Dublin Downs

[oldbandguy]

What is up with the Bluecoats Music Ensemble score? Dead last in one of the subcaptions? 1.4 behind their last show, I think. 1st in percussion, 2nd in brass and 4th in ensemble??? Bad show or judging anomaly?

[BigPapiBass5]

Whats with Crowns percussion? It seems that thats been hurting a lot this season looking at recaps.

[DrumJunkie]

Cavies were really Meh tonight, IMO. Saw some flashes of past drill flashes, but not much.

I kept thinking "Where's the power from those horns?"

I agree...

Cavies- did a great job of entertaining my 12 year old sister, but that's just it. For me this show was just catchy and fun to watch. Wasn't blown away by any one thing (esp thought the company front towards the end lacked power and emphasis) this show to me just doesn't have that championship feel to it, or even the usuall cavies feel that I am used to getting.

Bluecoats- Really enjoyed this show. Can definately see this show being in the top 4 come august 12

Crown- could definately see this show winning this year. Love the visual the corp does behind the battery in the break where they all layed down behind the drumline very cool. The sound (and quality of the sound) that this group puts out was definately in a league of its own tonight. Amazing brass with good drums and good guard. Def a recipe for success and wish all these groups the best

[DrumJunkie]

Whats with Crowns percussion? It seems that thats been hurting a lot this season looking at recaps.

I have a few opinions, and the are JUST OPINIONS!!!!

1- judging. judging varies very dramatically from judge to judge based on preferences and what the each look for. just less than a week ago at a previous contest, crown beat both the bluecoats and phantom in percussion, then tonight they finished third. just a difference in judges point of view. also just for pure speculation puropes (tonights judge was the same judge that had crown 4th at quarterfinals last yr, and as everyone knows the ended up only being like .2 back of BD for best overall percussion)

2-Inexperience. Crown has many new faces on its line this yr. they are still learning to play with each other and i personally (again just my opinion) believe their book to be more challenging and difficult than some lines, say the cavies for example. so the caives may be cleaner at this point in time, therefore scoring higher, but it will be interesting to see how crown comes together over the next month and change and i expect them to be scoring much better if not beating a few of the groups ahead of them come finals time

[bluecoats88]

how do you win drums, get second in Brass by a tenth and your music ensemble is so bad that you get 4th over a point lower than you've been getting the last 4 shows?

doesn't make much sense.

[wvu80]

It's late and I'm tired, 2.5 hour drive home after the show and I have to go to work in the AM, so here's the quick review. This are my impressions without seeing the scores or recaps.

Columbus, Ohio. Fantastic line up. Weather about 95 degrees at 7:00pm. Large HS stadium, large knowledgeable Ohio crowd. Very polite crowd, little talking during performances. Man and wife beside me were watching their first show of the year, their second show ever. Their son was a Madison snare. Good organization and a well run show. The aluminum bleachers were tough on the back, but good seats were available for $25 at game time. Seats were $25, $22 and the $19 seats helped fill the stadium from the 40 yard line out to the end zones. Parking was free and highly organized by the HS, and the glossy 10-page FIRST CLASS program was free. The two bottles of water I paid 5 bucks for was not free.

Madison Scouts: WOW. GREAT show, my personal favorite of the night. No, they won't win DCI but they showed some innovation, played great music, and just in general did a GREAT job. I like them the way everybody liked Santa Clara Vanguard last year. The new short sleeve unis are well designed, you can't even tell they are short sleeved due to long white gloves which go up to the elbow.

They used 20 contras, but they lacked the "Madison sound" which is traditionally sop heavy. The sound was balanced, but not loud, and did not have the screamers Madison has had in the past. I wonder if they will turn the lads loose later in the season, or is this all they have? They have a big sound, and I bet they attract new fans who can go away from this show humming the music. I can't say that for some of the other Big Boys who were here tonight.

The guard was too effeminate in their dancing for my taste, too much trying to put on a musical (I suppose Slaughter on 10th Avenue) which meant prancing about the field and being theatrical. They should have been bad-### like in the Old Days with the killer attitude and precision gun spins but they just weren't. Still, this is a top 12 show, and I'll say 10th.

