Bluecoats Commentary on Fan Network

[KFanti]

First off - I have not heard the commentary from FN. I have no interest in hearing ANY of the commentaries from ANY drum corps. I kinda fall into the category of "if you need to explain it" I probably won't dig it. I felt the same about BD's "Absurdity" program and the Cadets "The Zone", "This I Believe" (and basically the last four years ... until this year (which I love!)

Secondly, I am a Bluecoats Alum - and a proud one and a VERY critical one. I would like NOTHING more than to see them win it all someday... soon. However, when they are good they are good and when they are not good they're not. This year they are VERY good.

I saw the corps (all of them) last week in Houston and spent the day on Friday watching the corps rehearse. I enjoyed it. All guns are firing and I'm excited for my drum corps.

Now - that being said. I've listened to so many people on DCP complain over the last TEN YEARS that the Bluecoats visual program needs to be more "creative". "They are safe and need something more interesting to develop on the creative side".

...so now it's too "out there?" I think if they were from Concord or Allentown/Garfield/Bergen County it would be creativity at the highest levels. But they are from Canton so it's "contrived". pshhh. Whatever, you drum corps snobs.

Those who love great Brass, great Drums, and great twirlin' and marchin' - say this with me... BLOOOO!

Those who can't make up your creative minds.... Blow it out your ### , know it all.

[brassmeaway]

Just listened after reading this thread, and I agree 100%. NOBODY is going to read the show like he says, nor should they. The corps is doing the activity, the designers are living some WGI wet dream.

NOT bashing the kids ... just the people for letting the concept taken down this road and to this extreme. It's just not fun.

The bluecoats of the past presented a concept/theme without needing liner notes to make sense. Shows like "Escape" were GREAT. THAT's what we want ... and it's not like that show was a throw-away, either.

BUT I agree with what was said above, the kids are performing the HECK out of it!

[BlueR36]

I think the guy just kept talking for the sake of talking. I got what he was "basically" talking about and just ignored all the "fluff" he jabbered on about to fill the air time. It was like he felt he HAD to fill all the time by himself.

And I hope my opinions change slightly like my Mississippi friend when I finally see them the first weekend in August.

But I do have one question -- if the "protagonist" in the boller hat with the umbrella to start the show is someone we're supposed to follow throughout the show, why did they make it SO hard by dressing him in the same CG outfit as everyone else -AND- by making that uniform blend so much with the corps proper?? I don't want the commentator's explanation, that's for sure.

Hopefully seeing them in person Aug. 1-2 will help me appreciate the visual design better. I already LOVE listening to them!!!

[JustABandMom]

I listened to the commentary the night of the San Antonio show and have to admit that I turned it off. He was too loud and I felt he was over-analyzing their show. I was afraid that it was going to make the perception of their concept even worse.

I really like the idea of their show and I love the music, I think he went over-board in his analysis and has only left people scratching their heads. I truly hope that in the end this doesn't interfere with the perception of the corps performance.

I know how hard they have worked as all the corps do.

It didn't interfere with my enjoyment of the show. Although I couldn't enjoy the show during the commentary, I watched a few days later, after the videos came out, and really liked the show. I didn't remember a lot of the detailed info from the commentary, but was glad that I then knew the basic concepts. Very, very nice show, and I thought they did a good job.

Of course I could not forget about the flying pigs, and could not find them in the show - maybe on the flags, which you really can't see in the video. I may watch the commentary again, just to see what I missed in it the first time. Hard to watch that kind of stuff when the competition is in swing.

But the show was good. Looking forward to seeing it live.

[Michael Boo]

...

Those who can't make up your creative minds.... Blow it out your ### , know it all.

[Tez]

I understand your feelings about the concept of their show, and I respect that.

How do you feel about how they perform?

I love the way this corps performs.

While I haven't seen the show live yet, I think this may be the best Bluecoats ever. They have some great musical and visual responsibilities out there and are handling it wondefully. Can't wait to see them at championships.

And by the way... I don't dislike their show concept. I get it on a broad level and I think it works..... it's just that to try and follow every little nuance and detail of the narrative explained on the fan network, I think would lessen the impact of the actual music and visual going on. For instance if you heard a piece of great music by itself... it may affect you in a certain way.... but if you heard that same piece of music scored in a film.... you would probably be affected by what's going on in the film more with the music just adding support. Not that I don't like music with a narrative (absolutely loved Spartacus)... it's just very difficult to pull off in drum corps.

