Finals Review

[GEVisual]

Apologies for the lateness of this post, but here are some additional observations from Section 7R - Row 29:

MADISON - Great to see them back in finals. Opening brass impact was powerful and there were plenty more to follow in the program. Guard was better than I thought they would be, but noticeably worse than the balance of the finalists. Stamina seemed to be an issue in the last minute of the program.

GLASSMEN - Had seen this show a few times on the Fan Network and was less than impressed. They are a completely different corps live. Members had fun performing and it showed. Great concept and a guard that just oozed personality. Enya ballad was well done. Would've loved to have heard a bit more expression in the brass line during the more aggressive sections.

BOSTON - Had trouble getting into this show. Brass had some great impacts, but everything was so isolated. It just never seemed to have any musical or visual continuity to it. Agree with 12th in Field Visual as they had more obvious feet and body issues from the stands vs. anyone else that night.

BLUE KNIGHTS - Love the way they are pushing the envelope with all of the body movement in the brass line. Some very cool stuff there. They weren't as "dark" as normally are. Some of the best flag designs of the night which looked great against the white pallette of the guard uniforms. Agree with their placement, but thought they would be closer to Blue Stars.

BLUE STARS - Conceptually well done with great detailing throughout the program. Love the haunting warmup in the end zone. Frank Sullivan is a brilliant composer. Another guard with a great personality - they were having a ball. Feet were fuzzy at times but training was evident. Great return to world class finals after a 33 year absence. Can't wait to see where they go from here!

SCV - One of the most intellectually designed shows of the evening. The use of "three" was consistent throughout the program by using triangles, groups of 3, and literal numbers. Didn't seem to connect with the audience on an emotional level - possibly due to the demands of the visual program. Guard was the first of the evening to really showcase advanced movement skills.

BLUECOATS - Had a very emotional run in finals. Had they used only music from the Rocky soundtracks I think they could've made a push for the top 5 - every time they transitioned back to "On the Waterfront" it caused the program to loose steam. GREAT drumline from these guys. Was not surprised to see them pass SCV in finals.

CADETS - Felt bad for the performers. They were an elite level group of kids who were given a mediocre program to perform (especially from a GE perspective). Massive changes all year still weren't able to save this show. Had the balance of the program been constructed as good as the last minute, they might've been challenging for the top spot. I am not anti-narration (I actually LOVED the 2005 and 2007 shows). However, if you look at the Cadets show from 92-96, none of those had narration and they were all very emotionally engaging. Here's hoping that they can "return to their roots" for the 75th anniversary next season and produce a product worthy of the performer's talents.

CROWN - Brassline was magnificent. Powerful as well as subtle. Probably the best ballad of the evening - you could hear a pin drop in that stadium (thank you crowd for not feeling the urge to shout ANYTHING during those quiet moments). One of the most interesting drum books of the year. 2nd in Total Music was right on the money - thank god this judging panel had a pair. Guard had a couple of shaky moments in the opener, but was ON FIRE for the balance of the program. Will not be surprised at all to see them in the medals next season.

CAVALIERS - Totally agree with 1st in Field Visual - best feet of the night by far. Guard had a great run in finals. Visually, one of the best (if not the best) designed programs of the evening. Variety, flow, continuity . . . it was all there. Musically, probably one of the most forgettable scores of the year. I honestly couldn't tell you ANYTHING they played and I think that was their downfall as well as the fact that they never seemed to play anything difficult while on the move. 4th place ordinals from the GE Music judges confirmed this as well.

DEVILS - Similar to Cavaliers, I thought the visual design of this show surpassed the musical design (which you normally don't expect from BD). They had some very fresh visual ideas (the brass moving the inverted stick man in the closer was GREAT), but the musical book just didn't provide me anything to sink my teeth into. Guard was stellar (well deserved 1st place). Drums sounded very fuzzy (especially snares) from my vantage point and those caption rankings reflected that observation. BD always has a presence on the field that very few corps can duplicate and this year was no exception. Well deserved win in the visual caption.

