Warrenton Review

[84chief]

My first review (EVER), so bear with me...

The Rush Hour Drive Down from Rockville, MD:

We won't get into that... <**>

The Weather:

H-O-T. B) At least it wasn't rained out (it's happened here before)

The Venue:

I've been to the Warrenton show each year since the first one about four or five years ago. By my recollection, this show is usually later in the season. That, plus the lower than usual turnout gave it a "weird" feeling for me. I attribute the low turnout in part to the BD/Cadets head-to-head match up in Hershey happening on the same night; I can see how some folks who live closer to Hershey or equidistant between the two would choose Hershey over Warrenton this year. Plus, it was the night after Allentown, which isn't usually the case. There was a pretty good size block of empty seats right smack in the middle of the stadium on the 50. My assumption is that maybe a large group who were coming together couldn't make it, for some reason (bus breakdown, traffic, whatever...). On the upside, it sure made for easy in and out, parking, and short lines at the concessions/rest rooms. For some reason, the only souvie stands which were set up were Blue Stars, SCV, Colts, and Spirit (and the Marines). Cascades and Teal Sound souvies were MIA . PA system could have been a bit louder.

The Show:

USMC D&BC: I saw them at Annapolis three weeks ago, and they have tightened up since then. Not sure when their "season" begins and ends (or if they have a "season" for that matter), but it seemed similar to the improvement seen in the DCI corps over the first few weeks of the season. I liked the second part of their show here better than at Annapolis; they did a James Bond medley, and a VERY nice arrangement of "Beautiful" for the ballad. They were, of course, very well received by the crowd.

Teal Sound: I like their unis! Nice teal colored accents to the black which seems to predominate among corps of all shapes and sizes these days. Of the D II corps I have seen this season, my rankings would be 1) Jersey Surf 2) Spartans 3) Teal Sound. I thought the best part of the show was the opener. Molto brava to the guard girl who takes longer than everyone else to "wake up"; I was impressed with her ability to "sell" her part of the show, as well as her athleticism. She is obviously very talented.

Pioneer: Being a sucker for a hummable melody, I've always liked Pioneer's shows, and I was looking forward to the step up in performance level over the last few years which I had heard I should expect.; however, I'm not sure that's what we got. The Irish-flavored theme makes for accessible music, but with the competition the way it is these days, you'd better play it perfectly if you're going to succeed with a show like this. I found myself daydreaming about how Pioneer's musical book would sound being played by someone like Cavvies... Memo to Pioneer: Whatever you do, do not, repeat, DO NOT ever get rid of the logo printed on your bass drum heads. IMO, that is one of those special little things that makes drum corps what it is.

Cascades: My overall impression was: Blue Knights Lite. Their music has the "dark" feeling which BK has done so well with recently. After 2002, I really though Cascades would be the Next Big Thing in DCI (you know, that thing that Carolina Crown ended up being instead); I know they had some organizational turmoil since then, but I always root for them to get back to that stage and continue their development. Cascades win my prize for drum major with the coolest name (Ricca?) :)

INTERMISSION: about 45 minutes long (!) Spent a lot of time watching old Blue Stars videos at their souvie stand. All I have to say is... BRING BACK COLOR GUARDS WEARING HOT PANTS!! ^0^

The Mountain Dew I got at the concession stand was ice cold. Perfect...

Blue Stars: My sentimental favorite. The new unis are used with great effect, but it makes for some very dangerous visual exposure. You can really tell if everyone is not precisely together in their moves. If this issue can be resolved by finals, visual scores should benefit immensely. Musically, I am a huge fan of their entire book. I've seen Phantom twice this season, and I was a little apprehensive about hearing a not-as-good-as-PR version of Firebird. Blue Stars' arrangement is different enough and so listeneable, that I found myself enjoying the heck out of it, and NOT comparing it to PR's as I feared I might.

