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Dublin, Ohio Review


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Just now got a minute to write a review. Hope it aids those who have to wait to see a show. I enjoyed everyone. Drum corps seems to be getting more competitive than ever. Makes for an exciting summer.

Crossmen: Much improved over last year at this time. As others have said, this show is a departure for them. With the move to TX and a very new staff, you have to go with what that staff thinks they can offer best. The show does remind me of BOA a bit, not that this is a bad thing. Like many peoples' complaints about modern day drum corps, this show is too deconstructed for my taste. This allows for tricks to hide weaknesses and play to the scoring of the sheets. I am not bashing Crossmen, many corps, including BD uses this snippet format. On with Crossmen specifics: The opening was confident and seemed to tell us this is a step up for this corps. The beginning was the cleanest part of the show by far. Some drill seem too tight and layered to be read well. The hornline is loud at times but way overblown. When playing at the mp-mf levels, a lack of depth really shows. The musicians do seem to like their show and will probably continue to sell it better and better. The drill is good and finalist quality. I like the variety of guard staging and and use of numbers. The writing seems different than most, fresh, new. The drumline to pit timing was rough, so I had a hard time getting a read on the talent in both sections. The guard is their strongest section at this point. Time will tell as cleaning and refining the show becomes everyone's goal. I thought they would be close to Spirit, but with Spirit over them due to confidence. If they can really get it going, I could see they taking over Spirit and Glassmen fairly soon. With all of the talent in Texas and the past success of the staff in other venues, I really hope the bets for this group. I hope financials are good so the SW can maintain two strong World Class corps. It will be interesting to see what Arizona brings to the mix. Thought last year was tight, seems as though 9-17 will be the biggest blood bath in recent DCI history.

Spirit: I did not see them early last year so I can not make that comparison. The show comes across as, well, Spirit. Not really anything new for them. Good, not great. Logical, not inventive. Horns were pretty loud and staged well. I liked the horn arrangements. Always a fan of melody and color changes within the brass writing. Each section of teh brass seems pretty even. The corps marches more cleanly than Crossmen or Glassmen. The battery seems good, but there were some definate drill issues that caused some individual breaks. The guard seems to be the most improved section. The writing is much more musical and the talent level seems much higher. They sold their show better than Crossmen, but Crossmen seem to have more potential with their show. As more corps fade away and the remaining corps get MUCH better, seems that corps like Spirit and Glassmen can't assume they will keep their "bottom two" spots. Not that that is what Spirit is doing, I just know walking on egg shells all summer can't be a lot of fun.

Glassmen: This is the third time I have seen them and the best venue. I was excited to check it out from a better perspective. This show is the third in a continuation of three years of theme shows that allow for guard characterization and recognizable, sing a long melodies. The show theme is a little more evident now, but I still have to rely on their website description, my own imagination, and some brain strain to try to get it. There are trunks spread around the filed that I assume will be utilized more later. The guard costume is cool up close, but from the stands it looses something and I am not sure if it helps the audience get the theme. The recognizable music is fun and is definately the best of the last three years, each year getting better than the previous. The Pee Wee Herman Adventure theme is fun, but gets over used. I am not sure everyone will associate that music with circus or carnival. The guard was very confident and performed many things well. Like last year, the overuse of them seems to dilute their effectiveness by the middle of the show. These days, all sections have to be strong and have multiple moments to shine in a show. The battery seems to never get their moment. The only time that they kind of do, they are staged poorly. The pit was again great and performed even better than last time I saw them. Drill is fairly clean and readable, with the guard integrated well. The feet and upper bodies, esp. horns seems rough. That may add to the fact that the horn line sounds weak, young, afraid. This has been my impression everytime I have seen them. No real volume, and lots of brittle sounds and fundamental issues. As I have stated before, this is so disappointing considering last year's improvement with the brass. Though they did not set the world on fire last year, they were sooo much better than previous years and moved up from several years in last place at finals to tenth. Hornlines are probably the hardest section to turn around in drum corps, I was hoping they had started that last year. I looked for brass staff members I knew from last year, didn't see any. Did Waymire leave?

Someone else described Glassmen as looking down a gun barell in regards to making finals. Seems several corps are in this boat. I wish all the best. Some one does have the be thirteenth. We all know that corps will be really good.

