Finals Review (Brief)

[CorpsBuff]

I'm on my planning period at school so I'll write a VERY brief review of finals.

One more time, it's my opinion please take it as such.

Class A.

SoCal Dream - Loved the hornline, and the visual. I had them scored higher than they were. Surprised not only at the score but the placement as well.

Sunrisers - Good overall show, however I did not have them as the winner last night. Hornline was tight as was the visual. Drumline definitely seemed to fit in well with the overall show concept. Really enjoyed the victory concert. Congrats! GREAT to see you BACK!

Govies - Fun and entertaining show overall. Good to see an increase in numbers from last year. John definitely deserved the drum major trophy. Loved the Cadets/Bridgemen esk fun drum parts. Definitely a crowd favorite.

Open Class

Cru - Wow, what an improvement! The last time I saw them at the MSJ alumni show I was slightly worried, but Cru played one of my favorite shows of the night. The drumline was VERY good and the hornline had one of the better balances of the night. Solo work was nice (including former MU student Matt Jaeger) and it was a VERY entertaining show. Looking for HUGE things for next year!

Corpsvets - Georgia was ROCKIN' to open up the show and sounded like the same arrangement as '81 Spirit. Excellent solo work throughout. I felt the visual was a little lacking but again that was just me. A VERY entertaining show and another one of the crowd favorites.

Renegades - Ok, the coffin thing is the coolest thing I've even seen in drum corps live. If you weren't there you missed it. Some of the highest and loudest notes of the night. Again, surprised by the score I had them higher but the visual demand wasn't where the other corps were. Horn and drumline were great and the Reneguard was in full force. Loved the outfits and the presentation. Excellent job!

Hurcs - Vast improvement throughout the season. Horn and drumline were very good, unfortunatly I believe they ran out of gas by the end of the show. They seemed tired. Solo work was incredible (who's the new guy?).

MBI - Another very entertaining show. Solo work was again phenomninal. Drumline and front ensemble was smokin' as always. Very well thought out and performed show I thought.

Brigs - GENEVIEVE!!!!!!!!!! Finally getting the recognition she DESERVES won the show(wo)manship award once again bringing tears to my eyes in "First time". The show has the greatest improvement of all the shows I've seen this season. It finally became the show I knew it could become last night. FANTASTIC!

Bush - Entertaining show, guard deserved to win the title. Hornline had some folks sticking out but overall was very polished. Drumline was also very entertaining but the visual both marching and guard was the highlight for me.

ES - This show has also progressed nicely throughout the season. Joey, Ritchee, Jeff and Jaime? were all excellent on their solo work as usual. Guard was well done but the visual program was not that high of demand. The show was extremely clean but again I believe a more demanding drill might have pushed them a little higher.

Cabs - The marching band I'm working with is doing carmen so I really enjoyed the music in this show. They had a couple of miscues both marching and musically but overall the show came together nicely. The TorreadorRumps were definitely appreciated by all in attendance. Most demanding visual I've seen from the Cabs in a LONG TIME (Maybe ever). Props to Eric and Bobby for that.

Bucs - The complete package, there's really nothing else like it. The bucs never looked back from their opening note. Visual was extremely demanding, the hornline was tight and the drumline was perfect (really, check the scores). One of the better shows I've ever had the priviledge of seeing (And I'm really not being biased).

Couple final notes

I really don't like Rochester's stadium. Between sirens, planes, trains and whatever that squeaking noise was coming from the field left side of the bleachers annoyed me to no end. And what's with the yellow seats randomly placed in the upper deck?

Food/Beverages were great.

Allen Buell has done a great job with organization.

Security was good from what I saw but trying to get on the field to sing the corps song after Bucs performance was a little iffy even in a corps jacket.

GREAT to hear Fran at finals and to talk briefly with him after the show. It just wouldn't have been finals without Fran. Still best in Drum Corps IMO.

Also if you are in the stands, when corps are on the field (especially class A and the lower placed corps) DO NOT TALK!!! :sshh:

Another season in the books, next year I will be looking for reviews as more than likely I will not be in the stands but rather back where I belong. Good luck to all next year!

