Div 2,3 prelims review

[witchsbrew07]

BTW, no I'm not marching, despite what my signature says. I haven't logged in this account in like a year and never bothered to change it.

Also, quick comments about my reviews:

I might skip a few. I don't mean to offend if I forgot what a corps show was, so sorry! :)

Some of my comments may be negative, sorry that I can't be a super positive guy about everything.

And if anyone disagrees with my review, I blame the people all around me with their CELL PHONES RINGING. Thank you for ruining about three different shows for me. <**>

Last but not least, I'm a drumline/pit guy.

SO HERE IT GOES!

Citations: Last I saw them was New London. If I remember well, not much was changed. They kind of remind me of a smaller East Coast Jazz (with the infamous Charley Poole drum solo that has been plugged into as many ECJ shows as I remember...) Didn't leave me a lasting impression, since most of the music sounded the same to me. Smoking drumline though, for that size.

Velvet Knights: OK, so, I've never seen this corps live before (I am waaay too young for that! haha) but I've read up enough on my history to know what they are all about. This corps had it all-a VANGUARD yell (which scvc was missing?), megaphone tubas, and a race. Hilarious. Loved the music and the everything.

Impulse: Also didn't really leave me a lasting impression. When I heard what they were doing, and know the corps has hella talent, very surprised to see the corps perform like it did. Maybe they had an off day today. Nonetheless, nifty show idea. I can't wait for a Div 1 to take Nubuo Eumatsu's (sp?) music to a hella good level.

Oregon: I don't remember much except their pit. Otherwise they were good.

Dutch Boy: Also saw these guys in New London. VERY DIFFERENT from last I saw. They had some good vocals. They were a very good example of how vocals can add to a show! Helped me notice the two rockets launching in the show! Haha. Very good all around, I loved the ending in particular (the pit playing twinkle twinkle little star... how cute :) )

Revolution: Umm, they were good! I recall clapping a lot, but that's about it. Sorry! (It's been a looooong day!)

Fever: Very solid performance. This was the first fever show I have liked in a few years, so give it that, I think we can all expect a good finals week from them.

Scouts: WOW! I was very impressed with their pit as well as the rest of the corps. Shame they are competing in an "international" division, because they can definitely handle themselves into the top 3 for div 3.

Memphis: This corps shocked me. Back when they were marching on I didn't think they looked very large, but they proved me wrong. Very loud and effective. No doubt in my mind they are the div 3 champs!

DIV 2!

Raiders: Nice show idea, but there was nothing new to me about it. I've seen many renditions of WSS, and well, I think they were all better than this. Mostly because Raiders tried to shove ALL of the different themes into the show, which is too much. They were okay, overall.

Vanguard Cadets: WOW! I saw a youtube clip of them way back in June, and my my has this corps improved. Drumline was excellent. I feel like the corps is going their big brother route (how the show ended remind people of anything?). Hornline still has more work to do in the tuning area, but the show was designed very well. Lots of great pit moments.

BDB: I was sold. The drumline and pit were both very talented. Brass and guard good too. Like Fever, I'm not usually a fan of BDB, but I was very impressed with the show this year and I liked the tunes a lot. Placement was a tough call though... many of my neighbors thought vanguard was better but I'm not really sure about that. But I definitely think the scores should have been closer than what they were. And probably higher. (on both)

Teal: omgomgomgomgog. AMAZING EVERYTHING but drumline. :/ I really hope the line was having a bad show, because the snare line was like... July dirty. I did notice they are fielding 9 snares though, which is way too much, but whatever for them I guess. brass line was amazing though. I agree with the GE scores, but not the perc scores. Sorry teal!

Surf: I don't want to start fights here, but I think they'll end up on top all week. Very solid performance, brass = omg loud, drumline was by far the tightest I heard that night. Even the pit was top notch, I think the best in this division group. If they really fix up their visual package, they are bringing home that gold. btw, this is the show that a cell phone went off RIGHT AFTER A HORN RELEASE FOR A SILENCE EFFECT IN THE BALLAD. THANK YOU!

Spartans: Now, when I saw them at New London I wasn't very impressed. Seeing them now, much better! They are definitely a contender for the top spot, but so is teal if they can clean up that drumline. It's hard for me to judge spartan's shows because their shows usually sound the same to me (way to rip off corps, Key!). I will admit, it's a good show, much better than previous Key originals, but I still liked last years show 10x better. This is also the most I have ever seen the pit play--my regards to them.

So to sum it up, yay drum corps, boo cell phones. Don't be that guy at the next show, please!

[DrumCorpsMom]

Great review! Thanks!

[lara87]

Thanks for a good review!