WALNUT WALNUT WALNUT

[shaners]

WOOOO FIRST SHOW OF THE SEASON FOR ME!!

perfect day/night for drum corp, sunny so cal summer. mount. s.a.c stadium has O.K. acoustics. there is a track, and some distance from field to stands, but not as bad as it the worst stadiums (track + space + more space..) i will do a more indepth review after i get a second read at tomorrow nights show. ( at the end i have a questions for you folk who know a thing or two about hearing, volume, frequency, and such..)

I arrived just after incognito and yamato, so my review will not include them two. let me say that i was extremely impressed with every open class corp that i saw perform! every group was miles ahead of their performance level at this show last year. it is great to see growth in the open class just as we are seeing it in world class.

BD 81.9

SCV 79.5

Pacific Crest 71.7

Academy 69.6

Mandarians 69.0

BDB 73.7

Yamato 65.6

VK 65.4

Gold 60.4

Impulse 59.5

Mystikal 55.2

Incognito 53.2

impulse -

the drum line & pit carries this corp (go niko!) they were very strong and confident throughout the show. in fact, i probably watched them the most. the brass as a whole has some normal issues, but what i noticed most were the two solists. (these next few statements are not to rip on the soloist, that is always easy to do with any corp any soloist..) but the both of them in impulse performed with extremely poor dynamic contrast and tone quality, infact both of them seemed to be playing as loud as they possibly could. i understand that these are not close to professional performers, and they both seemed pretty young at that. but the soloists reflected poorly on the horn line as a whole, and made me search out the same issues they had, within the rest of the players. it was like finding a cockroach in your kitchen, if you see one scurry, you know there is more.

visually, honestly they just seemed young and/or unprepared; horns running into each other, many missed direction changes.

the guard was lacking as well, in numbers and in performance.

i very much enjoyed their brass arrangements to the second movement! some very nice musicality by the performers!

i know it seems like i hate impulse. i actually marched impulse before i moved on to the crossmen, so they will always hold a place close to me since i had my first drum corp experiences with them. thinking back to last year, the improvment that corp made from week to week was incredible, i know that can work out all the issues, they have done it before.

mystikal -

again, a strong drumline carrying the corp musically, and the huge gaurd carrying the corp visually. the guard was tremendous and featured everyone on a rifle at one point. the points in the show where the small hornline (7) were integrated in the guard work were very effective! i saw alot of integration in the show, but not enough to pull the visual package to where it could be. spreading out the 7 brass players soo much did not help them, it created ensemble issues galore. ill have more on them after tomorrow.

gold -

going on after bdb completely ruined their crowd response. they were much stronger than mystikal (who went on before bdb) but got half the crowd response! so much for the 'order doesnt matter' theory.. anyways. they had new uniform jackets which didnt make sense to me. they are all black with green cords in the place that a sash would be. the only they had were the horns. i guess this is minor, but before, they had real cool gold and black uniforms, they were a bit 'high school band' esque, but much more effective then the new green cords...

honestly i do not remember much about the show, aside from the fact that they had some awesome moments, but got jyped for crowd response..

i will have more on them after tomorrow.

VK -

what an amazingly entertaining package!!! coming on the field, they are in a funeral march setting, grabbing the crowd, before a tuba player does a tongue and cheek eulogy, followed by 'when the saints go marchin in' to get to their beginning spots. toccata and fugue in d minor to open the show was surpinsingly clean and powerful, though with smaller numbers, this brass line packs a punch! although the tone quality throughout the upper brass was ugly to begin with. it sounded like g bugles at first. after that it got better. much improved arrangments over last year, better marching ability and drill design. they have tons of cute g.e. to go around, and completely had the audience won over the entire time. when they got into micheal jacksons 'thriller' the crowd got meg-excited, only to completely lose it when the corp started to dance. show was not completeted, but it 'might be' continued, as portrayed by signs in the pit...

over all, this group is not only miles ahead of this time last year, but light years ahead to the point where they are performing all out and completely entertaining the audience. points for vk (thom makes me emo)...