Andrew

Edited September 4, 2007 by BucsBuff

[AlbionNY Drum Line]

Thanks for the kind words about the line :)

[mflavah]

Another season in the books, next year I will be looking for reviews as more than likely I will not be in the stands but rather back where I belong. Good luck to all next year!

Andrew

Thanks for the review Andrew!

So does this mean you're marching next year?!?!? :)

~mflav

[CorpsBuff]

Thanks for the review Andrew!

So does this mean you're marching next year?!?!? :)

~mflav

^0^

[topsops]

Have to agree with Andrew about the show....simply fantastic. Show ran perfectly weather was perfect and all the corps from top to bottom were great!!

Outstanding items for the weekend.....

STAR in the minicorps division. So outstanding it was unbelievable, and thier victory concert outside made the whole weekend for me. they are beyond fantastic.

Cru back in the finals, nice going guys/gals.

CORPSVETS- if theyplayed their whole show like they did "Georgia" they would have been higher. Crowd just loved them.

RENEGADES - my favorite for entertainment. They set out ot do just that, and people will talk about this for years to come. That's what its all about. Thank you Renegades for making DCA 2007 the greatest entertaining DCA yet!!

BUSHWACKERS show was a hi-light to see. What a great looking drill, and you can't say enough about that guard. Prelims for the guard was better, but they were the greatest guard I've EVER seen at DCA, and it was going to take a lot to beat the 96 CABS guard, and you did it.

CABALLEROS seemed to turn it on in finals also. Glad to see that hype out there. Thank you for such an awesome show.

BUCCANEERS, what can one say about them? I knew they would go undefeated, and they proved it. Best overall show design, so many WOW factors. Classy drum major! Congratulations to your corps!! There was no doubt this year.

Next year will be even fiercer, I'm sure and just as entertaining I hope. Great DCA!

Also, great job by the folks who put this all together. It ran SO smooth. from the equipment trucks coming in, to the victory concerts after the show. I/E ran just as smooth...congrats to all involved!

Can it ever get better??????

[Jim Allen]

Brigs - GENEVIEVE!!!!!!!!!! Finally getting the recognition she DESERVES won the show(wo)manship award once again bringing tears to my eyes in "First time". The show has the greatest improvement of all the shows I've seen this season. It finally became the show I knew it could become last night. FANTASTIC!

Thanks for the excellent review. And you are correct: Genevieve finally received the recognition she has deserved since the first time she played "First Time." It has always been almost impossible to hear her play that solo without getting at least a little misty-eyed...even at rehearsal!!! Bravo, Genevieve!!!!

[TheMoonlightChef]

Brigs - GENEVIEVE!!!!!!!!!! Finally getting the recognition she DESERVES won the show(wo)manship award once again bringing tears to my eyes in "First time". The show has the greatest improvement of all the shows I've seen this season. It finally became the show I knew it could become last night. FANTASTIC!

Thanks for the excellent review. And you are correct: Genevieve finally received the recognition she has deserved since the first time she played "First Time." It has always been almost impossible to hear her play that solo without getting at least a little misty-eyed...even at rehearsal!!! Bravo, Genevieve!!!!

As a first time drum corps soloist this season, and 'getting my feet' as it were, I have revered Genevieve since 2003. I am so happy she was FINALLY recognized.

Félicitations Genevieve!!

[Thom]

Thanks for the kind words from everyone at SoCal Dream.

[CorpsBuff]

Oh and to anyone sitting in section 308, if you saw a guy yell YES and instantly stand with an ovation after the announcement of the showmanship award.... that was me!

[Brassman53]

Some comments on Finals from the 15 yard line, 5 rows up, section 309, the side closest to the souvie area.... When you're on the 15 you get a different perspective on things, you see and hear ( and miss ) things you wouldn't notice from a prime location. I'm a brass player, so keep that in mind when reading my thoughts....

Dream- excellent soloists, real nice duet as well. Contra line was very effective. Show seemed to lack impact points other than solos and closing statement. Appeared that the outstanding lead sop was overpowering the rest of the sops at times. Still and all a nice effort...