Blue Stars: They did a Houdini show, and I would say they did the best job of the night pulling off a show using the corps and the color guard in combo. Terrific CG. They used boxes for Houdini as props and they used chairs to great effect with the Houdini CG escaping using straight jackets and later tied up with ropes. They play great and have a good show concept. My second favorite of the night, if not my favorite.

Cavaliers: Their unis took a big step backward IMO after last year's great unis. The effect of the guard with those flowing coats is very much like BD's use of skirts last year. They didn't play very loud and they were a bit boring, doing some goofy marching with rubber legs that just looked dumb. The entire brass line picking up rifles was really cool, and they made good use of humor (hard to pull off on a marching field) with the chant from the movie Stripes with "boom chack-a-lack-a, etc." Very cute, good audience reaction. I really didn't like their show after that. I'm tired, so I apologize Cavs fans, I'm sure it's just me who is dull right now. Cavs had the best use of the HUGE speakers, 5 clusters spread from about 30 to 30. It rattled my cage 40 rows up, on the the 40 yard line with the huge low-end rumble, which was very effective IMO.

Carolina Crown: Wow HUGE horn sound, with some beautiful playing in the ballad in the middle. I've been reading about their "tears" (sounds like "tare") in the middle with the horns spread from goal line to goal line, but there were no tears tonight, they nailed just about everything. I saw the "new" ending for the first time, and as usual for this group they played the heck out of it, but it left me a bit confused as it didn't seem to take me anywhere. No big ending here, at least not so far. They score BIG points for continuously spreading the corps from goal line to goal line, 100 yards apart. That is OUTRAGEOUSLY difficult, and very effective musically. Is this a championship show? Yes.

Bluecoats: This is like a home show for them, and they really looked ready to play, great attitude, lots of energy on this 90 degree evening. I haven't read the results yet and I had to leave before the encore by Crown, but this corps should have won. They looked VERY professional, just like BD does when they absolutely take over a field performance and own the crowd. The drum line was stunning and they are really crisp with the playing. This viewing I noticed the brass feature where the drum line doesn't play for a minute of so, so they are probably not scoring big by standing, but they really add to the show at this point by staying out of that huge beautiful brass sound.

You know how to score big GE points? Do a cheerleader-type lift of the guard girl front and center on the 50 as the horn line does a "ta-dah" to end the show. You know how to lose GE points? Drop the girl. That will work itself out later in the season, but I wonder how many points they lost (didn't gain in the build-up point system, same thing) when they dropped the girl?

Early in the season, I said Crown had the biggest sound; not any longer, it's Bluecoats. Coats play loud and they play great, and their moving is non-stop. If you didn't know, it's open mike night with the Coats as their soloists play into a mike and the sound is digitally enhanced for effect. The boys can play, but the sound is really different and pleasing. Personally I'm not sure I like the idea of changing the sound, but it is effective. The way the 2 mikes are placed, I'm wondering if they amplify the sound of the entire corps? By the symmetrical placement of the mikes, I would guess they do.

I would place Bluecoats in first over Crown, then Bluestars over Cavaliers. Madison was a flat out blast from the past with the most pleasing music and old school stuff made modern and relevant. This is the best Madison corps I've heard since 1988 (I missed some of those mid 90's shows, btw). Madison was well worth the $25 cost of admission. Great show tonight.

Edited July 8, 2010 by wvu80

[BozzlyB]

There are a ton of scores from this show that fall into the category of "judging anomaly". Unless of course every judge prior to this show was just dead wrong.

Edited July 8, 2010 by BozzlyB

[RedandBlack]

...

You know how to score big GE points? Do a cheerleader-type lift of the guard girl front and center on the 50 as the horn line does a "ta-dah" to end the show.

...

Oh, you mean like the lift Boston did last year during their closer? Yeah, you're right--that IS big GE. They are also doing it this year, with trumpets on baritone's shoulders, both groups playing.

This post brought to you by: "Did you see that?" and Timmy the thread hijacking pirate.

[jordsterr]

isn't he a coats alum? j/k folks, j/k :)

It is actually true that he marched at Coats.

[corpsband]

It is actually true that he marched at Coats.

I know - -I was j/k'ing about it influencing his score :)