cleaning to do. The amazing thing is, they've already topped 95, and still have a lot of work to do. I don't see how these guys are going to be caught. The Cadets I went into this show trying to keep an open mind, and to be honest I wasn't too disappointed. The theme is not nearly as overly patriotic as I'd been hearing. I do think that the pledge is entirely unnecessary. It got a mixed crowd response, but then a large contingent of CadetBorg were on hand that night, too, especially just a few seats away. The "monolith" has three gray rectangle shapes, providing the background for a flag. I was under the impression that there were just two, but apparently one was added, and it was moved upfield. At this point, it only seems to accentuate the flag, and nothing more reprehensible than that. I do think adding the firefighter outfits would be far too much, just as I didn't appreciate the pledge being added, but all in all, this wasn't too patriotic for me. It was definitely a rehash of '95, but what really got to me this year was that the Cadets simply didn't march. Only about half the show consisted of any real sets. The rest of the time the members were taking random scatter drill walks to their next spot. There were no set forms to follow, no spot for them to make, no spacing for them to hold. It was impossible to judge their visual performance, because there wasn't enough precision written in to the show. Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy was d### effective, and even had me toe tapping, but the rest of the show seemed really flat to me, design wise. Maybe the Cavaliers spoiled me, but I thought this show was simply flat random drill, exciting music and theme of show, performed very very cleanly. That seems like it would be enough, but I don't see how they can catch the Cavaliers with this show. In fact, it seems about as clean as it's going to be for the rest of this season. I honestly believe that the Blue Devils will soon catch up to the Cadets, and overtake second place, though Cadets certainly deserved it this night. Blue Devils Last show of the night. This show had a lot of circle sets, and I mean a lot. That made it tough to judge their visual, because a circle is the hardest set to clean on the move. As a result, they were pretty ragged. However, I'm of the opinion that this gives them something to still work on. The opener was "feh". Rather forgettable. However, the rest of the show rocked out. BD easily had the best extended soloist of the night. He was showing off a bit too much, in the style of the Cadets, when he ripped the horn off his face three times. However, he was wailing, and proved himself worthy of the "Blue Devils soloist" title. Rising Sun had some of the best moments of the show musically, with power chords that gave me chill bumps. Channel One Suite did, as well, but mainly because I was so familiar with the other shows. After all, Channel One Suite is a part of DCI history. I hear the sideline cymbal set was added just recently, and d### does it work! I couldn't believe the way the battery was flying around, banging away on that thing. There's no way they avoided a collision, it's amazing. Still, there's other visual that needs to be cleaned, and I wouldn't mind hearing a bit more from Channel One Suite, but this is sleezy jazz as only BD can play it, and I really enjoyed hearing it again, after a few years off. Victory Concert Stuck around for the standstill of Frameworks. Also heard Washington Post, and Rainbow. Rainbow was what I was there for, and I wasn't disappointed. However, you could tell the kids were getting tired. The tone was spreading the more they played. Still, they managed to make an echo in the dome like no other corps did all night. I would like to have heard Jupiter, but I won't complain. Tried to find that friend of mine back at Pahntom's busses, but the parking garage I was in locked down at 12:30, so I had to book it out of there. It took me another hour at least, just to get home, which was only 12 miles away. Traffic was backed up for miles, because of some silly bicycle ride at 1 in the morning. Utterly ridiculous, but that's an editorial I'm saving for the local paper. OK, so that wasn't very brief at all, like I claimed in the title. i just started typing, and a lot came out. It was a wonderful show all around, and I just wish I could be there for Madison.

Jeff was absolutely correct. A lot of melodies and licks were taken from the original, but the tempo was juiced, and the entire setting for those melodies was different. you've listened to the two, so you know that they are practically two diffferent pieces. Also the entire ballad, and I believe the entire closer, were originals by Saucedo.

I have the MP3 from the Orlando show, and holy s###!!! This is by far the best hornline the Cavaliers have ever had. In my opinion, the Green Team isn't peaking, but is rather really that good. they've never charged out of the gates like this, but then they've never had talent like this either. I can't stop listening to the music of the show, even recorded from the stands like it is. I haven't even seen the visual yet and it's blowing me away. Obvious bias admitted, this show is going to be d### tough to beat for the title. ~ Maedhros

What can you tell me about the music? I've heard the Wind and the Lion performed exceedingly well by Lassiter High School in 1998. I'm extremely curious to hear how a corps arranges the soundtrack. If anyone has heard both groups, I'd love to hear a comparison. ~ Maedhros

I just thought it funny that you mentioned the Madison Scout who fell toward the end of their show, because he happens to be my roommate here at Indiana University. He told me the story before I read this post, so when I saw him mentioned, I pointed it out to him. He was ###### that he fell, but it's something to look back at and laugh about now. ~ Maedhros

Wow, it seems someone mised the entire point to Blast!. I don't understand how the reviewer could enjoy the dueling percussionists for their incredible skill, without enjoying the rest of the show for the same reason. I've never heard Blast! claim to be anything more than it is, which is a show designed to entertain. The reviewer made the mistake of trying to read a plot into the show, which was a big mistake. What really got to me was how arrogantly and rudely she put down the show. She made it fairly obvious she considers herself intellectually superior to the type of people who enjoy Blast!. It's kind of ironic that I read this post today. I just saw the tape of Blast! a few hours ago. I was fortunate enough to see Blast! live at the Murat Theatre here in Indianapolis, and it was incredible. In my mind, it was the reviewer who just didn't get it. ~ Maedhros