cobra

Venue: I love Spartan Stadium. Nice field. Pretty nice sized front and backfield bletchers, not the best. But great place for a drum corps show none the less. No track, corps in your lap! (and sometimes on it!) Weather: A clear, crisp 74 degree day in sunny California. (Waiting for those finals!) Crowd: Wow... It was packed. Upper and Lower decks full (people litterally elbow to elbow.) I'd say easily 12-15k on hand. And there was no doubt they had been starving for a finals like event in Northern California. Phantom's pit got a nice obvation just for stepping onto the field. That's how ready this crowd was. Individual Corps Review in order of appearence I will give scores and caption awards at the end of the review. Phantom Regiment: There was one word to describe this performance. Okay... Two... LOW BRASS! Wow, their low brass line is amazing. Not to take anything away from the rest of the brass. I'm not a huge Phantom fan (don't shoot me), but they had a great total package. It was a beatuful show. The thing that sepeartaed Phantom from the top 4 tonight seemed to be quality. All the other corps (besides Madison) seemed much cleaner and seemed to have better drill packages. Musically, they are right on level, if not beyond most of the top 4. Beautifuly done Phantom! Madison Scouts: The obvious underdog tonight as far as programs. But no doubt a crowd pleaser. I would have liked more of the show to be like the last 4 or so minutes, too many Ballad type moments for Madison. And from a show called Madisonic, that was kinda well... disapointing. But the corps pulled off what they were given with flying colors. Great hornline. As someone yelled before the first note "Blow my face off." They did their best to do that, especially in their Encore... Drill wise they took a step back from previous years, but it was still great. Judging from this loan performance, the Scouts are not yet "back." But there's no doubt in my mind they could be back! The Cavaliers: It's about time they played some music out on the field! Okay, maybe they have played some decent music in the past. And they paired it with some AMAZING drill. but FINALLY!! The full package. This was the most accessable show of the night. Everyone knows who and what 007 is. And everyone knows what it's about. It was agreat Idea for the Cavies to put on the field and only the Cavies could pull it off like they did. Awesome, awesome Brass line! As always, a great visual package. Clean as clean can be and very well done. I'm not a cavies fan, but if they keep doing fan favoring shows like this, I may soon become one! Santa Clara Vanguard: My personal favorite of the night. I'm a Vanguard fan yes, and I came into this show trying to hide that fact (even in my mind.) But I couldn't stop smiling. This is what Vanguard is about. A LOUD Hornline, with a great sound. Incredible Drum line and Pit. And the Color guard, Bravo SCV, this show had it all. No doubt one of SCVs best drill packages put on the field. The percussion was better then I expected, the brass a little less then I expected with a few horns sticking out here and there. But I want to say the phrase "If they only had another week" holds true. Vanguard was in my mind (and most of the people around me) the best corps of the night. And coming on AFTER the cavies, they held their own and more. The Cadets: I wanted to hate this show. Just because of the clips I saw on the DCI site. But I didn't. Well... Let me rephrase that. I disliked the first 5 or so minutes with a passion. But from there on out, I loved it. I am going to agree with everyone and say this is a First place corps with a fouth place (very nearly a fifth place) package. They performed the crap out of that show and actually had me cheering! Color guard uniforms sucked. No offense, but I guess the theme is to blame for that. Musically they were great, very talented sections as a whole. Drill wise, a lot of the same recycled Cadets drill. But overall it was a good show. Blue Devils: I loved the train theme. It was very clever... The Brass was amazing. Loud, crisp and clean. The best Brass line of the night. But the show was too show offy for me. The drill package was probably comparable to Madisons. What set them above Madison was how clean they were. Their music was a lot better then I expected. But in my eyes the Cavies and SCV had better music packages. BD no doubt has the swagger in their step. They are a confident bunch who performed their show as well as they could. The show was more of a feel good show I could bob my head to then what I would call Championship material. But I enjoyed the show and they did a great job! Corps in Mass: Very very Impressive. By far the loudest thing I have ever heard in my life. And probably the best performance of Simple Gifts ever!! They were amazing. Great job by all the kids learning this so fast. A thank you to them for the Special gift. And sing sing sing! WOW... scretching trumpets echoing through the night! It was AWESOME! Encore Performances -Phantom played "Elsa's" and it was breathtaking. Beautifully played! Awesome brass sound as always from Phantom. A chilling moment which gave me goosebumps! -Madison again played "Theme from Ice Castles" like in LA. What was great about this encore was the ending. At the end of their show the announcer said "I don't think they played loud enough, let's see if they give us more." Well they did, they held the last note for a good minute and a half. In this time the drum major ran up the lower level stairs, into the tunnel and up onto the edge of the second level. It was quite a crowd pleaser! -Cavies played "Somewhere over the Rainbow" and I always love hearing that song coming from them. It's nice to hear them play a beautiful piece without moving around. A good change of pace from their field show. -Vanguard started with "Send in the Clowns" and this brought the audience to their feet. It's a perfect arrangement and nobody can do it better. Then "UH OH!" hear comes the BOTTLE DANCE! The crowd was standing and cheering before they got 2 bars into the song. Awesome! -Cadets... I'm still laughing as I think about it. Two trumpets, one baritone, one contra and one melo. They played a rendition of William Tell in which reminded me of a Blast! type moment. They would play and someone would show off, the other four would stop and stare and so on. It was a great show, and by far the most crowd pleasing moment of the night (next to the corps en mass.) -Blue Devils played "Chase the Clouds away" and a 2 minute reprise of their show. Very well done and I didn't mind the reprise since it was my favorite part of their show. a note about the instant encores. I think DCI should consider doing this at other shows. It keeps the pace going and is a great experience. Very enjoyable! Scores and captions using the new scoring system! ;) 1st: Santa Clara Vanguard - 97.750 2nd: The Cavaliers - 97.650 3rd: Blue Devils - 97.050 4th: The Cadets - 95.900 5th: Phantom Regiment - 94.250 6th: Madison Scouts - 90.200 GE: The Cavaliers (second: SCV) Music: Phantom (second: Cavies) Brass: Blue Devils (second: Phantom) Percussion: Santa Clara (second: Cadets) Color Guard: The Cavaliers (second: BD) Final Thought It was great to see the corps out west in August. The whole event was just breath taking. Everything went off without a hitch and the crowd obviously enjoyed it! Bring a Championship weekend here DCI!!!

