Lance Posted July 6, 2010 Share Posted July 6, 2010 Just a gorgeous day and evening for drum corps. Mid 80s the whole day with a light breeze, and then down in to the mid 60s for the last corps of the evening. I'm worried this might be the last show WA sees for quite some time, and that makes me sad. I'll hope for the best. Anyway, onto the corps. Spokane Thunder Awesome to see this corps back. Very small this year...I counted 24 total in battery and brass....6 snares. The show music is exciting, and the corps plays the heck out of it. Very nice, musical drill, and some good body movement to complement the music. It's nice to see all the effort of instructors and members to get them to march uniformly. I'd say this corps is rebuilding a very solid foundation for the years to come, and I hope they are plentiful and constant. Can't wait to see what this corps does when it grows a little. SCV Cadets Wow, what a visual program from this group. I could easily see this corps competing visually with several World Class corps. Solid brass with some very mature-sounding soloists. The battery really gives this show a revved-up feeling, and I like how they end up in a wedge, front and center at a key moment in the show. Always great to see a marching cymbal line, and these guys really deliver. Oregon Crusaders Another strong outing from this corps. They're quite a bit smaller than SCV Cadets, but put out a very nice sound. I get the feeling they're waiting to pump up the volume a bit until the drill gets a little cleaner. The guard uniforms and flags really give off a feeling of fire, and so does the music. I really like their take on Kingfishers Catch Fire by the ubiquitous (these days) John Mackey. I wish I could see this show again when it's cleaned up visually. Seattle Cascades I like the musical selections this year a lot for this corps. One of the nicer moments of the night was the song "Tomorrow" near the end of their show. It was an understated arrangement that didn't try to hit the audience over the head with faux enthusiasm. The rest of the show had already given off the "silver lining" theme. The show is very theatrical with a big weather vane in the middle of the field and a big white fence in the back of the field. I don't really understand it, but I'm sure there's a reason for it. Same thing with the picnic table-fabric flags and the picnic at the end. I'd have to see it again, maybe. Troopers Love the Bon Jovi at the beginning. The falling down/push-ups thing at the beginning got a big "ooooooh" from the audience. I wasn't a huge fan of their show last year, outside the brass sound. I like their show a lot more this year. They still have that nice, big sound, but I think the drill is more interesting and complementary to the music and theme than last year's. Guard soloist is very good, and the show is programmed to bring your attention to him at just the right moment. If they can get individual marching cleaned up, I think the show will be received even better than it was tonight. Blue Knights Not a fan of their show last year. This year is different. There's a LOT to like about BK this year, and I think their show will appeal to just about everybody. Lush, mature brass sound in many places while playing some challenging stuff. I really like the upper brass choir work in the show. Some very fun walking bass lines built into the music as well. Cool arrangement of Farandole with some breakneck drill and playing at the end. Not a fan of their Nimrod arrangement, HOWEVER, the big push at the end of it is AMAZING...had the audience clapping with the buildup alone before they even hit the BIG moment. I think it'll be one of my favorite moments of the year from any corps. The closer has a lot going on visually and musically that isn't quite clicking yet, but when it does, it's hard to tell how high this show can go. -------------------------------- PLEASE come back here next year corps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wesleyrp Posted July 6, 2010 Share Posted July 6, 2010 Way cool Review Lance thanks..... Do you see the 80, sorry 79.9 as being legit right now? How's the guard n drumline doing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lance Posted July 6, 2010 Author Share Posted July 6, 2010 Percussion sounds great in the feature in the closer....some problems in the opener, I think, though. I'm not a percussion person, so I probably shouldn't be commenting, actually. CG seems very strong to me this year compared to the last couple of years, with the flag work seeming particularly strong to me. But again, I'm not a guard person. I don't pretend to understand scoring, so I can't comment on that at all. Compared to some other shows I've seen online with comparable scores, I like BK's chances of coming out on top of them eventually. Just a great show that has potential to be really great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevsmomm Posted July 6, 2010 Share Posted July 6, 2010 Thanks for the review, Lance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galen Posted July 6, 2010 Share Posted July 6, 2010 I'm worried this might be the last show WA sees for quite some time, and that makes me sad. I'll hope for the best. Why do you think this is the case? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScadesB5 Posted July 6, 2010 Share Posted July 6, 2010 Why do you think this is the case? Could be because this show seems to get smaller every year. Not as many "Big Name" corps are coming (I guess we call them G7 corps now? pfff) We used to see corps like BD and SCV, then we got just SCV...now the top group there is BK. The crowd has also gotten smaller-I remember marching in the show in 2006 and the stands were packed full...last night it was closer to 60-75% Still a good show though, I just hope we can bring in bigger corps. (Hey wasnt it nice when we had championships on the west coast in 07' and ALL the corps had to end up out here?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeke Posted July 6, 2010 Share Posted July 6, 2010 (edited) Didn't the Hillsboro show (Cascades home Show) have nearly 2,000 people in the stands? I can remember back when there used to be like around 4 shows. Edmonds, WA, Kelso, Wa, Woodburn, OR and I think 1 other back when. Edited July 6, 2010 by Zeke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lance Posted July 6, 2010 Author Share Posted July 6, 2010 Didn't the Hillsboro show (Cascades home Show) have nearly 2,000 people in the stands? I can remember back when there used to be like around 4 shows. Edmonds, WA, Kelso, Wa, Woodburn, OR and I think 1 other back when. Spokane was a pretty regular stop for a long time. Tri-Cities was out for awhile, but started again a few years back and has continued every year since then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScadesB5 Posted July 6, 2010 Share Posted July 6, 2010 Spokane was a pretty regular stop for a long time. Tri-Cities was out for awhile, but started again a few years back and has continued every year since then. Spokane was my first drum corps show ever. 2004. thats when it all started lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madrid Posted July 6, 2010 Share Posted July 6, 2010 I think the reason most corps stopped coming up here was due to the cost. It's not cheap for any non-west coast corps to swing all the way up here and then back. I had heard rumors that some of the Cali. corps wanted more money if they made the trek up here, too. What I don't understand is why there isn't a Seattle show anymore? Or any shows in WA other than the Tri-Cities show? Why is a show in Oregon the Seattle Cascades "home show"? I would think that if you could provide more shows in this beautiful region than more corps may take the drive up. I gotta tell ya, this is much more pleasant swing of tour than doing a mid-west swing in early July. MUCH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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