REGIMENT - Simply awesome. Brilliantly designed and emotionally performed. One of the subcaptions on the Visual Effect sheets lists "artistry" and "communication" as two of the key components. Phantom demonstrated and performed these like no one else in the house that night. I love how they begin to tell the story as they enter the field. The "army's" treatment of the slaves during the warmup just sets the stage for the upcoming epic. Herald trumpets were impressive and prepared you for the emotional onslaught to follow. The 2nd production provided some of the best low brass scoring I've heard - menacing is the best word I can think to describe it. At the point in the ballad where Phrygia is murdered I felt the corps jumped into overdrive from an emotional standpoint. By the time the slaves regrouped to prepare for battle the corps had the audience right where they wanted them. The "I AM SPARTACUS" section is one for the history books - the audience participation at this point was massive. Everyone was on their feet WELL before the end of the program. Thank you Phantom for proving that you can been entertaining AND competitive. Hopefully more corps will follow along this path.

Edited August 11, 2008 by GEVisual

[Fightin Irish]

Great Review.

I think this was the best Phantom show ever and one of the best drum corps shows ever and definitely deserved to win.

Side Note: It's kind of interesting how BD fell in drums from 3rd (quarter & semi-finals) to 5th in Finals giving that score by drum judge J.J. Pipitone who marched in Phantom.

[84BDsop]

Great Review.

I think this was the best Phantom show ever and one of the best drum corps shows ever and definitely deserved to win.

Side Note: It's kind of interesting how BD fell in drums from 3rd (quarter & semi-finals) to 5th in Finals giving that score by drum judge J.J. Pipitone who marched in Phantom.

JJ also aged out in BD....please stop trying to connect his Regiment heritage with the drum scoring (he also marched Dutch Boy before that)....he had BD at the top last year.

[Fightin Irish]

JJ also aged out in BD....please stop trying to connect his Regiment heritage with the drum scoring (he also marched Dutch Boy before that)....he had BD at the top last year.

[Fightin Irish]

I wasn't trying to connect anything. It's something I just noticed on the recaps. I would have had Phantom first as well.

[steelcityrabbit]

I wasn't trying to connect anything. It's something I just noticed on the recaps. I would have had Phantom first as well.

I have to jump in on this, you say you weren't trying to connect anything, but you put both facts in the same sentence.

You started off the sentence by saying "it's kind of interesting".

Just man up and admit you were trying to stir the pot.

I agree exactly with 84BDSop.

[purexitement]

Great Review.

I think this was the best Phantom show ever and one of the best drum corps shows ever and definitely deserved to win.

Side Note: It's kind of interesting how BD fell in drums from 3rd (quarter & semi-finals) to 5th in Finals giving that score by drum judge J.J. Pipitone who marched in Phantom.

Everything that is wrong with the judging system.

Almost impossible to be objective...

However, Love Regiment-Congratulations!

[dans]

JJ....he had BD at the top last year.

Yikes! Phantom had a great drum line in 2008 but the above revalation does not help JJ's credibility one little bit!

[Phansouth]

JJ also aged out in BD....please stop trying to connect his Regiment heritage with the drum scoring (he also marched Dutch Boy before that)....he had BD at the top last year.

I've noticed you show great maturity in your responses to some of the silly posts on these boards. Thank you.

[pvt_cairns]

Having not seen PR's drumline sepretly from the corps I was astonished by their playing. However after seeing them in the lot finals week I have to say that their playing is still insanly clean, like from a different planet clean, but where's the demand? Did I miss something? I don't in any way dispute that they should have won the percussion title. Heck if you can play 8's that clean all way through you should win, but where's the meat that's been there the last few years? Just didn't feel as powerfull as it has in the recent past. I'd say Blue Coats had the best balanced book between demand and being clean. PR as I said was a bit weak demand wise, but insanely clean, BD was just bad this year, the book was way over written, and underpreformed in my book. And when I say they were bad, I mean they were bad for being the BD, we're used to seeing surgical precision with accuracy that defies logic, and this year there was (gasp) fuzz. Am I alone in thinking PR was lacking demand? Maybe it's just me. I was also very impressed with BK snare line, they had some nice notes.