San Antonio Round 1

[wesleyrp]

Ok Now that I've had my Whataburger I'll write a few comments about SA night 1

Stadium-Awesome for corps,

Lot Access- Terrible, Had to go 1/4 mile down the road and through the woods to get to warm-up sites.

Prognosis- Way better venuw than the dome

Missed Cascades and Teal as I was walking the cross country route to find warm-up. Sorry guys, I enjoyed both of your shows last night from Houston though!

Pioneer- Some good moments, but they just don't the same level of maturity in sound and it shows the later the show goes on. Some decent moments and I applaud them on their improvement over the last couple of years.

Pacific Crest- Really enjoyed them. I think more than BK they are the underscored corps of the year! Great music, good hornline, nice visual package, they just lack the difficulty in the drill of some above them. Though I think they should be closer to the groups vying for semis.

Mandarins- Much improved from earlier in the year. The seem to be forcing too much. I feel they lose control of their sound because they're trying to get that extra bit of umph to try and compete with the corps above. To me they are just over thinking in the concept and while I get it, it just does not connect to the audience.

Academy- Ok, first real place I disagreed with the judges. This show and corps is really good. First big moments drill and music wise of the night. I think the guard was the first one that made me watch them and drew me in. The hornline is a little bright, but very good. I thought they still have quite a bit of dirt on the visual side of things, but I would've had them beating Troop tonight and closer to Glassmen.

Troopers- Way improved from the early season, but this show is just missing something. Continuity maybe? It seems like the musical arrangement just kinda mush together. Good tough book, and the drill is plenty difficult, but the concept is definitely a step backwards from a year ago imho. I also feel that the hornline is playing thinner this summer than last. A bit treble heavy at times. Still a good Troop corps this summer but when the dust settles I think they'll be solidly 14th.

Glassmen- Well performed visual package and good guard as usual. I like the music but don't love it. I felt like they've definitely improved and deserve to be in the 12 spot. However, of Troop, Acadmey and GMen, the Gmen play with the most bright sound and lack the focus in intonation. This could really hurt them come finals week! Most definitely the best show I have seen them perform this year and their score went up to prove it.

Blue Knights- I know I am the biggest homer/honk for my former corps and I admit it. But, this was a stellar performance tonight. I saw the run through at their rehearsal this afternoon which was very good, but tonight was the best I've seen BK perform in San Antonio since '06 or even '00. During the ballad the corps had the crowd silent and eating out of their hands and the end of Nimrod was spectacular. Closer was no different and they had the best show of the year as I was told by staff members. I felt they should have been AT LEAST AN 84.something, GOOD GOD JUDGES 83 IS OLD ALREADY!! Anyway I am calm now. I also see an interesting battle brewin on the horizon. More about that in a bit.

Phantom- Seemed a bit off tonight. I thought they played well and marched ok. Guard has come a long way and the drumline is simply smoking. Phantoms show has so much action in the opener and then it just lags. Sure it's better than the fiasco from a year ago, but is still in my opinion not nearly as good as their shows from the early part of the decade or the later part leading into '08. This show seems a bit hokey? Sorry, my wife and I both agreed on this. It's well marched and played and they carry out the theme well, but it's just not a great theme. I am not a big fan of down endings, but am a fan of the soloist this year, simply incredible! Great corps, underwhelming show.

Blue Stars- My wife and I have differeing opinions on this show, but the fact of the matter is- The Blue Stars have a hell of a drum corps. With that said, why do they choose to do a structured theme show every year? I felt that last year's show was hampered by the fact that it had to conform so much into the theme portrayed, and same in '08 with Le Tour. Good shows? yeah, but I think the themes were limiting. This years product has the same basic formula. The guard is really selling the theme. If you took them out of the picture and looked at the rest of the corps you'd see a loud/fast paced show that wouldn't need a theme to stand out. That's just it, this show could just as easy be called "Agression" as "Houdini." I feel this show will get passed musically in the end by Boston and BK. They have such a great hornline that playes so well, but it just is so loud all of the time, it loses effect needed. I think they're locked into the music the way it is because it does not have much room to be developed. Visually they are fairly clean and marching a tough fast paced drill, but it's just not connecting the theme to me. It seems to me that the Blue Stars should be competing with Phantom and SCV or higher because of their talent, but are not given that opportunity because of the limiting nature of the shows they've been doing. Especially from a musical standpoint. Great corps though and certainly awesome to hear those mellos, wow.

SCV- This show has really grown on me and they are starting to own it. They have the SCV quirky presentation and it makes the Bartok themes take a different avenue than you'd think they would. The arrangements which I did not care for at first are really starting to be quite nice. I agreed with their placement tonight and think they'll battle with Phantom the rest of the way for 6th.

