Soaring Sounds- 7/28

[Galen]

Just found out that I DO have a bit of internet capability at my new apartment, so here's my review of last night's drum corps show in Centerville.

The venue, Centerville HS, was a bit more accessible now due to work on the parking lots finally being completed. I still chose to park a couple blocks down the street though, because this event is ALWAYS a packed house, and last night was no exception. The stadium was easily at 95% capacity and the crowd was VERY responsive on this hot and muggy night.

On to the performers. Up first was Cincinnati Tradition in exhibition. As they were getting ready to start the show, one of their contra players came hustling onto the field from the parking lot. The DM joked with the crowd that he was a "new guy", then started the show. The corps has made improvements in their brass sound since I saw them in Dublin at the beginning of the season, with the baritones again providing the best sounds from the line. I did notice that they didn't seem to move all that much. Most of their music was played while halted. The closer, Malaguena, was pretty rough, and seemed to be over the head of their small brass line tonight (about 16 brass if I remember right).

Memphis Sound were the first open class corps to take the field. Somebody said that they hadn't been out on tour that long, but from what I saw, they looked ok. They played an "Ode to Joy" themed show that featured Troopers' opener from last year. I thought they had a pretty good brass sound and were fairly clean, although their drill wasn't the most sophisticated on the field last night. They were scored pretty low, although I do know that open class scores can jump around a lot more than world class, so don't count them out of anything yet.

This was my first time seeing Citations perform. The corps looks a lot like Glassmen, but with red on their uniforms instead of cream. I did think they were well ahead of Memphis in both marching and playing. Guard was the strongest part of this corps and were frequently staged front and center to show off their crisp flag and weapon work. One thing I did notice was that their ballad, "My Immortal", could use a lot more emotion and "angst" in the sound. Other than that, it was a very enjoyable program.

Vanguard Cadets were the last open class corps to perform before the break. I really can't remember much about this show because it didn't really stand out that much musically. The tunes were fairly well performed but nothing was especially recognizable. They won open class by a fairly big spread over Citations.

The World Class portion of the event felt like a throwback to the 70's, with Troopers, Blue Stars and Scouts performing in succession. Troopers got the 2nd half of the show started off with a bang with their train-themed show. Sasparilla was VERY well done tonight and got a lengthy applause from the crowd in the middle of the show. The crowd was really eating up all the little visual moments in this piece, from the drunken soloist to the arm-wrestling contest. The brass tone got a little spread at the peak of the ballad but otherwise had a good night. The guard was small but continues to hold their ground with other corps around them. This crowd always loves seeing Troopers on the field, and was clapping from the Sunburst through the end of the program and rewarded the corps with a big standing ovation at the end of the corps. After the show, I saw Fred Morris in the stands and congratulated him on their performance.

Blue Stars were the second corps in world class. This corps has made some huge strides just in the past few days alone in all areas of their program. In person, the blue shakos look a little awkward from certain angles, specifically when the corps members have the left side of their uniform facing the stands. You see too much white and not enough blue to really balance the look. As for the show, one horn player took a spill at the beginning of the show, but that was about the only marching issue I remembered seeing. The ballad and closer were especially good this evening, and the new ending definitely works as a way to close the show. I just think they should have the guard member on the winner's podium spraying a bottle of champagne or something I was VERY encouraged by their score tonight- they've gotten 3 points closer to Bluecoats in just a couple of days. I don't know if they'll catch them by the time the season's over, but at their current rate of growth, 9th or even 8th place isn't out of the question for this corps this season.

Madison Scouts easily won the "volume" contest this evening. They played a lot louder than either BS or Bluecoats- but the problem is that BS and Bluecoats are playing much harder material and are doing it just as clean as Scouts did tonight. Visually everything was crisply executed, but again they don't have nearly as challenging of a visual package as BS or Bluecoats do. Still, I was encouraged by their score and the spread as well. Scouts also played the encore, which consisted of their opener, Ice Castles and MYNWA, which a lot of people stayed to hear.

Bluecoats were the last corps to perform, and got their usual BLUUUUUUUU from the crowd as they took the field. Chalk up the lack of narration in Atlanta to mic problems (as usual), because everything was in and spoken tonight. This is another show that continues to get better and better, although they're getting to the point where they might not be able to do all that much more as far as developing the theme and story of the show. Now it's just clean, clean clean.

All in all, I'd say that last year's show lineup was stronger (BD and Cavies were both here), but last night's event certainly didn't disappoint.

[arno0940]

Thanks for the great review.

[ann_and_scott]

Matt sat in front of me last night on the 50. You really took it all in! Nice review! And I applaud you for being enthusiastic and supportive of all the corps. I have to give you credit for the best pun of the night; when the rookie Blue Stars parents next to you were discussing their concern of whether the corps would make it to finals in Bloomington, you said "unless the wheels fall off, you'll see them on Saturday night." :-)

I got reaction today from a "local" who was at the show. She was shocked that Bluecoats won; she did not like the boxing theme and did not like the narration. I think to those not in the know, they think it is coming out of the pressbox or something. She metioned how much her group loved the Troopers and Madison Scouts. Maybe shows like Blue Stars and Bluecoats seem "over-produced?" Personally, I like both and the variety, some more traditional and some more "progressive."

Ann