Sun- saw them in June and felt sorry for them. What an improvement! Brass line had the best blend of all the class A corps, and marching was cleaner than some open class units. Percussion and guard were effective as well. Thought they deserved to win, as they had the most complete package.

Govies- The most entertaining of the Class A units. Outstanding bari solo work. "Love for Sale" really had a nice low brass sound. The two snares sounded quite clean from my vantage point. You can tell the corps enjoys performing their show. Seemed to run out of gas a bit during Sing SanG, Sung ( quite an ambitious piece for small hornline-plus it was the closer), and that may have been the difference between winning and taking second.

Crusaders- Love the new uniforms. They really give the corps a clean look. This to me was an example of a corps show that fit the members talent level perfectly. Russian music was very enjoyable ( in fact show held my intrest the entire time). if they can beef up the sop line a bit -look out next year ( oh yeah and the large guard was impressive as well)...

Corps Vets- Always enjoy these guys. Their brass section really comes to play- Georgia was rockin'. Loved the arrangment of La Fiesta ( a different take on the piece). Soloists are first rate. The tenors did a real cool move running around their drums, and playing backwards that was extremely impressive....

Renegades- Well after being disappointed with them last year, this year was the exact opposite reaction for me. I really enjoyed their show. I found myself laughing out loud several times during the show, at their "coffin" bits, and sitting back in awe at the range and clarity of the lead sops.. Holy Sh@@! Jazz Police was awesome! Also they had a really in-tune Mello section featured that had some range in there not normally heard from mello lines nowadays- very impressive!

Brass was one of the most powerful lines of the night...

Hurcs- Wow have they made great strides this year... It seems to me just about every year I see them I can count on hearing individuals sticking out of the brass ensemble, and a variety of marching styles. Well something happened this year that fixed all the stuff. The best Hurcs corps in years! They played and marched quite well, and the music was very entertaining. If memory serves me correctly they had a cool feature that had a quartet of brass players playing in an ensemble secftion with the pit during Maria- very nice. Sop solos were spot on. Nice job Hurcs.

Minnesota Brass- No question they have an excellent corps this year, but the show didn't grab me like past productions. Enjoyed the opener, and closer, but kind of non-descript in the middle. Also from where I was sitting, the drill sets (angles) seemed to be off slightly all night. Still have great soloists and excellent perc, but something was missing this year

Brigs- Very pleasantly surprised with their show. Loved the opening statement with the "Time goes by" lick and Shangrila played by the guy in the old school Brigs uni. Like others have said, "First Time ever I saw Her face" was one of the best balllads out there this year. Impressive entertaining performance.

Bush- They always have excellent low brass, and this year was no exception. Guard was also quite effective. Don't know much about percussion, but it seemed to me like their drums were tuned lower than most- and I really liked the sound they produced. Bush's sops are quite good, but tended to be overpowered by the low brass.

Empire- Being a big Maynard fan, i was really looking forward to this show, and they didn't disappoint. I think what held them back a bit was drill, which seemed to have less demand than other upper-echelon corps. The soloists were outstanding!! I found myself dropping my jaw in admiration sevral times. People have ripped the Taps segment, but I found it quite effective. The highlight for me was the 7 trumpets on the stage wailing away during "Gonna Fly Now"- awesome!

Cabs- I loved the musical arrangements in this show! That said, it seemed to me that the Cabs may have precticed a little too hard earlier in the day, as they appeared a little tired brass-wise, and some mental errors musically surfaced. Marching, ard and Percusssion all seemed to be on their game. A really cool effect was hearing the rumps serving as background for the solo trumpet marching across the field during the center wheel.

Reading- From the time they started, through the closer, there was no doubt who the champs were gonna be. It was truly an awesome performance in all areas, unlike last year , when I felt they did just enough to win, this year they owned the field! Not only did they play musically, but they cranked out volume (totally in tune) as well!! Congratulations Bucs on an outstanding performance.

Thanks to all the peroformers for providing a great night of Drum Corps!!!

RCC