BD- Man those mirrors are a trip! It is really neat to watch this corps. As good as that visual program is for them I wish you could just hit the mute botton for them from a music standpoint. This show is choppy at best musically and is why I think they will not win it all when it's said and done. One of the best visual shows in DCI period, but one of the worst musical shows as well. I feel that they are getting away with just playing stabs and hots without developing any musical sentences. I still like this show but now I like it less after seeing it live. It will likely end up no lower than 3rd, but I feel they're maxed out musically and will be held back because there is no more room to grow. I feel the gap will close going into Atlanta.

Thoughts/Rants- Ok this is might come off offensive and I don't mean to, so if it starts to offend, please look away! I am a huge BK honk as I have said and just need to blow off a little staem. After looking at the recaps I am not sure what the judges are looking at and listening to? In Dallas, BK beat Phantom in Performance visual and tonight they lost to both the Gmen and Troopers in Performance Vis. Also, BK got beat by Gmen and almost by Troop in brass? No offense to those corps, but the people around me were amazed at the Blue Knights sound and said it was the first warm lush tones of the evening. Found it interesting that BK was 6th tonight in both brass and percussion but were 4th in Ensemble music and almost beat Phantom in that same catagory? Ok judges so you don't like how the Blue Knights play both brass and percussion wise by themselves, but you love how they play together? WOW! Scores are all of the road map and no consistency for them one show to the next. If you could see or hear large weaknesses in the those same catagories I'd understand. But there's not a large glaring weakness and this is top to bottom the best sound BK unit ever. Oh well, scores have a way of working themselves out and I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see a large jump in those captions in a few days!

2nd thought- I still believe the title is going to be between 5 groups this year. I don't think BD will come out on top, but if thy did I wouldn't be surprised either. BStars, Boston and BK will have some shuffling before it's said and done. To me, BAC and BS have faster/more difficult drill than BK but are close to maxed out in what they can do with it. BK has the much stronger musical package imo and still have room to grow. It's going to be fun to watch as the season progresses. Boston as I said in another thread was kinda what BK is this year- A Great Corps with a Great Show. It doesn't have the flash that some do, but it's just good drum corps that will score well in the end because it flows well. Madison I believe is solidly in finals and the battle for 12th will heat up soon. I also think Pac Crest has an outside shot at making Semis, that'll be fun to watch! Great stuff tonight, looking forward to tomorrow nights show!!

Wes Perkins

BK '97 '98

Edited July 25, 2010 by wesleyrp

[Bob984]

Thanks for the review!

I'm an "east coast homer", but I also agree that BK has been largely underscored......Glassmen beating them in brass is laughable; they are not even in the same league.....music effect?????? I think I would have been ejected from critique....placing batteries on the judge's table, and telling him that it's for their HEARING AID!!!!!

GB

[jimwolf359]

Thanks for the review!

I'm an "east coast homer", but I also agree that BK has been largely underscored......Glassmen beating them in brass is laughable; they are not even in the same league.....music effect?????? I think I would have been ejected from critique....placing batteries on the judge's table, and telling him that it's for their HEARING AID!!!!!

GB

I have to agree with that. Blue Knights have a lush warm sound in the Brass and the Book is well written. Percussion is also good as well. What I love is how the crowds are reacting to them this season. I have never seen BK generate a reaction like that. It is gratifying to see. My only complaint is the tempo in Nimrod. I'd like to see it paced a little slower but that's my only quibble. As for the captions.....should be closer to Boston and Blue Stars IMHO. I'm not sure what the Brass Judge was hearing last night. From what I heard on the Webcast in Houston, they should be well above Gmen. They move better too. Let's see what happens in Atlanta. I think things might start to shake out there.

[Kevsmomm]

Thanks, Wes, for a great review. I love that you are a self-proclaimed honk! That said, ditto, ditto on the scoring. I only hope that the kids don't get discouraged...although it seems to bother them less than it does me...

They can be proud of this show, it's gorgeous-

[euphononium]

Thoughts/Rants- Ok this is might come off offensive and I don't mean to, so if it starts to offend, please look away! I am a huge BK honk as I have said and just need to blow off a little staem. After looking at the recaps I am not sure what the judges are looking at and listening to? In Dallas, BK beat Phantom in Performance visual and tonight they lost to both the Gmen and Troopers in Performance Vis. Also, BK got beat by Gmen and almost by Troop in brass? No offense to those corps, but the people around me were amazed at the Blue Knights sound and said it was the first warm lush tones of the evening. Found it interesting that BK was 6th tonight in both brass and percussion but were 4th in Ensemble music and almost beat Phantom in that same catagory? Ok judges so you don't like how the Blue Knights play both brass and percussion wise by themselves, but you love how they play together? WOW! Scores are all of the road map and no consistency for them one show to the next. If you could see or hear large weaknesses in the those same catagories I'd understand. But there's not a large glaring weakness and this is top to bottom the best sound BK unit ever. Oh well, scores have a way of working themselves out and I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see a large jump in those captions in a few days!