Colts: Another corps which I've always liked, and had heard was better this year than last. Their musical selections were a bit of a disappointment. As much as I enjoy them on the face of it, I kept thinking of the other corps which I have heard play some of these selections over the years. The new unis are nice, but I am a big fan of white pants, so I would be happy to see the Colts go back to their previous white-panted unis. The overall on-field look of the black and red colts reminds me a little bit of the Boston Crusaders.

Spirit: This is the third time I have seen them. I am a fan of their percussion writing, especially the bass drum line - very tasteful. The part of the show where the corps gathers in the right end zone while singing reminded me of the similar move which Madison did last season; I liked it, especially the quick sequential 'bout-face move out of that form (which the crowd really dug). Someone sitting behind me commented that they should not be missing music hits this late in the season. I thought to myself, isn't it still early in the season? This wacky west coast-oriented schedule has us all discombobulated, I guess...

Santa Clara Vanguard: After having seen them in Allentown on Saturday, I decided to try to keep my eyes on the cymbal line as much as possible. Boy, was it worth it. The move at the beginning of the show where one of them swings his cymbal at the feet of the other as he jumps over it has been changed. It is now a "decapitation" move where the cymbal is swung full speed at the other's head, and he leans back limbo-style out of the way at the last minute - AWESOME!! Can't wait to see what they do with this move by finals! SCV cymbal line is unequivocally one of my all-time favorite things in DCI. As for the rest of their percussion section, I'll say that Jim Casella's lines were some of my very favorites, but I absolutely ate up SCV's 2005 drum book, after Jim had left. The current drum staff seems to have maintained that trademark low-tuned multi-tenor sound which I think has become the definitive SCV drum sound. The level of difficulty and the level of performance are awe-inspiring. I was a member of a chorus which participated in a performance of Ravel's Daphnis & Chloe last fall, so the music was more familiar to me than some other folks. This added to my enjoyment of their show, as I pretty much knew what to expect musically. They seemed to be a little more together visually than they were at Allentown just two days before. I did not see any drops at all in their guard.

The Finale: Colts & SCV horn lines (and the drum majors of all the corps) were played onto the field by SCV's bass drum line (love that bass drum cadence). Scores announced, then the Colts' DM led the combined horns in America the Beautiful. Better than "Anthem of Champions" or whatever that thing they played the last couple of seasons was called, but bring back the old arrangement of America/O Canada, says I.

Encore: SCV formed up and played the opener from this year's show (complete with the cymbal visual again!), then Music of the Night (which literally bought a tear to my eye, as I never got the chance to see or hear either of their "Phantom" shows live), then, of course, Send in the Clowns.

The Drive Home: About 50 minutes to my home in McLean, VA; no traffic whatsoever.

Then:

OK, I know I used a lot of words to say not so much, but I wasn't planning on writing a review, so I didn't take any notes at the show. Sorry if I left anything out. Feel free to correct anything which my faulty memory got wrong.

Whew! I feel like I just finished a term paper (and, trust me, I had COMPLETELY forgotten what that feels like)

Edited July 11, 2007 by 84chief

[Laurakemb]

Thank you very much for the review. :)

[DanjrusMcRynky]

Santa Clara Vanguard: After having seen them in Allentown on Saturday, I decided to try to keep my eyes on the cymbal line as much as possible. Boy, was it worth it. The move at the beginning of the show where one of them swings his cymbal at the feet of the other as he jumps over it has been changed. It is now a "decapitation" move where the cymbal is swung full speed at the other's head, and he leans back limbo-style out of the way at the last minute - AWESOME!! Can't wait to see what they do with this move by finals! SCV cymbal line is unequivocally one of my all-time favorite things in DCI.

That move is called the "Viper". They have done it in pretty much every show I can remember since....early 90's, late 80's? Not sure. It's usually at the end of the drum break and/or the end of the show. It varies on exactly how they do it depending on the physical condition and accuracy of the members, plus how many there are (obviously it would be a bit different if there were 5 like they used to, I mean, SHOULD have.)