BDB

HOLY CADET CORP BATMAN !!! i did not take count, but they had a large corp (which seems to be the trend for top tier open class these days).

full brass line and full guard was awesome. the brass sounded fantastic! wow! powerful and balanced for most of the time with minimal ensemble issues. the music was just awesome! when they hit that middle ballad, i was in awe, it was trully amazing to hear some jazz on the field again!

while their whole show is not 'jazzy' it definitely stuck out with jazz influences, and was extremely effective cause it was so different then everyone around them. (i cant wait till the 'cool' comes back to jazz for drumcorp.. *hint*wink*crossmen*..)

their show was very challenging, and i am honestly surprised they scored as well as they did. the show was dirty all around visually from gaurd to brass drill, many times it was difficult to read because it was just so messy. with that being said, once they get this show polished, look out open class.

thats it for open class, if the fight for the top of open class is anything near the amazing performance of BDB, then everybody here should make all efforts to get to open class finals!

world class

mandarins-

again, much improved over 2007. better drill, stronger brass, fluid show design! the biggest weakness would be the drumline and pit. not bad, just didnt have the same weight in the perofrmance. the guard had some interesting work to portray 'the river' theme.

way cool arrangements, for the opening statements. nice mellophone solist. i love the uniforms.

academy-

i definitely need to see this show again before i can give you an accurate read. for them ill split this up into two part, design and performance.

design; as of now, i am feeling pretty negative about their show design.

while the music arrangements are very good, intense, and unique to academy, the design of the show felt very disjunct and confusing. from the slow meloncolic opening, to the bright follow up to the balanced pastorale to the up tempo whatever.. it was just confusing. at no point did i understand what was going on. all i knew is that i was being quickly torn from one mood to another.

visually, even more confusing! just like last year, i feel that this drill design is just TOO complex. there is soo much going on in the drill that i never know what to watch. even more so then last year. where i was sitting was not an issue, i was on the 50, as high as you could be (pretty good angle)

yet everything was just a huge clutter. at one point near the end i asked myself if i should be blurring my eyes to be able to see the drill (like one of those magic eye books) some real cool ideas in there, just way too complex and detailed.

performance - wow these kids can play! aside from being extremely powerful, the technicality and demand that they have in this show is unreal. if you thought last years show was challenging, just was till you see this one. the brass have a great handle over their performance, just need to clean it up. the guard is much improved with better work, and the drum line is more solid than i can remember. i think this is the reason they lost to PC tonight, the music book and visual design is very challenging. tonight, while having a good grasp of it, was just beaten by a more simple and cleaner PC. i think this is definitely a finals contender, and probably higher, but like last year, they have TONS of cleaning to do musically and visually. once these and the design issues are taken care of, i see them doing very well.

PC-

very cool show! it was a piece of cake to follow their show right after academy. the drill is simple and effective. the music is arranged well, and the brass deliver. the arrangements of the wind and the lion music was amazing. easily some of my favorite moments musically for the night.

this corp will be knocking on a few doors throughout the year if they keep it up, but i can also see them peaking too early since the show design is much simpler then their competition.

VANGUARD-

my most anticipated show for the night, and heck was it amazing! the guard for this corp is amazingly captivating even without show costumes! the opening work is reminiscent of BLAST and continues to keep me watching; it is fresh and innovative. the guard is comfortable and look like they are having a great time performing!

the drill is awesome! big, simple, and effective, just the way i like it ! boy are those brass players hauling, but they seem to have o.k. control of so far. i only saw a few points where drill was noticeably effecting music, and once where the drill was pulling a few marchers along.

although do not mistaken me, this show is hard, and it shows through their performance. the drill is pretty dirty, and individuals stick out visually.

the drum line is rock solid! the confidence was oozing from them. their performance of the book is awesome, with moments of classic jons rock out. i love how this drumline really gets into the groove of the music no matter where in the show they are. reminded me of 2004, the first year i was blown away by jons, and i do not doubt that they can walk away with another drum title.

musically, i love it. i am a john adams homer and this opener works amazing for scv. the brass is controlled when needed, and lets loose on command. a problem i did has was with the mutes in the beginning with the trumpets. i think staging had some to do with it, but their were points when the trumpet balance was really bad while muted. it sounded as if all trumpets took a 2 bar breath and let a few random members play exposed, only to have those playing realize that they were alone, and then mess up.. minor, but definitely a bad moment.

the second movement is intense, i dont even know what happened! all i remember is that the groove hits, and i woke up in a daze. more on it tomorrow. cant wait till they add in the new uniforms, gaurd costumes, and closer, which a member friend informed me would happen for the san diego and rose bowl show... they will need it once phantom gets in town!!!

