blue_devil_fan Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 So here's my short review from Allentown for Sunday. Crossmen was very entertaining, they used a little bit of Birdland in their show, and their show is much better than last years. Their improvements need to be made in their sound, they're just not putting in a big enough sound compared to other corps. Blue Stars had a very nice full sound and overall nice show, I had them just above the Crossmen. The Colts were much stronger than I expected. I was amazed at how this corps has grown since last year. Each area of the corps seems to be improving each year and I hope the trend continues. The Glassmen were ok, I had the Colts over the Glassmen, which was the outcome. It seemed like I was hoping they would play Malaguena throughout the whole entire show, but it never came. The show was just uninteresting from start to finish. For those of you who are Glassmen fans, I mean no disrespect, I just didn't like their show. Blue Knights, well.....I loved their show last year, and this year, I love their show. The sound from the hornline sounds very mature. My only gripe about the show is that they're sitting on the ground just as much as their marching on the field. If they would lay off the kneeling and move a little more, I think they would be higher in ranking. But regardless of that, i still loved their show. Blue Devils, my favorite show of the night.......were great as I expected. Their drumline was smokin as usual and the hornline was loud and more powerful than any corps on the field tonight. It's interesting when they're playing backfield, and you can still tell they're playing loud. But overall, a great show. I do have to agree with a lot of other reviewers that they need to beef up the ending to their show. If they change it, it could make this show much better than it already is. Bluecoats were my 2nd favorite show of the night. This show just had fun written all over it. It's also the first time that I felt narration was used in a tasteful and fun way. I would tell you about it, but it's something you need to witness for yourself. It's just a fun show to watch. After reading plenty of reviews, I now understand what the buzz was about Bluecoats show this year, and it the buzz is well deserved. Finally, The Cavaliers marched on the field. I had very high hopes for them, they haven't been a disappointment over the past 6 years, and I was expecting a great show from them. The visuals were great, but the music wasn't. I was left bored throughout most of the show. The only thing that kept me interested was the drumline. The Cavs drumline is always a joy to watch. Unfortunately, I was just unentertained throughout the show. My rankings afterwards were... 1. Blue Devils 2. Bluecoats 3. Cavaliers 4. Blue Knights 5. Colts 6. Glassmen 7. Blue Stars 8. Crossmen Sorry, I don't have a review for the Cascades or Pioneer b/c I got there late. I was also mad at the end of the show because The Cavaliers did the encore. Since BD won, I was really hoping to get a chance to hear it again. Unfortunately that did not happen. I stayed and listened to the Cav's show, and the second time around did not make me feel any better about the show. I'll still give it a chance come finals weekend when I get the APD's. Also, for those of you who don't know, the Cav's marched their entire show tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeeWee Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 Thank you for the review! Wow! The Cavaliers finally put in their long anticipated closer and the show still came out flat?! Hurray!...uh, I mean...oh darn! Here's hoping for some fresh blood up top in '07! ^OO^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Boxer Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 Allentown Sunday night – short review A few words of intro. 1. I was seated on the 45, but not seated high enough to get a good view of drill so I won't make any drill comments. 2. Its still early in the season so there were lots of phasing problems and many instances of single players sticking out. 3. My comments will be basically on overall show design and any elements that IMHO deserve attention/praise. Etc. Bridgemen - complete with two penalty flags! As expected - fun, funny and the crowd ate it up! Yeah, it was kind of sloppy but who cared - it was a blast. Pioneer - 65.025 - Nice use of Holst. Excellent contra line - wow. Weak guard. They petered out about 2/3s of the way through the show (not unusually this early in the season) Weak show design is going to leave them out of semis, again. Cascades - 69.375 - Excellent show design incorporating 3s everywhere. They clean this up by Pasadena, and they might make finals. Crossmen - 72.775 - Good brass, nice movement, but the guard seems to always be too far away. They never seem to be incorporated in the show. Its like the designer just wanted them out of the way. Blue Stars - 73.8 - The white/blue contrast uniforms don't seem to be utilized very much. IMHO, poor arrangement of Firebird. Colts - 76.525 - Very cool single flag toss over the collapsing and expanding corp. The rest seems to be a work in progress. Glassmen - 75.925 - Lets take some great music and then orchestrate all the life and excitement out of it. Very muddy brass. They are playing a ton of notes here, but unless they clean it up, this show won't make finals. Blue Knights - 79.075 - Loud, loud loud. And it seems that the sopranos only play when they are standing or sitting still - which is a lot. Blue Devils - 86.475 - As expected top heavy loud brass and simplistic drill (tons of follow the leader). This could end up 4th to 6th at finals. The design and demand just aren't there yet. Bluecoats - 84.750 - WOW - a total package that is already being clearly executed (clearly - not necessarily cleanly). I thought they easily won. The best "show" on the field. Cavaliers - 85.325 - hmmmmm.... clearly a lot of running drill and a whole lot of whole and half notes being played. I don't see much demand in the music. In fact, after the opening, I could barely recognize any of the music as Billy Joel. General comments after both nights: Nice trend - a lot more corps are using contras as melodic instruments - to great effect - loved it. And in most cases, its already being performed excellently. Put this one to rest - OK guard instructors, retire the "dance" move where the guard member rolls on their back and sticks one or two legs up in the air. It always looks like the instructor ran out of ideas: "I don't know what to do here so just roll on your back and stick a leg in the air". IMHO it has never added anything to a show. Predictions for finals - Yeah right. Madison won't make semis, Bluecoats will be in the top 3. Other than that, its too early to tell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KRtrumpet182 Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 Thanks for the reviews. It's nice to read what other people who were at the same show thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobrien Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 Wow! The Cavaliers finally put in their long anticipated closer and the show still came out flat?! Hurray!...uh, I mean...oh darn! Unless plans changed since Friday night, the closer used in A-town was not yet what's being planned for later in the season. Musically, they're already playing it in the encores, and if the visual aspect matches the intensity of the notes, it should provide a solid resolution to the show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milesdavis Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 DCI plans out the encores and America/No Canada way in advance...it has nothing to do with who wins the show....except for finals Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KRtrumpet182 Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 Unless plans changed since Friday night, the closer used in A-town was not yet what's being planned for later in the season. Musically, they're already playing it in the encores, and if the visual aspect matches the intensity of the notes, it should provide a solid resolution to the show. I'm glad to hear this. When the show ended, I thought, "There is no way Cavies would end like that." Looking forward to seeing it on the field. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bumo27 Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 Unless plans changed since Friday night, the closer used in A-town was not yet what's being planned for later in the season. Musically, they're already playing it in the encores, and if the visual aspect matches the intensity of the notes, it should provide a solid resolution to the show. Good, is there ANY part of Piano Man in that part?? I can't believe they have a Billy Joel show with not even ONE lick of his most popular song of all time. Huh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScribeToo Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 Wow! The Cavaliers finally put in their long anticipated closer and the show still came out flat?! Hurray!...uh, I mean...oh darn! Ummm.. the Cavaliers closer you refer to is not slated to go in until the Texas swing.. put your pitchfork away! :P Stef Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dciteddybear Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 Ummm.. the Cavaliers closer you refer to is not slated to go in until the Texas swing.. put your pitchfork away! :P Stef were you there??? how do you not know that they didn't put it in? just because they're "supposed" to not unveil it until texas doesn't mean that actually have to wait. seriously... what the crap are the cavaliers doing waiting until the end of July to put on the rest of their show. THAT is a DUMB move. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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