Something having to do with Akron that isn't LeBron James

[BlooooContra]

Ok. So I'll begin this with the obligatory disclaimer:

I aged-out of Bluecoats. I have horrible biases for and against certain corps. AND, I'm a Cleveland sports fan, which means I tend to get a little more passionate about the activities I love. I tend to be opinionated, though that doesn't mean refraining from giving credit where credit was due. If I happen to offend anyone, well... I'm not the least bit sorry.

Sooo.... On to the review (which will not be proof-read seeing as it's 3:43 a.m. and I just got home to Columbus)!

The Show Site

Akron's new Infocision Stadium is the perfect venue for something this size. I definitely wish it would have been around during my tenure at UA. Gorgeous, and great for acoustics. My only suggestion would be to take into consideration when choosing someone to sing the national anthem that this is a *music* event, and the audience members might do things like *look at each other while trying not to crack up* while someone sings the Star Spangled Banner like Steve Vai playing around with a broken pitch-shifter.

Spirit

Not a single hot dog corps at this show. Spirit kicked things off with a hornline that was clearly there to make a statement. Unfortunately the show designers were also trying to make a statement, which I'm reasonably sure was "Hey, we're here to help the illiterate." Why helping the illiterate, you may ask? Well, I can't think of any other remotely logical explanation that any human with still-functioning brain synapses would come up with for the *ICON-ICON-FORGING-ICON-FORGING-ICON* part of the show other than it's meant as an aide for those who can't read the program. I applaud Spirit's design team for their wonderful empathy toward the illiterate among the DCI community. Well done, sirs.

So anyway, the HORNLINE was definitely a big highlight of this show. While maybe smaller than some others, they put out an impressive sound. Are they going to beat a corps like BD? Of course not. But they definitely put out a heck of a lot of energy, and the ensemble's performance really reached the box. While it's difficult to predict a final outcome in a competitive season like this, these kids really deserve some credit for selling their show. Vis performance really lacked to me, but a lot of it was little things like horn angles, consistency in leg articulation and foot timing in/out of direction changes--very basics block-y kinda stuff that I'm sure will start cleaning up during this last month.

Madison Scouts

Firstoff, I really, really dig the new unis. From a member's perspective, I'm sure the short sleeves are great in terms of keeping cooler. From the box, they really don't make a huge impact either way, which the gauntlets probably help. Overall, it's a very clean look, which was a pleasant surprise. One of the things that caught my attention off the bat was that this corps, which has a history of being very up-and-down with their colorguard program in the past decade, is definitely having an "up" year from a guard perspective. I'm really hoping that fixing this sometimes-weak link helps the Scouts be more competitive this year. The music? Rocking. Entertaining from top to bottom, and MELODIC to boot, which is refreshing. There was a pretty clear difference between Madison and Spirit just in the way the corps carried itself, and you could tell from the opening second that this group was going to put out a lot of energy. The big highlight for me was the trumpet soloist who absolutely rocked the bejesus out of the clarinet opening from Rhapsody in Blue. Yes. Yes. YES. Someone please give this man a high five (and the brass arranger for keeping true-ish to the original while still kicking the piece up for the field arrangement).

Boston Crusaders

I marched Bluecoats in the first half of the 00s. This means that I automatically hate everything Boston ever does by default. It's simple biology.

Well, last year turned that around, and this year keeps going in the same direction. The Eve show, to me, was the best thing Boston's ever put on the field. This year continues with the same design aesthetic that really seems to push the idea of approaching a concept from a very exploratory angle throughout the production. The opening procession was a cool effect, and the various ascensions and descents from the throne really held my attention. It was like seeing a good stand-up comic riff on one particular topic from a bunch of different angles. The music wasn't my cup of tea, but the show still managed just... work. Should be a dogfight with Phantom for a little while longer.

Oh, and speaking of Phantom Regiment...

