World Class Quarterfinals Discussion Thread

[Nation of Bass]

Personally, I thought that the Bluecoats show was WAY overrated. It was boring most of the time and there were only a couple parts I liked. The bass drum punching bag part and the brass block stick out in my mind. The boxers looked REALLY stupid to me. The top 4 were just amazing, I feel like any of them could win it all.

[HPUEuph]

Anyone else notice the guard soloist toward the end of Colts show. It really did not look like she had much on underneath her outfit....

Spirit of Disney to Colts

[crfrey71]

Spirit of Disney to Colts

Either that or that is one really painful wedgy

[pvt_cairns]

My thoughts from the Racine WI theater. First off, don't go next year, bad staff, bad sound, bad picture, just bad over all. For the forst 10 corps the sound was off by a half a beat or more from the visual, and we didn't have the colr red or green...ever. It looked brown. Totally unacceptable with the price of the ticket. I know we should expect some technical difficulties, but wow, fathom stinks in my book.

Spirit, almost fell asleep, ok execution, less then stellar brass, battery carried most of the weight, and the gaurd was flat out bad in spots. Show design was booooring, kids brought some energy though.

Colts, Waaay better then I expected, battery was pretty strong and some nice brass moments, dirty marching. Show progression seem to be lacking, neat concept though really liked it.

Madison, Eh I'm not on the band wagon yet, even being a home type corps for me. I wasn't fond of most of the musical selections, but the brass did cook, particularly high brass. No rear end to the hornline 0 balance, freakin great marching compared to just a few weeks ago, totally different corps. To the gaurd if you can't spin the curved rifles don't, really clean exept with that equitment. Inexperiance is holding them back, battery suddenly remembered how to play. Just not a fan of the music, deserved their placing over the xmen.

Crossmen, tired of people whining that they don't play the same music as they used to, it's a new corps with the same name, deal with it. Music bugged me a bit seemed like they never followed through with any phrase, the writing was just not there, battery was weak sauce, cleanish but not demanding, brass has power, but almost never uses it, they seem to play very safe. Gaurd was good but forgettable, neat concept bad follow through on the design staff.

Glassmen, Gaurd carries the corps, brass was 'eh' marching was dirty, drill was lackluster, battery was just good enough not to hold them back, though there were some neat moments.

Crusaders, battery was nice, but not orverly so, brass has some good moments, their marching is just plain bad, no excuse this late in the game. Love the show, second half gasps for air though, decent design, just very poor execution tonight, I've seen them better much earlier.

Blue Stars, Suprised the battery held them back (14th really?) seemed ok to me, 4 basses was strange to see, don't care for the show design, but wow these kids can march! They pull of the design and make it clear what the show's about, gaurd is pretty awesome, brass is balanced, but I think they have a little more in the tank then they played tonight, had them above blue knights.

Blue Knights, No clue what the show is about, but it's executed pretty well, big brass can play, the gaurd is 'eh' the show is 'eh' the score is 'eh'. I know their trying to do things "their way" but it's not working, tons of talent, just none in the design staff.

Blue Coats, Not usually a fan, tonight that changed. Definatly better then SCV. Drumline is sick, brass is sick, gaurd is sick, music is awesome, nice connection with the crowd, narration was acceptable, kinda lost track of the boxers and what was going on with them, not as many big drill moments as SCV, but done well.

SCV, usually my favorite, better marching, awesome drill, love the cymbal line, battery was lacking, brass was clean but music was just not there for me. Different then I'm used to, not bad, but a forgettable show IMO

Cadets, My biggest beef, the actors mid field, how hard is it to get a wireless mic and let them talk? badly acted. Brass was good, battery was stellar carried by the tenors (as usual) they ditched the cancer theme and cut out the kid at the end (i think) just didn't come across, contriversial or not just didn't tell the story that well. Marching was dirtier then expected from the Cadets.

Crown, love the show, gaurd is insane, Battery is beyond solid, brass seemed to hold back a bit, but still awesome. Show is a bit disjointed, but I think it's supposed to be, seemed to lose gas at the end.

Phantom, All around awesome, battery well duh, brass is better then expected gaurd is great, show is fun, love it, hope they win

Cavies, Expected waaaaaay more from Samari, executed in typical Cavies style, but just not the push I wanted, nice moments, battery was weak for them, clean just no umph to it, pit was the saving grace.

Blue Devils, I'm sorry but was bored to tears, great percussion all around, I like the bass heads, gaurd was ok IMO, brass was great, the show just doesn't do it for me, they'll win but I think it'll be the least memorable BD corps in a long time, best wishes to the kid that had the anurzium (sp?)

Great night great music, way more compotition then last year.

Edited August 8, 2008 by pvt_cairns

[Backstrom]

I was sadly disappointed with Spirit. :(

Them being the first corps of the broadcast, I was hoping for an exciting jump start to the evening, but it just wasn't there. There was a lot of visual dirt, the hornline didn't seem in place, it was just boring. I know the kids were working really hard, but something wasn't clicking.

