cavalier1995 Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 Apologies for posting this late, DCP took longer than expected to validate my account. Anyway, here it is... It's been a while since I wrote one of these, but here goes... 8 of us in a group (my parents, aunt, another Cav alum 85' and his wife, two newbies from my work and myself) Perfect night for a show, low humidity, clear skies, 70's-60's. PACKED stadium, maybe 5,000 people? Glad we got there early enough to get nice Gen Admin. seats on the high left side 40. In order of performance: Mandarins - solid, always entertaining and connects with all fans. They've come a long way from '1993 rinky dink burn the grass turf with the black tarps while wearing hot pink' corps. Glassmen - should make finals, dug the gypsy thing. I think they should add a Borat character to the show. heh Blue Knights - killer hornline! Maybe the best quality of sound I've ever heard from them. You could feel the rush of energy in their closer, which enspired the audience to give the first REAL standing O. Crossmen - nice effect with the Bones uni in the intro, like the look of the corps, but the bits n' pieces of past hits (birdland, full circle, etc) just don't do it for me. Give me the real deal please. Dirty enough not to make finals as of today but they could push close to 12th if they wanted it. "5 minute intermission" says the announcer. Turns into 30+... someone fire this guy already (more on him later...) Cascades - solid, I think they have some of the best unis, good marching but horns just aren't up to part with the groups ahead of them. Drums and guard were their weak points when they broke into finals in 2002, and both have improved. SCV - my favorite of the night. They may be dirty still but they always bring it. ###### mofos, especially the 4 man cymbal line. ####. Cadets - clearly the hardest and cleanest show out there last night, but I just can't bring myself to applaud a show that has the talking volume set to 11 and covering 50% of the music. I'm tired of Hopkins and staff insisting on beating us over the head with non-brass and perc ideas. I get the concept, really I do, but again, find another way to get your message across - or at least let the audience interpret it as they see fit - without vocals being drilled into your ears instead of music. The same show minus the vocals would have me jumping out of my seat at times, it's that good. Drum major retreat with Cascades/Crossmen mixed arc for yet version 13.0 of America the Beautiful. I wish DCI would stick with one version already, or bring back the old school retreat where everyone plays their corps song. That was one of the best reasons to stay for scores before, now half the stadium scrambles to beat the traffic before it's over. Side notes: Re: the announcer - this guy has been doing the Portland/Vancouver/Kelso/Woodburn/Salem area shows since before I started marching in 1990, and he screws up somehow every year. Before the show he announced that the Crossmen were from Colorado. Then during the scores he said that the Mandarins were the Marauders (who folded in 1994). Can someone please get this guy a script already? Cascades played their show again in concert arc fashion which was nice, then their corps song. If you ever get to listen to them play it, it's pretty cool - it's a version of John Lennon's "Imagine". With finals being in Indy the next XX years, I don't see how there can ever be a show like this in the PacNW again. Quality, large groups, in August? I hope we don't have to wait another 20+ years for that. Overall, I had a great time and it was worth every $. I thought I would let one of my friends chime in with her first-timer thoughts (below) ------------------------------------- My first impression of my first drum corps show was an amazing flow of movement and color. My favorite part of the performance was when the color guard and the horn and drum line interacted for part of the visual effect. I not sure what corp it was but the members of the color guard had 2 members of the horn line hold their flags, which I thought was interesting. Another one of my favorite parts was when Crossmen had capes on and used them for what I thought was a great visual effect. Also watching the judges narrowly escape getting hit by the drum or horn line, and sometimes getting trapped was fun. The part I really didn’t like was how the Cadets had talking throughout most of their performance, even thou the flow and movement was one of the cleanest of the night, I was distracted thru most of it. ------------------------------------ And there you have it. Hope everyone has been able to see at least one show this year. If not, try to make it to the Regal Cinemas broadcast Thursday! E FMM Marauders 90-93 Cavaliers 94-95 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeutralNovice Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 Thank you for your review! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gothunder Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 Great review... thanks very much. Heading for the theatre in a couple of days. It is sad but true that we probably won't have these good solid shows on the west coast often anymore.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SNModdison Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 Great review... thanks very much. Heading for the theatre in a couple of days. It is sad but true that we probably won't have these good solid shows on the west coast often anymore.... I don't know...HopsBlog says... "From Denver - Ogden, To Boise, to Portland, to Northern California -Good locations -- good crowds .... good response ... nice people. We will be back!" We can only hope that they will! And, they can bring some others' with them!!! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.