shaners Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 (edited) this is a continuation of my review from walnut (6/28) entitled 'WALNUT WALNUT WALNUT' since this is a much smaller stadium then last night, i was much closer to field, and was able to see/hear more details. i was sitting on the 50 all the way up, and i took notes this time so i will be more concise then yesterday. it was definitely a stiff crowd tonight. less than half the size of walnut (smaller venue) but seriously the crowd would not clap for anything.. i was annoying the people around me by clapping for every moment that i noticed... 67.0 dream 55.60 mystical 56.40 incogneto 60.80 impulse 61.30 gold 64.10 yamato 66.60 VK 74.50 BDB 68.90 academey 70.00 mandarins 72.60 PC 80.20 SCV 82.20 BD dream - sorry dream... i missed you guys again :( i tried, but i ironically missed the same corps as last night. bdb - very nice marching consistency in technique, although had some feet timing problems in tempo transitions. the show appeared to be cleaner, but that maybe to the smaller stadium and not being able to see as much. the guard in their pink costumes were integrated fairly well, with some good moments. i noticed the drumline and pit more tonight, with some great percussion writing in the front ensemble. they layed down a nice metheny-esque groove for many parts of the show. vk - same entertaining show ( see previously mentioned review ). i noticed that their technique is hardcore straight leg. it looks awfully uncomfortable, but it is working for them, and they are pretty consistent from member to member. the drill is not so refined, interval problems all over the place. im not sure if they are supposed to be dressing, but not.. or going for the dot, and missing, but the intervals are noticeably worse than other corps in their league. as for brass, the low brass is fairly strong with a real impressive tuba line ( go prichard). the low guns are balanced and projects much better than the high brass who was mostly lead heavy tonight. i see that changing with thom infront of the brass ;) . the gaurd does a pretty well job of staying in the zombie character. the drumline had some good moments during their feature, but are not too progressive when combined with the brass. the pit was way young, which helped me understand why their writing was simple, they had some ensemble timing issues, but during those moments the pit looked like they were aware it was happening, which is great! mystikal - about the same as last night (see review). the only thing i notice differently was the really cool break dance gaurd work in the 2nd movement! the rifles were on the ground doing weird break dance type moves while throwing their rifles around, waay cool dude... the soloists for this corp looked and sounded very relaxed, that was noticeable and relieved some questions the audience might have had about the mini-me horn line. keep it up mystikizzle! impulse! - first thing i noticed was the improvement of the soloist!! much more relaxed, better tone, more in-tune, and just easier to listen to. i dont know if those two just got freaked out by the huge crowd from last night, or felt the did not half to play as loud cause the smaller stadium, or probably were told by their music staff to go easy, whatever happened, it worked. again, nikos drumline is awesome! these kids have a great book to play and they are rockin it. my main beef with this show is the concept. it is called 'the game' and is original music by john meehan. aside from doing preshow child games (hopscoth, jump rope, sports) i do not see the correlation. i think the music is cool enough, but some g.e. is needed to keep this show interesting. the 2nd movement is really cool with some cool sounding dynamics. cant wait to see the improvement when the long beach show rolls around. gold - the pit was having a hard time staying with the battery at a few points.. there was even a staff member behind me making shrieking noises.. not cool. the drumline has a cool book, but needs to clean the heck out of it. although, great bass line! many features and nailed all of them. the horns stick together musically pretty well, although poor balance is hindering them. visually, they need better grasp of movement and timing in general. once that is down, technique will lock easier and the drill will clean easier as well. so far every second movement of each show has been my favorite, gold is no exception. corps have seemed to figure out how to choose music for a second movement pretty well. global class... mandarins - much better show over last night. the 2nd movement of frank ticheli's cajun folk song is STELLAR!!! great energy in it that keeps it moving to the park and blow; and once that hits.... seriously duck and cover! visually, they need to move better in order to clean their show. technique is o.k., but they are pretty wobbly, and need to address that before the show will feel more comfortable. i like this gaurd best when they all have flags, some cool writing and effective swoosh-arounds....... i cant wait to see what this corp does this year, regardless of finals or not, they have a great vehicle to cause some world class rapids...(pun intended) PC - i say this as respectfully as possible, but i do not understand how they are scoring as well as they are with sooo many individual error. last night i counted about 20 (sitting pretty high). tonight i counted about the same, but tried to ignore it. i was waiting to say that because i wasnt sure if last night was first show jitters or not, but tonight was no different so i had to get it off my chest. with that being said, WOW I LOVE THEIR LAST HALF OF THE SHOW!!! the arrangement of the wind and the lion integrated with other source music is amazing. the soloist part with the low brass singing is rad. throughout they show they have a fair amount of akward body movement. it generall works, but is very noticeable when not together. i payed more attention to the gaurd tonight, whom are in pretty wild costumes. they deserve attention because they have really cool work, and i think they are performing better than the rest of the corp. well see if they hold onto their lead.. academy - ooook i got a second read tonight and feel much much better about the show then last night. their show is still really really hard musically and t an extent visually... the brass book is extremely demanding and will take lots of work to polish. while the corp indeed moves pretty well, the drill is muddy and like i said in last nights review, just unreadable. after tonight i was able to comprehend more of the drill, which is not as detailed as i first thought, but there are definitely moments of overly detailed drill. this confusing design paired with dirtyness is hurting them big time. especially compared to a simplier yet cleaner pc and mandarins. the guard has some effective moments in the 2nd movement while being deeply integrated with the horns, and having some dance with the cymbal line, but disappeared on the field due to their lack of costumes. i think this is hindering them in g.e. because you just forget about