I was really glad, though, when the Colts came out. They brought tremendous energy. Overall, much more eye-opening than Spirit.

Madison was really fun, glad to see them bring out those screamers. The wheel turn was awesome, really fun to see that. They were able to keep going the energy the Colts started out with.

Bones! I'll agree with Delucia. The opener grabs you, but their closer died on me.

I really wanted to like the Glassmen, but it just never took me in. They were noticeably dirty and I think a good amount of energy got lost in who-knows-what.

BAC. Okay, I'll be honest. I can't remember much. Well executed, but I liked them better last year.

Blue Stars were fantastic. They had a fun show and brought out a lot of energy right up to the closer. Congrats to them for placing in finals range!

BK. Come on, my knights! Brass was great, but just what is going on in the show? I couldn't stay intrigued. Same stuff going on over and over again. I still love them in my heart, though.

Coats. Cool show, really awesome horn block, but a pretty boring visual program.

I was waiting for the Vanguard yell and I got it (with only about one other person , HA), but really catchy and SCVish drill. It was a little dirty but good hornline playing.

Cadets deserved their score, but the narration was much cheesier than last year. I was a big fan last year, but the narrating didn't make as much sense. I like Hopkins' honesty, I just wish he didn't have as much ambition. Still, really clean horn playing though.

Phantom! I am biased, but WOW! Only standing ovation in our theater. The brass is off the charts. Of course, they readily deserve high percussion, but still waiting to see them clean up.

Cavies played a well executed show, but it was flat. The energy was stagnant, music didn't really develop, but there were some really outstanding visual moments.

Blue Devils also executed very well tonight, but again, I just don't understand the show. What does it even mean to risk absurdity and I just don't see how the corps is justifying this theme. The brass is really good, colorguard absolutely phenomenal, I will say.

[Wildabeast]

NBC should be broadcasting Finals on Saturday. Forget the Olympics.

[mohanico]

My thoughts from the Racine WI theater. First off, don't go next year, bad staff, bad sound, bad picture, just bad over all. For the forst 10 corps the sound was off by a half a beat or more from the visual, and we didn't have the colr red or green...ever. It looked brown. Totally unacceptable with the price of the ticket. I know we should expect some technical difficulties, but wow, fathom stinks in my book.

Darn! That sucks that the stream sucked.

It reminds me of Stanford last year!

I understand the DCI is nonprofit, but still!

If you market a product, you need to be behind it 100%!

[Whiskey]

Quick thoughts.

1. You could almost tell Crossmen were not connecting to well to the crowd today. I along with some of the other people in the pressbox even started lookng at programs and line-up sheets, even some Hall of Famers. Just wasn't there. Good news is that tomorrow is another day, but the damage might already be done.

2. The race between the 8 - 11 spots is exactly spot on. It's that close and I feel placements will continue to fluctuate the next two nights.

3. Bluecoats did great tonight. Their mic popped right at the beginning so the ring announcer could not be heard. Looks like BK was having the same issue as the sound guy, Mark Arnold, and Tony DiCarlo were all trying to fiddle with the wires during the first half of the show.

4. SCV isn't grabbing me as much as they did at the start of the season. Can't explain why, but I honestly felt Coats had them tonight.

5. Cadets securely in 5th.

6. Crown is great this year. Next year they are going to be something else. You can just feel the emergence of a new powerhouse waiting to be unleased.

7. I actually must have been the only one (after reading all the gushing reports tonight) that felt Regiment a little lacking in the emotion department tonight. I felt the audience was very subdued the first half of the show. By the end though, they lit up! This will only get better as Saturday approaches. I thought they were crystal clean tonight. One of the best performances I've ever seen from them. One of the better percussion lines of this decade as well.

8. I actually thought Cavaliers were pretty clean tonight. Guard looked great and everything seemed to be hitting on all cylinders. Audience was very subdued for them and BD after the Crown/Regiment 1-2 punch. Could this show be maxing out? Regiment might catch them yet.

9. Devils are looking good. Guard was just incredible tonight. Like some others who posted, I also saw some visual dirt tonight. Brass still has room to grow this week, so that could be dangerous for the others trying to catch up. Tomorrow is going to be hard for them. They have Turner, Williams, Hinman, Ulicny who have not been to kind to them this year. They're going to have to be spot on tomorrow and not lay an egg like last year's semifinals. Keep the momentum Devils, and it's yours.

[eightyonepointthree]

thoughts from the top row center in the Harrisburg theater:

IMO, poor micing on the field...made many drumlines sound dirty when you know it wasn't.

Actually, from the stands in Bloomington, lots of drumlines sounded dirty. There is some mad reverb in that stadium off the concrete in the back.

[crfrey71]

Actually, from the stands in Bloomington, lots of drumlines sounded dirty. There is some mad reverb in that stadium off the concrete in the back.

That will change as the stands are much fuller tonight and tomorrow. It was really noticeable in the earlier corps.