[Tez]

First off - I have not heard the commentary from FN. I have no interest in hearing ANY of the commentaries from ANY drum corps. I kinda fall into the category of "if you need to explain it" I probably won't dig it. I felt the same about BD's "Absurdity" program and the Cadets "The Zone", "This I Believe" (and basically the last four years ... until this year (which I love!)

Secondly, I am a Bluecoats Alum - and a proud one and a VERY critical one. I would like NOTHING more than to see them win it all someday... soon. However, when they are good they are good and when they are not good they're not. This year they are VERY good.

I saw the corps (all of them) last week in Houston and spent the day on Friday watching the corps rehearse. I enjoyed it. All guns are firing and I'm excited for my drum corps.

Now - that being said. I've listened to so many people on DCP complain over the last TEN YEARS that the Bluecoats visual program needs to be more "creative". "They are safe and need something more interesting to develop on the creative side".

...so now it's too "out there?" I think if they were from Concord or Allentown/Garfield/Bergen County it would be creativity at the highest levels. But they are from Canton so it's "contrived". pshhh. Whatever, you drum corps snobs.

Those who love great Brass, great Drums, and great twirlin' and marchin' - say this with me... BLOOOO!

Those who can't make up your creative minds.... Blow it out your ### , know it all.

I believe that the majority of people over the past TEN YEARS clamoring for more "creative" design as you say, were really wanting something more complex and with more demand. We're talking the actual visual design here (drill and guard work), not the overall show concept. This year, I think Bluecoats have stepped up the actual visual design in terms of complexity and demand, but maybe still not to the level of Cadets or Cavaliers.

If you read what we are actually complaining about, it is not this at all. I don't think anyone thinks what the Bluecoats are actually doing is too "out there"... it's just the narrative they are trying to portray to hold it all together is too "out there."

[perc2100]

Now - that being said. I've listened to so many people on DCP complain over the last TEN YEARS that the Bluecoats visual program needs to be more "creative". "They are safe and need something more interesting to develop on the creative side".

...so now it's too "out there?" I think if they were from Concord or Allentown/Garfield/Bergen County it would be creativity at the highest levels. But they are from Canton so it's "contrived". pshhh. Whatever, you drum corps snobs.

Those who love great Brass, great Drums, and great twirlin' and marchin' - say this with me... BLOOOO!

Those who can't make up your creative minds.... Blow it out your ### , know it all.

Wow: don't take criticism well, huh.

I don't know if people think Bluecoats visual program is too "out there." I think people have 1) thought Bluecoats have had a VERY weak visual design (marching and guard) over the years. They have (it's been their aquiles heal since their climb to the top, being the one key that Bluecoats have not been able to grasp to make the push to Top 3). Critics have wanted to see a high quality visual book (again, drill and color guard) to match their Top 3 caliber brass and percussion sections.

In short, that's not quite happening yet for some reason. Not only that, but their year's show design is "too out there" in the sense that they are falling woefully short communicating their theme across to the audience/judges. This is obvious based on their scores (like years past, their brass and percussion are strong, their visual and visual GE scores in the tank, with Bluecoats losing to even Boston Crusaders at their last show in Visual Ensemble). Their show design is fine (I think it's a good idea, and like I've said before it's an idea that probably works better in concept than in practice, or at least better in concept that Bluecoats execution ). Hopefully their team can pull it together in the remaining couple of weeks, but it's probably too late for now. Their music doesn't quite fit their visual/overall theme other than what feels like a very contrived/forced way, and their show in general doesn't fit their announced theme.

I haven't had the chance to listen to their commentary yet (busy week for me), but I will next week when I have some free time. I really like their music book, and I want to like their show more this year than in previous years. But they seem to me to have a Top 5 music design, and a Bottom 6 (as in 12-7) visual/over-all show design.

I understand your need to stick up for your corps, but don't take it personally. I think people in general REALLY want to see Bluecoats break out and finally have Top 3 caliber show design that compliments their Top 3 musical book/members' performance. I think that might be why people are so critical, as it's frustrating to see a group consistently turn out great musical captions/performances, and visual programs that don't begin to live up to the potential of the music.

[Jeff Ream]

I will admit I enjoyed the commentary....I found it entertaining.

i did too, but not in a good way.

[soccerguy315]

I love the Bluecoats show this year.

I like the "imagine" theme and what they do with it.

That said, all the wacked out stuff that guy was talking about... you will NEVER "get" from watching people march and play and spin. They convey "imagine" really well, IMO. The super details / random parts... are just not possible to convey.