Boston: WOW, as much confidence as Blue Coats, if not more. The cleanest corps of the night visually. The guard is on fire and doing some new, cool stuff. Battery and pit seem pretty solid. The battery to pit layering seems overly busy at times and could be hard to clean. The pit has some excellent technique and they certainly have several moments to shine in the show. Same with the battery. There is fairly wide variety in the drill, but there could be more. While some have stated that the theme is strongly presented, this may be true, but for me it doesn't seem to matter. Like Cadets last year, great drill, great music, great guard, great pacing equals great show. While the horn line is REALLY loud, they are also making lots of questionable sounds. Like last years finals recordings, they are not near as musical as they could be and the ends of notes, breathing spots, and tuning are below that top seven or eight corps level. I know it is early, but if the product starts and ends with similar problems, then maybe it is just how this brass staff operates. Don't get me wrong, they were eqsily the second best line of the night and much better than Glassmen, Crossmen, Spirit. I just see this as a a potential long term negative of a really positive show. There is great pacing in this show. A real trick that many corps seem to struggle with each season. This seems like a definate 7-9 corps come finals. I haven't seen everyone and of course can't say for sure. 7-9 is pretty darn good these days.

Blue Coats: Very good, very very good. I really enjoyed the show them and integration of musical and visual elements. This seems in line with last years hit show in many ways, possibly a step further. I did not get the impression they were there to prove something. Seems they were there to provide something, entertainment. I was engaged throughout the entire show. During the winter, some were worried that boxing theme may have a negative conotation. Not at all. It is hip and energized, even tongue in cheek at times (could do more of this). The drill and guard seem to be areas of greatest needed improvement. The battery seems better than last year and the pit maybe not quite as good. The hornline is great and loud. They had the widest dynamic range of the evening. Some balance and blend to work out, but overall, quite nice. I do not know what else to say other than this is a great corps coming off a great 07 season. Looking forward to seeing them again.

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:smile:

Just now got a minute to write a review. Hope it aids those who have to wait to see a show. I enjoyed everyone. Drum corps seems to be getting more competitive than ever. Makes for an exciting summer.

Crossmen: Much improved over last year at this time. As others have said, this show is a departure for them. With the move to TX and a very new staff, you have to go with what that staff thinks they can offer best. The show does remind me of BOA a bit, not that this is a bad thing. Like many peoples' complaints about modern day drum corps, this show is too deconstructed for my taste. This allows for tricks to hide weaknesses and play to the scoring of the sheets. I am not bashing Crossmen, many corps, including BD uses this snippet format. On with Crossmen specifics: The opening was confident and seemed to tell us this is a step up for this corps. The beginning was the cleanest part of the show by far. Some drill seem too tight and layered to be read well. The hornline is loud at times but way overblown. When playing at the mp-mf levels, a lack of depth really shows. The musicians do seem to like their show and will probably continue to sell it better and better. The drill is good and finalist quality. I like the variety of guard staging and and use of numbers. The writing seems different than most, fresh, new. The drumline to pit timing was rough, so I had a hard time getting a read on the talent in both sections. The guard is their strongest section at this point. Time will tell as cleaning and refining the show becomes everyone's goal. I thought they would be close to Spirit, but with Spirit over them due to confidence. If they can really get it going, I could see they taking over Spirit and Glassmen fairly soon. With all of the talent in Texas and the past success of the staff in other venues, I really hope the bets for this group. I hope financials are good so the SW can maintain two strong World Class corps. It will be interesting to see what Arizona brings to the mix. Thought last year was tight, seems as though 9-17 will be the biggest blood bath in recent DCI history.

Spirit: I did not see them early last year so I can not make that comparison. The show comes across as, well, Spirit. Not really anything new for them. Good, not great. Logical, not inventive. Horns were pretty loud and staged well. I liked the horn arrangements. Always a fan of melody and color changes within the brass writing. Each section of teh brass seems pretty even. The corps marches more cleanly than Crossmen or Glassmen. The battery seems good, but there were some definate drill issues that caused some individual breaks. The guard seems to be the most improved section. The writing is much more musical and the talent level seems much higher. They sold their show better than Crossmen, but Crossmen seem to have more potential with their show. As more corps fade away and the remaining corps get MUCH better, seems that corps like Spirit and Glassmen can't assume they will keep their "bottom two" spots. Not that that is what Spirit is doing, I just know walking on egg shells all summer can't be a lot of fun.

Glassmen: This is the third time I have seen them and the best venue. I was excited to check it out from a better perspective. This show is the third in a continuation of three years of theme shows that allow for guard characterization and recognizable, sing a long melodies. The show theme is a little more evident now, but I still have to rely on their website description, my own imagination, and some brain strain to try to get it. There are trunks spread around the filed that I assume will be utilized more later. The guard costume is cool up close, but from the stands it looses something and I am not sure if it helps the audience get the theme. The recognizable music is fun and is definately the best of the last three years, each year getting better than the previous. The Pee Wee Herman Adventure theme is fun, but gets over used. I am not sure everyone will associate that music with circus or carnival. The guard was very confident and performed many things well. Like last year, the overuse of them seems to dilute their effectiveness by the middle of the show. These days, all sections have to be strong and have multiple moments to shine in a show. The battery seems to never get their moment. The only time that they kind of do, they are staged poorly. The pit was again great and performed even better than last time I saw them. Drill is fairly clean and readable, with the guard integrated well. The feet and upper bodies, esp. horns seems rough. That may add to the fact that the horn line sounds weak, young, afraid. This has been my impression everytime I have seen them. No real volume, and lots of brittle sounds and fundamental issues. As I have stated before, this is so disappointing considering last year's improvement with the brass. Though they did not set the world on fire last year, they were sooo much better than previous years and moved up from several years in last place at finals to tenth. Hornlines are probably the hardest section to turn around in drum corps, I was hoping they had started that last year. I looked for brass staff members I knew from last year, didn't see any. Did Waymire leave?