Warm, lush tones from the stands don't always equal blended, tuned, appropriate sounds on the field (although, in theory it should...) What you hear in the stands can be vastly different from what you hear on the field amidst the horn players. Don't even bother trying to figure out the brass caption from the webcast... waste of time.

I have watched BK's horn line warm-up at three different shows and have left with a bad taste in my mouth each time. In the lot, I thought that the horn line had several intonation issues, people popping out, and lacked a favorable quality of sound overall. I honestly don't know how they sound so good from the stands, because I really think they have a good ensemble sound (I've sat underneath the box on the 45-50 every time I've seen them). Also, I think that BK's drum line has one of the best qualities of sound in DCI this year, however, it does NOT mean that they are clean. BK's pit sounds phenomenal, too (although I have issues with the composition of the synth transition into Enigma, but the performers don't have any control over that one, so I'll leave it alone...) So really, the scores make sense to me.

The corps seems like they're pretty talented, but young and immature as far as experience and competition goes. I said a few weeks back that though I was rather impressed with the corps at that time, I was pretty convinced that the staff and membership wouldn't quite know where to go with their success after a couple weeks. Let's face it, this is the best program the corps has had in years, and certainly has been getting more crowd response than the corps has gotten used to. It seems to me the inconsistencies in numbers can't be entirely the judges' faults - this corps' performance is probably just as inconsistent as their scores are, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. BK will figure it out, but I don't see it being this year, or even the next. I just seriously hope they continue down the awesome path they've laid down this year.

Edited July 26, 2010 by euphononium

[wesleyrp]

I heard them all day Saturday from field level in rehearsal and can tell you I heard minimal individual sounds sticking out. I heard much more individualistic sounds and intonation issues with Crusaders last night than I did with BK. As for the talent and controlling the performance I could certainly buy that, yet it's a different caption that was high the night before that drops like a rock the next night. Here's the truth- If you play with a bad sound it's going to sound bad in the stands, that's the honest truth. Perhaps the judge is choosing to stand next to the youngest player and follow him/her around the field, but I heard for myself the quality of sound coming from them in practice in 98 degree temps and I can tell you that the brass score they are receiving right now is HOG WASH!! Sorry, it is. A Music Ensemble judge is taking into account intonation, cleanliness of music, blend, timing etc... If those things are coming through and scoring high but the individual performance captions aren't then that is a discrepency plain and simple. I applaud the corps for the direction they chose as you point out, but I can tell you the staff has to be a little puzzled. One night they are close to our beat Boston/Phantom in a catagory and the next night they're below the Gmen and closer to the Troopers. There's no excuse for that and it is the judges fault! Is BK gonna win a World Title this year? No. Could they end up in 10th this year? yes and they'd be a darn good corps/maybe the best in that placement ever, but I just want them to get a fair shake. Then let the chips rest where they are gonna lie!!

Wes Perkins

BK '97 '98

Edited July 26, 2010 by wesleyrp

[LMS]

I heard them all day Saturday from field level in rehearsal and can tell you I heard minimal individual sounds sticking out. I heard much more individualistic sounds and intonation issues with Crusaders last night than I did with BK. As for the talent and controlling the performance I could certainly buy that, yet it's a different caption that was high the night before that drops like a rock the next night. Here's the truth- If you play with a bad sound it's going to sound bad in the stands, that's the honest truth. Perhaps the judge is choosing to stand next to the youngest player and follow him/her around the field, but I heard for myself the quality of sound coming from them in practice in 98 degree temps and I can tell you that the brass score they are receiving right now is HOG WASH!! Sorry, it is. A Music Ensemble judge is taking into account intonation, cleanliness of music, blend, timing etc... If those things are coming through and scoring high but the individual performance captions aren't then that is a discrepency plain and simple. I applaud the corps for the direction they chose as you point out, but I can tell you the staff has to be a little puzzled. One night they are close to our beat Boston/Phantom in a catagory and the next night they're below the Gmen and closer to the Troopers. There's no excuse for that and it is the judges fault! Is BK gonna win a World Title this year? No. Could they end up in 10th this year? yes and they'd be a darn good corps/maybe the best in that placement ever, but I just want them to get a fair shake. Then let the chips rest where they are gonna lie!!

Wes Perkins

BK '97 '98

content dude.

[euphononium]

content dude.

then there's that.