I thought this show was just... well... no. Just... no. I get it. We're going into the light. The light is in this corner. We're progressing. Now we're in this corner where the light was. The new moon and the old moon and yada yada yada. I feel like Phantom's design staff got their ring in '08, then just said "eff it" and decided to phone a few years in. It's like trying to sit through '97's "The Ring" after getting your face melted by Shostakovich's 4th Ballet Suite the year before. It's the smoking hot chick who goes home with you and just disappears the next morning without a trace. Seriously. Where on earth has Phantom gone?

On the positive side, the main soloist had a really great night, and the ending solo in particular was gorgeous. On the negative side, this show just seems like all running without the big payoffs. Cavaliers 2001 is (to me) the perfect example of how a track team can have constantly occurring "wow" visual moments. This show seems unnecessarily difficult, or at least seriously lacking in the baby-throwing-moment department. And good lord, the contras? I haven't seen anything that wobbily since I attended a trampoline party and Marlon Brando's house. Contra vis performance is always a pet peeve of mine, and PR definitely hit the "peeve" right on the head. Yikes. Off night, maybe?

I want Phantom to be good this year. I think they definitely have an AWESOME drumline that's going to be smoking a lot of corps all season. Their hornline can really open up with a great sound when they aren't in a dead sprint. It's going to be a matter of tweaking this show so the clearly talented members can make it really happen.

The Cavaliers

If you blatantly reference "Stripes" in your show, I will love you forever. End of review.

Ok, maybe there's more to Mad World that Bill Murray quotes. To me, this is a potentially championship caliber show that is entirely too dirty to go about winning said championship. The surrealist elements were really interesting, and the use of military allusions really gave it a unique flavor. Drill, as always, was great. Mike McIntosh is back with the drumline, and you could definitely tell (which is a huuuge plus). The guard integration in this show should be included in designers' how-to books. It's an overall great package, but I feel that this is one of the dirtier Cavaliers horn books in recent memory. This show could really place anywhere from 1-7, and it's more or less going to come down to whether they can get it clean. There's already a TON of little detail in the production (especially considering it's only July 9th), and this is going to be a really fun one to check out on the Blu-rays once it's finished. Soooo much to see.

Carolina Crown

Crown has always been very hit or miss for me. I looooved 2001's "Industry," and I think their ballad in 2000, "Diego's Goodbye," is one of the most gorgeous things ever to hit the field. Shows like "Bellisimo," however, almost singlehandedly feed my hot dog addiction. I thought last year's program was really, really well-performed and would be an awesome stepping stone for 2010. It *kinda* was. Firstoff, the intro was absolutely genius. Very controlled, sonorous brass sound. Almost a little creepy the way it's all presented. Set a tone that really reeled me in. And then... meh. Their brass played extremely well, and not a single section of the corps can be deemed a weak link. They've got talent the whole way through. To me, this show was like a photo negative of the Cavaliers. It's a non-championship caliber show that COULD easily win a championship sheerly on amazing performance (a la BD 2007). I don't think it's anywhere near as well-thought-out as the Cavaliers, but the membership is really out to sell it regardless, which kinda makes it work. Sometimes I feel like Crown is like that weird, ironically bearded hipster kid who wears ultra-tight jeans and rides a unicycle to school--just weird for the sake of being weird. Maybe even a little Star of Indiana-y (in both the weird way AND the amazingly talented way). This group could take the title.

Bluecoats

I'm never afraid to criticize the ones I love (I mean, seriously... cloud people?), but try as I might, it's tough to criticize this particular production. Percussion was tight, and that tenor line just smokes. The Imogen Heap piece is a huge highlight, and the contras just rip this show apart in the best way possible. Like the Cavaliers, this is a championship show that just needs its members to actually win the championship. Very clean for this time of year, and I'm praying that they don't pull an '07. It's a beautiful thing to see a visual staff actually stay at Bluecoats for more than 10 minutes, and I really think that considering the way the corps looked tonight, this is the vis staff to really take the corps where they need to go. And on a side note, crack pipes and vis performance judges do not mix. What a recap. Oy vey.