Someone else described Glassmen as looking down a gun barell in regards to making finals. Seems several corps are in this boat. I wish all the best. Some one does have the be thirteenth. We all know that corps will be really good.

Boston: WOW, as much confidence as Blue Coats, if not more. The cleanest corps of the night visually. The guard is on fire and doing some new, cool stuff. Battery and pit seem pretty solid. The battery to pit layering seems overly busy at times and could be hard to clean. The pit has some excellent technique and they certainly have several moments to shine in the show. Same with the battery. There is fairly wide variety in the drill, but there could be more. While some have stated that the theme is strongly presented, this may be true, but for me it doesn't seem to matter. Like Cadets last year, great drill, great music, great guard, great pacing equals great show. While the horn line is REALLY loud, they are also making lots of questionable sounds. Like last years finals recordings, they are not near as musical as they could be and the ends of notes, breathing spots, and tuning are below that top seven or eight corps level. I know it is early, but if the product starts and ends with similar problems, then maybe it is just how this brass staff operates. Don't get me wrong, they were eqsily the second best line of the night and much better than Glassmen, Crossmen, Spirit. I just see this as a a potential long term negative of a really positive show. There is great pacing in this show. A real trick that many corps seem to struggle with each season. This seems like a definate 7-9 corps come finals. I haven't seen everyone and of course can't say for sure. 7-9 is pretty darn good these days.

Blue Coats: Very good, very very good. I really enjoyed the show them and integration of musical and visual elements. This seems in line with last years hit show in many ways, possibly a step further. I did not get the impression they were there to prove something. Seems they were there to provide something, entertainment. I was engaged throughout the entire show. During the winter, some were worried that boxing theme may have a negative conotation. Not at all. It is hip and energized, even tongue in cheek at times (could do more of this). The drill and guard seem to be areas of greatest needed improvement. The battery seems better than last year and the pit maybe not quite as good. The hornline is great and loud. They had the widest dynamic range of the evening. Some balance and blend to work out, but overall, quite nice. I do not know what else to say other than this is a great corps coming off a great 07 season. Looking forward to seeing them again.

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I looked for brass staff members I knew from last year, didn't see any. Did Waymire leave?

I sat behind some parents at the toledo show and by eavesdropping on their conversation (they seemed to be in the know but take it for what it's worth) Waymire got rid of the staff from before when he was in there, brought in his staff from Madison, then was gone after one year. Most of the staff is new this year. But I could be wrong.

Does anyone know for sure?

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I sat behind some parents at the toledo show and by eavesdropping on their conversation (they seemed to be in the know but take it for what it's worth) Waymire got rid of the staff from before when he was in there, brought in his staff from Madison, then was gone after one year. Most of the staff is new this year. But I could be wrong.

Does anyone know for sure?

here is the staff announcement

http://glassmen.org/main/index.php?option=...1&Itemid=67

Edited by gbass598
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I was at that show last night. It was pretty amazing. Though I didn't get to see Pioneer. I would've liked to have seen them all. Boston was amazing though. Just so much sound....

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I sat behind some parents at the toledo show and by eavesdropping on their conversation (they seemed to be in the know but take it for what it's worth) Waymire got rid of the staff from before when he was in there, brought in his staff from Madison, then was gone after one year. Most of the staff is new this year. But I could be wrong.

Does anyone know for sure?

If this is accurate, it explains a lot about the way Glassmen's hornline sounds this year. I watched them warm up at last years family day and was impressed with all the warm up body movement and the discipline the horn line had for that early. I checked the warm up out several times throughout the summer and COULD NOT believe the improvement. By finals week they sounded great in the arc. The staff seemed super relaxed and the members confident and skilled. All that did not show up on the field, but that is how it goes with young groups. I was sure this year would be a marked improvement. As far as Waymire "getting rid of the staff from before", I can't imagine it unless they really sucked and would only hold the members back musically and educationally ( a BIG Waymire thing). Even with all of that, it isn't his style at all to ignore possible contribution from others. He walked into Madison and soon respected and knew more about Scouts tradition and history stuff than most who had marched there. I never saw anyone work so hard to respect the past and move forward with the future. I'll have to shoot him an email. For a guy that was ALWAYS on tour, seems odd for him to leave after one season.

Thanks for the info.

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