Lawrence Ma. Review ( partial Corps )

[BRASSO]

This is a quick review of Lawrence Ma. Show on July 31st. My apologies to Defenders ( exhibition), Surf, Spirit. The weather looked in the late afternoon like the show would have little chance of going all as it rained heavily most of the day, and with a 70% chance of rain predicted for the hours during the show. But at the last minute, I changed my mind decided to go, but arrived late.

Stadium.....Lawrence Memorial High School, Lawrence. Mass........... great stadium to see a show. This school had a newly built school with a large ( for a High School ) stadium. Since the stands were large, there was plenty of high up vantage points to see the visuals........ parking spaces around the stadium was plentiful and roads in and out were easy. Nice, safe area, and with 2 Dunkin Donuts coffee shops nearby the stadium, what more do you need ( haha)....... others must have felt the same way, as this was a very sizeable crowd in attendance on what looked to be possiblly a standstill show......... but it wasn't, as all the Corps got to perform and compete and it only drizzled a bit here and there during the show.

CROSSMEN......they are doing a dark thremed show this year with the use of black capes......the music and percussion and guard worked well for me...... I liked the show. It was different and unique...... brass charts had some unusual chords that fit the theme perfectly I thought....... the problem with the Crossmen this year is simple to see. It's their Visual program. It's VERY dirty. Crossmen either a) started late and didn't have sufficient time to clean or B) the visual drill was simply too difficult for the Corps to manage. My hunch, it's the latter. Perhaps it's inexperience level of the marchers. In any event, despite unique and interesting show, the Corps is held back placement because there is all sorts of spacing, interval, cover, feet, problems throughout the drill.

COLTS...... nautical theme, and I liked the music on the whole. Ballad done well...... nice soprano solo in the ballad...... some standing around in the drill here and there, but the Corps at it's level has no major weaknesses that should keep it out of making Finals.......good sound in the lower brasss...... nice finish to show as well....... solid guard, but lots of rifle drops tonite from them

MADISON SCOUTS....... wished the Corps would enter the field in the company front which use to be their signature...... not a fan of their new uniforms...... Corps has a good brass line, and I like the music....... first half of the show, better than the 2nd half......there is little flow to this show however. It seems chopped.........some nice visual moves in the show..... percussion line a bit muddled....... bass drummer out of step first 20 seconds of show, which is a no no........ lots of dirt in the drill...... and despite some good music here and there, the Corps live and die by execution....... I hope that Madison comes out with a more easily understood theme next year. That said, I think Madison's scores were a little lower than what I would have given them...... crowd gave them a good hand..... people in Mass. like the Madison Scouts.... hope they come back again soon.

BOSTON CRUSADERS.......just a well crafted show this year from Boston..... nice flow to the show from start to finish as well..... theme of " Temptation " easily understood by one and all..... this is one of Boston best production in years...... no major weaknesses in any section.... percussion, brass, guard all very sold......mostly straight ahead, no nonsense Drum Corps done with flair and done quite well...... Massachusetts based crowd obviously loved them, as did I..... they appeared to have a few marching issues tonite at the start.... ie feet, cover, etc early in the show that probably cost them a little bit scoring wise....... Boston finished their show strong however, and" Baccanale ", the finish, got everybody up and on their feet cheering.

PHANTOM REGIMENT.........wow...... they still can play folks. Great sound in the brass and percussion still. " Red Violin " is not as bad as I've been led to believe. I thought their guard had some issues, but it did not seem to me to be as bad as we've been led to believe.....the show has some choppiness regarding the flow, but the music is stiill very appealing to this fan's ears..... Phantom usually has a nice ballad and this year is no exception..... Phantom still had a very good percussion line, by the way..... Boston Crowd really enjoyed Phantom Regiment tonite. They won by a little less than a point over Boston tonight, and I don't think many people disagreed with Phantom Regiment's placement on this night.

Boston Crusaders Sr Corps...... larger brass, percussion from them this year. They put on nice exhibition playing some of the classics from yesteryear and when they finished with " Conquest " that got the crowd up and cheering at the end..........Boston Crusaders. Sr's passed by the Boston Crusaders, Jr Corps lining up to do their encore, and a few of the Crusaders Jr's were seen applauding the Seniors as they went by. That was a nice touch I thought, and the Crusaders Sr DM marching past went over to them to acknowledge that classy gesture by the younger Crusaders.......Crusaders Jr's did the encore..... it was wonderful......they played " time to say goodbye"......" Conquest "...... and a nice feature solo by the front pit ensemble..... and a couple of other songs...... I like most of these encores that Corps do, and Boston's this year is no exception. I really enjoyed it.

Summary...... wished I saw the others..... but all in all a good night, good venue, good size crowd...... if some folks need a criticism, then mine would be that some Corps might consider scaling back their visual demand in shows, as there were lots of sub par execution in the drill formations with only a week to go in the season. Every Corps..... EVERY Corps had members out of step during portions of the show. That seems unusual to see. Visual design coordinators might want to consider this when designing future shows. That's because at the end of the day, Drum Corps is still about execution..... that aside, I enjoyed myself tonight and look forward to next year's show here in Lawrence, Mass. ,God willing.

Edited August 1, 2009 by BRASSO

[dunkertim]

Thanks for the review....

Go BAC

[DefenderAlum]

Hey Brasso - Great review! I know you were probably thinking something along the lines of "Yeah it was great to see Phantom Regiment, they're good and all, but the night is not complete without seeing The Defenders"

OK, or maybe not, but if you were wondering, you can see us here.

Spirit and Surf are on their own, and on the fan network no doubt.

[Bari 1]

This is a quick review of Lawrence Ma. Show on July 31st. My apologies to Defenders ( exhibition), Surf, Spirit. The weather looked in the late afternoon like the show would have little chance of going all as it rained heavily most of the day, and with a 70% chance of rain predicted for the hours during the show. But at the last minute, I changed my mind decided to go, but arrived late.

Thanks for the review.

Was anyone there in time to catch Defenders, Jersey Surf, and Spirit.

I'd be interested in how they were.

Thanks

[audiodave]

Thanks for the review.

Was anyone there in time to catch Defenders, Jersey Surf, and Spirit.

I'd be interested in how they were.

Thanks

I think if you click "Part 1" or "Part 2" in DefenderAlum's post

you can watch it. I know it's not the same as being there, and the

camera getting bumped into doesn't help, but hey-at least

you'll have an opinion after you watch it.