My only complaint about this show is that most of the music could really be done by a lot of corps. Boston. BD. SCV. I think Bluecoats are still kind of evolving in terms of identity, and had it not been for 4 semesters of theory, I would have thought this wasn't really a jazz-centric corps anymore. This group could easily be the best edition of the corps ever, and like Crown, could take any color medal. This is definitely the show to do it, if ever there was one in Bluecoats history. Now how about some more original Doug Thrower music in 2011? Good stuff.

All in all, this was a heck of a mid-season show. There wasn't a single 11 minutes of my life I wish I could have gotten back. 2010 seems like it's really raising the bar for the entire activity, and shows that might not even be finalists this year would have been taking some of the bigger dogs out just 10 years ago. The members of all 7 of these groups really have something to be proud of tonight. Well done.

Oh, and just a few more words.

Six of them, to be exact.

Go Blue.

[CFarley311]

Great review Will. I appreciate the reviews that give an actual honest review, positive and negative, and acknowledge personal feelings as well, a mix of technical and emotional feedback. Nice job.

[TerriTroop]

Thanks for the great read! I love the honesty and the humor.

[Swine]

Oh, and just a few more words.

Six of them, to be exact.

Go Blue.

Four words: What?

[chris ncsu]

"It's a non-championship caliber show that COULD easily win a championship sheerly on amazing performance (a la BD 2007). "

Thank you! I think that about BD 07, too, and I'm getting that feeling about Crown.

[David Hill]

Terrific review: could almost see and hear the shows from your writing!

[KFanti]

Best. Review. Ever.

Thanks Rubble

and best signature ever too.

I joined a 29th place corps - it folded.

I aged out in Finals.

I didn't jump ship. Didn't chase the rings.

I understand.

GO BLOOO!

Edited July 10, 2010 by KFanti

[NCSU_Crown]

Carolina Crown

Crown has always been very hit or miss for me. I looooved 2001's "Industry," and I think their ballad in 2000, "Diego's Goodbye," is one of the most gorgeous things ever to hit the field. Shows like "Bellisimo," however, almost singlehandedly feed my hot dog addiction. I thought last year's program was really, really well-performed and would be an awesome stepping stone for 2010. It *kinda* was. Firstoff, the intro was absolutely genius. Very controlled, sonorous brass sound. Almost a little creepy the way it's all presented. Set a tone that really reeled me in. And then... meh. Their brass played extremely well, and not a single section of the corps can be deemed a weak link. They've got talent the whole way through. To me, this show was like a photo negative of the Cavaliers. It's a non-championship caliber show that COULD easily win a championship sheerly on amazing performance (a la BD 2007). I don't think it's anywhere near as well-thought-out as the Cavaliers, but the membership is really out to sell it regardless, which kinda makes it work. Sometimes I feel like Crown is like that weird, ironically bearded hipster kid who wears ultra-tight jeans and rides a unicycle to school--just weird for the sake of being weird. Maybe even a little Star of Indiana-y (in both the weird way AND the amazingly talented way). This group could take the title.

I think I agree with you on Crown on this years show (side note: Diego's Goodbye is the reason I decided to march with them in 2002). It's obvious they've got the talent this year, but I'm still not getting the right vibes with this show. It took a while for me to get with last year's program, but once I understood it, I absolutely loved it. I just hope the same thing happens this year. I don't think they're trying to be weird for the sake of being weird though. The "Second Chance" theme is becoming more apparent to me in every part of the show. With the exception of all the body movements, and those gold horns.... But I guess with the sound they put out, the horns can be any color they want!

[nero14]

Get it, mark

[bluecoats88]

Best. Review. Ever.

Thanks Rubble

and best signature ever too.

I joined a 29th place corps - it folded.

I aged out in Finals.

I didn't jump ship. Didn't chase the rings.

I understand.

GO BLOOO!

Ken,

If you mean you joined in the winter of 82 for the 83 season then you joined a 33rd place corps that folded.

me I joined a 31st place corps

scored 56.25 at my first finals

finished my 7 years in finals

and topped out at an 89.0 (semi's in 1987)

all with the same corps