Not to rain on anyones parade... but all these people saying Phantom might pass SCV (or possibly even the Cadets), c'mon, you honestly believe Phantom is gonna make up a 2.40 point gap Without Vanguards .50 penalty last night 3 Santa Clara Vanguard 94.050 4 The Cadets 93.800 5 Phantom Regiment 91.650 6 Madison Scouts 90.600 2.40 points, where are they gonna make it up? Especially after SCVs new ending (which could possibly give them the surge they need) If I were a Phantom fan, and I am being brutally honest here, I would be more worried about Madison passing Phantom then about Phantom passing SCV. Just look at it realistic here. If SCV has the most room to improve in this 5 day stretch, calling on Phantom to pass them is a long shot. And don't forget the Cadets always seem to peak around Finals week...

Well SCV's guard does not wear the same uniforms... A Guard is a member of the corps, so to say corps would confuse Guard. And I'm too lazy to say Winds and Battery (but not the pit)

Is a way of saying the contrast changes. Facing front SCV is read, facing backfield they are Green.

And I'm gonna go ahead and give you a response to this. SCV's uniforms, although they may not have the greatest coloring, are MUCH more effective thn BD's. Two examples... 1.) when SCV changes from backfield to facing front, it looks like a different band just stepped on the field. 2.) From higher up, Blue Devils look like they are wearing no other color then ALL black. Santa Clara has much more clarity to their uniforms. Much more effective...

I didn't say the show wasn't hard. I said the concept does not seem Incredibly hard. The notes the leads are hitting on their trumpets aren't easy at all. However, once again... look at the Renegades... A senior corps who has been doing that forever. Overall, BD has a difficult show, of course. But I really don't think it's 1.5 points better then SCVs. And I too don't understand why this is happening. Nor do I understand why you can almost garentee year in and out the top 4 will look like this... 1. BD or Cavies 2. BD or Cavies 3. Cadets 4. SCV But yes, I'm not a judge...

No offense, but I'm sure there are A LOT of people who have or do March on this forum... As for what I play... I too played sop, and I am not in anyway saying BD doesn't have talented musicians. ####, they showcase they have a few INCREDIBLE ones. But If you think BD's show is special because they have some brass players whaling all over the field, check out the Renegades... There are almost NO melodies in BDs show this season. Whereas SCVs show is filled with melodies. I don't think I'm going out on a limb by saying SCVs whole show is overall a lot harder, and a lot less showing off as it is putting out the best of everything. In no way am I sayng BD has a terrible show, cause it's not. It's great. But I really don't believe that because it is a touch cleaner, it should be beating Vanguard by 1 and a half points. And I think in NO WAY should their percussion beat SCV ANYWHERE ANYTIME. But then again, I'm not a judge...

I just listened to it as well, to try and listen for what SCV Fan is talking about. I think you hold a grudge, because none of which you said holds true. There is great tone quality, the soloists ALL nailed their solos with great sound. The trumpets, and mellos sound amazing. The low brass does their job and well, of course, the Euph sound is missing, but the Baritones still sound awesome. As far as the quality of the APDs, they all suck, especially when compared to the live showing... To everyone worried about the point spread... SCV WILL close the gap this weekend. That is for sure... With 3 days off between the show, the staff will be doing TONS of cleaning.

Don't worry DCDAD, you have every right to be proud... He's doing a great job and is only getting better. As far as SCVFan, excuse me for calling you an Idiot... but you're an idiot. Your basing your claims on a crummy pit heavy recording in which everyone has already claimed sounds worse then the Seattle APDs. The fact that you are basing your "facts" on a recording and not a LIVE VIEWING already makes your opinion invalid, yet you continue to state it. This is a review thread, not a I heard the Orlando APD so I know about the Ohio show thread. I agree with everyone who believes BD is a little overrated this year. Their show is a few bars of playing, some percussive stuff and then a trumpet solo. That doesn't strike me as incredibly hard. What is hard is playing together, in tune, with great sound quality, without showboating, while marching some crazy drill. Even the Cadets do that better this year. In terms of REAL shows... I would have to say BD ranks 4th in my book. But then again, if I had a few good trumpet players... Why not base a show around them. Everyone is gonna buy it as a "Great Brass Section" SCV sounds great live, and these APDs do NO ONE justice.