Thanks for the review!

[MikeD]

INTERMISSION: about 45 minutes long (!) Spent a lot of time watching old Blue Stars videos at their souvie stand. All I have to say is... BRING BACK COLOR GUARDS WEARING HOT PANTS!! ^0^

Nice review...

I had the pleasure of competing against the Blue Stars in the early 70's....and I remember those guard hot pants VERY well. Best guard uni ever, at least back then. b**bs

Plus...they were a darn good corps, inc the guard.

[SkyRyder_FMM]

Only addition I have is a few comparisons with the performances in Allentown.

Pioneer was about on par, and their score should have been about the same.

Cascades were not as emotional, so they came across a bit flat, but overall their score should have been about the same.

Blue Stars were much better both musically and visually, and their score should have risen more than it did.

Colts had an off night (a lot of individual errors that didn't happen in Allentown, and they did not perform with nearly the same degree of confidence or fire that they did in Allentown). They really put on a fantastic show in Allentown, but tonight was a step down. Their score should have come down as compared to Allentown, rather than increase.

Spirit was about the same as Allentown. Spirit's brass should not have beaten Colts or Blue Stars. There were individuals sticking out, tone quality issues throughout the show, tuning issues (esp with the mellophones), missed attacks and releases in the closer, and dropping off at the end of chords and notes all over the place. Both Colts and Blue Stars did not have these type of problems (or rarely as compared to the prevelance of the issues with Spirit).

SCV was much better than Allentown. They had a much more emotional performance, and the horn line opened it up a bit more tonight. There were a few more rough spots musically from a tone quality perspective, but the GE was much better. Their increase in score seemed right to me.

Some of the differences of opinion on the direction of scores is probably due tot eh fact that I have seen everyone multiple times now and have a sense for how they performed over the past few weeks, and there were several judges on the panel I've never heard of and can't seem to locate on any recaps showing they have judged anyone else this summer. So maybe it's just my looking for trends vs. a fresh read. But my opinion doesn't really matter, so I guess I'll just enjoy the drum corps! :)

[usmcontra]

The Marines learn their drill show in February and March in Yuma, AZ. Then they take it on the road as part of the Battle Color Ceremony with the Silent Drill Platoon for a couple weeks to bases and high schools in California. It pretty much goes on the shelf with occasional drill rehearsals until May, when they do it as a part of the Sunset Ceremony every Tuesday night in Arlington, VA. That runs through August, and in between they do drum corps contests and maybe the Battle Color Ceremony somewhere on the road. In the Fall, they take the Battle Color Ceremony to the bases on the East Coast, and, of course, there's the occasional high school band contest.

Most of the performances the Marines do are stand-still and/or part of another ceremony- retirements, the Evening Parade every Friday during the summer, concerts in ballrooms across the US, the Texas State Fair, etc

The biggest kicker about doing a drum corps show or band contest is that there are lines, as opposed to the field on Tuesday nights where there aren't any lines. Portions of the drill drift enough so that when there are lines and someone remembers, "Oh yeah, I'm supposed to be on this yard line" it can get messy.

Also, there is no "tour" besides the West Coast Tour. So, after the show on Monday night, they went back to DC, everyone went home, then came in Tuesday morning for rehearsal for Tuesday night. The longest trips are the West Coast Tour, 5-6 weeks including AZ, and the Texas State Fair, usually about 3 weeks. The rest are up and back or maybe spending the night. Lodging varies, from hotels to barracks rooms to the new wing of an old persons' home ("the nurses have asked that you stop playing with the emergency call buttons"). There are no gym floors- of course, the ages go from 18 to the early-to-mid 40s.

Edited July 13, 2007 by usmcontra

[3rd_Star_Brigade]

Holy #### about the new SCV visual.

That sounds like an accident waiting to happen, especially since its the SCV plate line we're talking about.