Pittsburgh 6/22 review

[bandbuck]

Just got home from a great show in Pittsburgh, so figured I'd write a quick review while I'm still hyped on caffeine (though I did manage to stay away from the deep-fried Oreos in the stadium...). Baldwin High School was the site, with a nice artificial turf surface. Also, my apologies in advance for all the details of shows which I couldn't catch in a first viewing. And to be honest, I was less than impressed by these corps on the webcast and almost didn't go tonight, but I'm glad I did!!!! It's going to be another great season!

Capital Regiment (Open Class...64.3)

It was great seeing Cap back on the field, and they're off to a great start. They had about 40 horns, a good sized drumline, but only 6 guard. It's a nice show with lots of nice "Storm" moments. The drums seem very strong, and the horns had lots of nice moments garnering good crowd reaction. The small guard was featured nicely, and this should be a great show by season's end! Welcome back, Capital Regiment!

Colts (5th place...63.5)

The Colts are always a great early-season-show corps, since they always seem to have a more complete package than most corps, with finished flags, finished guard work, etc. Tonight was no exception, with a nice nautical look in the guard, some great show flags, and some great horn hits, especially right at the beginning of the show. The music is all nice and accessible. However, it seemed like the horns were in the front of the field most of the show, so I kept yearning for more field coverage. They also had lots of parked moments. Also, in my first negative amped-keyboard experience, the volume of the amps was SO loud and with such a heavy bass that it really detracted from the nice horn sound. There were keyboard chords and bass backing up the whole horn book, and when it finally dropped out about a minute left in the show, the horn line sounded thin. I'm guessing this was mostly due to the bass overkill the rest of the show. Other than that, a nice show!

Boston (3rd place...68.8)

There were lots of great moments in this "Temptation" show, with a middle eastern theme to most of the show. The huge guard (41 or 42?) was dressed appropriately for the theme, with lots of skin showing. The new uniforms on the corps look sharp, as does the cool drum finish! This should be one amazing show by finals, with lots of good stuff already. The hornline was very strong, with a sound on the bright side (not in a bad way...). The guard was definitely prominant in the design, but there are some good drill moments as well. I liked it!

Glassmen (4th place...66.1)

The new uni's look terrific! I liked everything about this show, and again think it will be a very good product as it develops. There was one very odd transition (or maybe a lack of transition) from the Piano into Panis Angelicus. Hopefully that will be fixed soon. The hornline was powerful, but at times the tone suffered with too much force. While the drums sounded good, the only real percussion thing I noticed was the lack of timpani in the pit. It wasn't an issue, but I did notice the absence. The guard outfits were nice as well....

Crown (2nd place....75.4)

Wow! I didn't particularly like this show on viewing on the Fan Network over the weekend, but in person it was terrific! They again have ventured into a new color palette, and it works very well. The first flag (the only non-plain one) was outstanding and very visual! While the show is not the instant crowd-pleaser like the last two years, it's a cool, well-planned concept. The guard uniforms deifnitly made me think of Peter Pan and Tinkerbell. The hornline....amazing. The effortless tone, especially in the upper trumpets, was beautiful. The purity of the full horn sound almost made Cadets horn sound seem forced (not that it was....). The drill moves quickly, and the field coverage was the best of the night. The 'fusing' of Over the Rainbow and Somewhere worked pretty well in the ballad, and the use of the Somewhere with the ominous bass notes to end the ballad like last year brought a smile to my face. It's definitely a more intense package than last year's, but I think it works well....really well!

Cadets (1st place...76.1)

Where to begin.... This West Side Story show seemed really, really fragmented to me tonight, but there were still lots of highlights. There's the typical cool drill moves, great guard (but tonight they seemed to have lots of tangled flag issues...maybe using show flags for the first time?), and good drum stuff, but something just didn't work for me. The jazzy "Cool" feature was my favorite part, along with the fast-moving closing drill (which was complete, unlike the Annapolis webcast). It's another talented corps, as usual, but the updated arrangements of these classic tunes didn't seem to connect. I'm sure it will develop well, but tonight I thought Crown took top honors. What do I know? lol...

It was a great show overall, and I'm glad I went! The only downer was the 30-minute intermission (and then another 15-20 minute techical "problem" between Glassmen and Crown), which stretched out the evening. I'm not sure why a 6-corps show needs to be 2.5 hours long (and I left right after Cadets and before the encore/score announcement). Wouldn't the corps (and the fans) appreciate getting back on the road sooner? Just my two cents worth.

Respecfully yours....

[Iplaytimpani]

I noticed the lack of timpani with the Glassmen too.

Great review and thanks for it!

[DcFr3aK]

Great review! Can't wait to read what you have to say later on in the season!

Travis

[shaners]

great review, thanks!

[PunkRawkBandGeek]

I noticed the lack of timpani with the Glassmen too.

You would!

[Guizeppe]

Excellent review. Good read.