BD -

this show was soo much more entertaining live then on the the recordings! to see BD buy into the themed show a bit more, yet do it artistically with out cheesing over the top was cool to see. this show is definitely fun to watch, and will be a fan favorite, which hasn't happened for bd in a while. yes it is 'absurd'.. yes it is obscure at points, and yes they do some strange things, but man they are performing the heck out of it! these members are so believable in character, and really sell the show. the music is dark and erie, yet melodic and captivating. i know many of you are anti-bd's music style, and wish they would get a make - over with their drill design... all i can say is just waut till you see this show live. the music is beautiful, the design of the show grabs you, and it is just exciting to watch! i hate to say it, but i think i enjoyed bd over vanguard tonight because their show was performed so well!

as for a few predictions...

peewee summed it up well by saying this

"Here's how I would sum up the gap between SCV & BD:

The performers in SCV seem to be at the mercy of their show. They're inconsistent.

The show in BD is at the mercy of their performers. They're grabbing the bull by the horns.

Both shows are just as difficult. One is being performed. The other? Just survived. "

i will add that i think vanguard will overcome bd, but it will take lots of cleaning and mastery over their show. once scv's show is finished and final changes are made, they will have a more complete package. as for now, peewee is right, bd is owning their show, and it was fun to watch.

as for PC and academy, i would not get too worked up about it. CA inflation seemed to be in full force with mandarins, pc and academy.

like i said, academy has a better and more competitive package, just needs to clean and work things out. pc is cleaner, but with an less entertaining show.

thats it for tonight. thank you for reading my long review! i know that i was very specific at times and pretty vague at times... if you have a question, please p.m. me or post it in this thread.

if you know anything about how we perceive sound and frequencies, please help.

i do not have bad hearing, but i think years of drum corp and music in general have definitely softened my hearing ability.

i started noticing this a few years back, while watching cadets in encore. this was in 2005 when they had a powerful hornline, yet sitting on the 50 yard line, 30 yards from the horns, it seemed like their loudest playing was a mf-f. the same thing happened when i saw phantom in encore. it just was not powerful, even though everyone around was goin nuts..

since then i have had my ears checked at a local ENT doctor. she said that my high low and middle frequency hearing are above average, and nothing seemed to be wrong with volume sensitivity. although i was not convinced.

the problem ive been noticing the past few years that that there seems to be a limit on how much volume my ears will let it in. for instance tonight at the show (and in past shows). academy and pc, delivered a tremendously loud volume to the audience. when scv and bd came on, they seemed to be at the peak of my "volume capacity"... meaning that both were not much louder than academy and pc, though definitely more full and rich sounding, volume just did not seem to be increased. after having many occurances like this, i ask people around me about how they perceived it, which always ends up being different then what i hear. for example, after the show i turned to my mother next to me and asked " who was louder, scv or academy? she answered with a definite "scv" response. i then asked her who was louder between bd and scv, she responded with scv quickly. when to me, scv and bd were about the same, if not giving the edge to bd.

my question is basically, if you know anything about how we perceive sound, or if you think i indeed am experiencing hearing loss, could you explain to me why?

ooooook thank you everyone for reading this!!

~shaners

[PeeWee]

Awesome review! Thanks

[darkman]

So no review for Dream

#### we hate going on 1st...

[Thom]

Shane thanks for the review. (and you make me emo too )

Everyone else, get out of the parking lot and go see Dream!!!!!

Edited June 29, 2008 by Thom

[LuvsPAisTe]

It's 7:30am Sunday morning, West Coast time. Why hasn't DCI posted the recaps?

Does anyone know who won drums? Betting it was SCV.

[shaners]

yeah sorry dream fellas...

ill see you guys tonight at rcc :)

[Mephistopheles]

but i think years of drum corp and music in general have definitely softened my hearing ability.

i started noticing this a few years back, while watching cadets in encore. this was in 2005 when they had a powerful hornline, yet sitting on the 50 yard line, 30 yards from the horns, it seemed like their loudest playing was a mf-f. the same thing happened when i saw phantom in encore. it just was not powerful, even though everyone around was goin nuts..

~shaners

Just a thought.

I don't know for sure, and am certainly no expert, but based on my own experiences, as I have gotten older, I notice that my ears just get tired after a whole night of loud music.

Next day all is always back to normal.

I think that you will find that your hearing is getting overworked by a whole evening of corps, so that by the time you get to the later shows, or even the encore, you will just be worn out aurally.

[drumrguy]

Ugh, I want to see SCV's drumline!

Awesome, review, thanks!