them... opposed to pc's gaurd who is frankly impossible to miss. someone mentioned in another thread that he does not think academy is finals quality. his opinion is valid, but i disagree because their show is tough and they have an ok handle over it. they might have bit off more then they could chew, but once some "aquatic editing" and just some solid rehearsing happens on this show, they will start to see the score rise. these kids are much better then the scores are showing. they move with solid stature, play with power, and exude confidence, now they just got to clean the show. come on academy, lets turn that A for effort into an A for accomplishment...... the vanguards.. being close exposed much more to my eyes. they are having a rougher time with this show then i previously thought. they do not seem to be moving as well as they have in the past, nor is there as much control as bd shows. dont get me wrong, this show is amazing and will make them great competitors this year, but there was just a weird vibe with scv tonight (did anyone else get that). my comments in yesterdays review pretty much stay the same for tonight. awesome gaurd, cant wait to see them in costume. jons is spittin nails which is really helping to carry the corps. and drill is so easy to watch, yet innovative and g.e. effective. go vanguardos... bd - is on fire. its official, i love this show. it is so powerful musically that i cant deny its impact. these guys know how to perform and arnt afraid to do it (like that has ever been different...) tonight i spent more time watching the guard, which is just tremendous. they have awesome work, awesome staging, and eye grabbing costumes. their is a part in the show where the guard is in a big box type formation right up front. everyone is dancing and throwing around rifles from one to another. in the lower stadium it is soo much more effective cause all you see is fast paced dancing with rifles flying every where. this guard never ceases to amaze me, and will be a favorite as the season goes on. in terms of drill, more complex then vanguards, and hard to depict many of the moves from such a low stadium. i think there are spots where re-writes will definitely occur cause what is written just is not effective. BUT after seeing high cam videos of other top tier globals, i am not sure if BD's drill is innovative, or even interesting enough to compete. as of now, the drill only has a few strong sections to it and most of it is not nearly to the level of design being put out by cavies, boston, scv, bluecoats, crown.. and most other globals..who knows tho, we had a huge discussion about how bd's drill design is dated last year and look what happened... seeing this show live, and experiencing the fun antics of it, it is weird to see that the drill design is the weakest link. with phantom in the hunt this year, next weekend should be interesting to see how it plays out. honestly, i do not know if they will win or not in bloomington, but i do know that this show is awesome and many of you will like it too. encore was bd, and wowwy wow wow wow did they deliver. although, i wish they spent more time on the field.. all they did was a pit warm up groove, f tuning, and the opener. yes it was face peeling loud, but the crowd was disappointed that they hurried off so quick. i think dci has to cut the ^&*% and get some judges on the field. the corps work hard to put these shows on, and i think that those guard judges would make a big difference for many corps! notably vanguard and pc. thats a wrap. if you have questions, please ask. dont forget that i was more detailed tonight because i wrote a pretty extensive review last night (walnut).. thanks for reading! ~shaners p.s. yeah, im starting the trend of "globals" referring to world class corps.... Edited June 30, 2008 by shaners Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
27Socal Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 Very good review. I agree with you about Academy. After seeing about the first 30 seconds of their show in Walnut, I definitely thought this is a finals caliber show. Let's see what happens to their placement after the rest of the judges are in after July 4. Some of their strongest judging categories are now being left out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeutralNovice Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 awesome review, thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 Shane again thanks for the review, and your confidence in me, but I am the brass tech, Clint Matsen is the caption head, and is doing a great job. I am truly having a great time working with him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeeWee Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 Thanks for your second review of the weekend! I didn't go to Riverside this year. It was 40 miles further away from where I live than where Vanguard was staying (near Walnut), and time and gas were a factor. Plus, I had to get up at 5 a.m. for work on Monday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
More Cow Bell Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 VK's score from Riverside 666 Hmmmmmmm....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrownMe Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 VK's score from Riverside666 Hmmmmmmm....... I'd love to see some photos of the new uniforms. (hint, hint) Saw the hats on the My Space page and have seen the guard Uni's would like to see more. Please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeeWee Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 I'd love to see some photos of the new uniforms. (hint, hint) Saw the hats on the My Space page and have seen the guard Uni's would like to see more. Please. I added a VK photo to my Walnut review. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim_brandt Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 respectfully disagree. sorry. Very good review. I agree with you about Academy. After seeing about the first 30 seconds of their show in Walnut, I definitely thought this is a finals caliber show. Let's see what happens to their placement after the rest of the judges are in after July 4. Some of their strongest judging categories are now being left out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brassboy Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 Some of their strongest judging categories are now being left out. While I agree that brass will be a helpful caption for Academy, right now they're a bit behind the rest in GE, which is where the big points come from when we're back to the full judging slate. I said it after my first read watching Academy on Saturday, and I stand by my opinion--they are a VERY talented group of performers given a difficult but VERY disjointed show to perform. It's going to take extra effort on the part of the performers to sell the show as a concept. Again, this is in NO way trying to disparage the performers--they are already at a strong level and will only get stronger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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