Hershey Review

[Bob984]

Greetings...

Here is my review of the Hershey show....

General....great crowd, and though heat was brutal during the day, the stadium was shaded by showtime and it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been....

Surf....solid performance for a Div II corps, and they were more confident tonight then when I first saw them....interesting treatment of Shaft......some of the arranging a bit disjunct for me.....this corps works hard, is competent in all sections, and has created a good space for themselves among div. II competitors....

Troopers....I enjoyed the show, and they are working hard....perc. is probably best section of the corps thusfar....decent low brass sound....need more soprano sound and more impact overall....for being off for a year, they have a decent product which I feel is a tad underscored.....

Crossmen........arrangements come across as very disjunct to me....they had the crowd into it when they finally hit the push in Russian Xmas Music, then they just go into something else, abruptly......hornline has many problems, especially mellophones, and lack of air support....percussion, guard, and visual product are all adequate, but I feel brass problems are significant, and scoring seems a tad high for the product at this point.....

Blue Knights......book a bit obscure, but it is well arranged, demanding, and they have a solid brass line...percussion a bit dirty, but it's early, and they will be fine.....visual design/guard both good. I think this book is better than what they have had the past few years, and they perform well......good show.

Crown......awesome show. Arrangements are superb, and played very musically, with great intonation, blend, and technique, and they communicate the product to the audience. percussion section still has some early season dirt, but they have a solid section which is arranged very well and fits the brass book well. I am confused by the music numbers given this corps, especially effect and brass, where I believe they are stellar. They have the finest brass blend of any line I heard this year (and I've heard them all). Guard and visual program are not too shabby either. (They have been winning guard). I believe impacts are still being held back just a bit....once they open up, look out.....I feel this show has been underscored all season, as this is a very effective show that also, when looked at it, has a ton of demand as well........

Blue Devils.....they play and perform very well. They have a solid lead soprano line which really adds to the impacts with high range players who can hit it. Opener works well, (interesting treatment of Pegasus) and I liked the black wings of the guard. I also did appreciate when they all go to rifle, but it could be so much more effective if they would pay more attention to detail, as there is a lack of uniformity, but it didn't show up in the visual scores.....I felt the middle of the show lacked expression and emotion, and the overall musical programming of the book came across a bit choppy. Percussion is solid, although I think the move where the drumline is wailing while hornlines play in chordal style moving backfield is growing old on me (due to several corps doing this in the last 3 years and this year....) and just really isn't very musical. Being strong in the performance numbers did not surprise me, but the music effect number did....the ending was not bad but I still expected more from them at that point......

Cadets....as I said before, if you can't get past the narration on this show, you probably will never like it. However, the corps is really playing a whale of a book, and very well at this point...the brass line plays with more impact and emotion than they have in quite some time, and they manage to do it throughout the show and are reaching the crowd. There is plenty of variety, the arrangements/orchestrations are very interesting and well-written, and the drill and guard book fit well, the movement/tempo/playing demand in the closer especially is insane. I thought they clearly beat Devs in effect, but that didn't happen....performance may have been a toss up......this is a very solid show which is also entertaining, and I feel once this program is razor clean, which I believe it will be, they will be tough to beat....

Looking forward to Pasadena!

GB

[cadet93]

Very objective Review Thanks!

I was at the Hershey show as well sitting on th 50 at the top of the stadium. I am admitedly a little biased having marched in The Cadets.

My thoughts on the corps that I saw:

Crossmen

I was very interested in seeing them 'post move' and had mixed emotions. I think they will be fine if the intense Texas band community will get behind the idea of Drum Corps. The talent pool both member and instructionally that they have to pull from is immense. I think the challenge is to direct the TX talent from being solely band focused and get them to see the rewards of Drum Corps. I think the Crossmen move is a step in the right direction.

The show does seem choppy to me, but I think it is a transition year that will allow them to go in a more symphonic direction in years to come which will highlight the skills of the design staff.

Blue Knights

Very solid performance levels and there were definitely very interesting moments. For me they seem to have a very similar show every year. I would like to see something new and refreshing from them.

Carolina Crown

Great show!! Accesible, Technically Demanding, and Intriguing Clear design all at the same time. Is this possible in modern DCI?? They prove it is this year and I appreciate it. Regardless of Finals placement or scores, this show will be remembered. It reminds me of the shows of the late 80s and early 90s from Star and the Cadets that initially peaked my interest in DCI. BRAVO!

Blue Devils

Very High Performance Levels for early July and as usual a very clean product coming out of Concord. I guess I don't view this show as being terribly demanding, either in the hornline drill, or hornbook, but I never marched a BD show so feel free to flame away.

I LOVE the opening 3 minutes of the show and then it kind of dies away for me.

The Cadets

Admitedly Biased as I am an alumni. However, I will say the narration could be toned down greatly while sustaining the 'This I Believe' concept. Several of the lines are quite heavy handed. We will see how it evolves over time.

That being said. Holy hornline and drill. It just puts a smile on my face to see the drill demand back. I am also very very impressed by the hornline. The years I marched (early, mid 90s) we (the hornline) were definitely the weak link of the corps. It is great to see them playing such an intricate, difficult book so well.

They definitley are not as clean as BD right now and had a few blatant Guard issues Monday night. If anything holds them back this year it surpisingly will be the guard, they are not at the same talent level as previous years, does anyone know if they are very young?

So I hope this was not too biased, I try to point out the strengths and weaknesses of each corps in as objective of a manner as I am capable.

Can't wait for Murphreesboro.