bgg80 Posted July 26, 2010 Share Posted July 26, 2010 (edited) Back for night 2! It really is great seeing the top corps this late in the season. 2007 was great for CA dci fans. Well ... We got to the show late. We were hoping to catch Madison, but only heard Rhapsody in Blue in the distance as we walked from our car to the stadium. Sigh... Missed Colts as we could not get seated until after they finished. So on to the corps we did see: Boston: first time seeing Boston, and we really enjoyed them. Full sound, very tight visuals. The drill was nice, if not remarkable. Entertaining music, with the "thy kingdom come" theme. Great job. Those two soloist near the end were impressive, particularly when standing at least 10 feet in the air on that crown! Nice job Boston! Bluecoats: Whoa Bluecoats! This was actually my favorite show of the night. They were loud, tight and clean! More rrom for this show to grow though. I recall Blue showing strong until the last two weeks, and then trailing off with their Criminal show. This year is different, I predict. I think they could land themselves in third place. Percussion was great. Visually they are very strong, and actually remind me of BD's visual style ... Both in drill and overall vis ensemble. Asphalt Jungle (that right?) is a great closing number! Amazing job Bluecoats! I actually had them neck and neck with the Cavies. Cavs: visually, they exceeded my expectations. The show theme and repertoire exceeded my expectations. Loved it! Best drill in dci this year ... And almost on par w BD for overall visual effect, IMHO. I do think, as with all four of the top corps this evening, that they overuse amplification and the synth. I have no problem with amplifying the pits and kicking in those subwoofers for big impacts. Yeah! However, I don't care for soloists playing into mikes and the sound effects. As much as the Cavs exceeded my expectations with their program and visuals, they underwhelmed me with their music, particularly upper brass. Several dirty attacks. The biggest issue for me though was the second half of Smile. The big moment had NO volume. I know this horn line can lay it down, but it wasn't there when it should have been, either in Smile or the final push. Simply put, this horn line ran out of gas about eight minutes in. I can understand why, given what they are doing out there, but I felt like they were playing mf at best for the last three minutes. I understand why their music scores are lacking now. To end on a positive note ... Great effect with the rifle section! Crowd went nuts. Cavs will finish second in my book ... They just need more horses (or Carolina's horn line) to take BD. Cadets: the good here is a wonderful brass line. I'm not surprised they took high brass tonight. They sounded full and outstanding. The show theme is fun. ... Kind of cheesy at points with the kids flopping around. Here's how I would describe the Cadets this year: the most amazing marching band I've seen. The visuals and drill aren't pushing forward artistically. Yes, they march FAST. Tons of folding lines. Yes, they play very well. Muscially though this sounds like every single cadets year since ... 1983. Big fast runs, huge sustained chords, frenetic folding lines drill, hit a company front ... Four counts, staccato final kicker. Their weakness is a very traditional, non-remarkable GE and visual package when you get past the typical, feels like it has for the last 25 plus years drill. Having the guard wear horn uniforms for half the show is a mistake. The visual effect is bland. Pretty darn amazing in terms of performance, but ultimately I think the show design let's down the amazing talent here. I had them in fourth. Crown: Holy XXXXXX!!! Those horns! Holy xxxxx ... Percussion.... Everything else, pretty darn nice. Not amazing on the visual front, except for that nice waterfall drill move .... Pretty darn nice. Again, don't like soloists playing into mikes. Crown does a nice job posing in rather fancy positions, sitting and standing, and playing some amazing, exposed, and wonderful sections. Guess that's a step up from chairs. :). Visually, as I thought last year, they get let down by whoever makes the decision to pour s giant bucket of green/this year GOLD paint all over everything. It's too much, and the corps lacks true visual pop on the field as a result. Love the musical book. Brass overplayed a few times, but I didn't care because it was so freaking LOUD and cool. Percussion seems weak compared to rest of the corps. Drill is nice, with lots of rolling and posing. I tell you ... Crown's horn line w cav's visual would be unstoppable. I had them in third. Great two nights of drum corps. My top takeaways: Top 10 are all outstanding. Blue Knights are best surprise Glassman only top 12 caliber that didn't grab me Momentum for final three weeks: bluecoats, scv Fading: crown, cadets Would be neck and neck w BD with better horns and music performance: Cavs League of their own: BD All IMHO Predictions for Indy: BD Cavs Bluecoats Crown SCV Cadets Phantom Blue Stars Boston Blue Knights Edited July 26, 2010 by bgg80 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wesleyrp Posted July 26, 2010 Share Posted July 26, 2010 Great review for both nights!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Cavalier TDY Posted July 26, 2010 Share Posted July 26, 2010 Predictions for Indy:BD Cavs Bluecoats Crown SCV Cadets Phantom Blue Stars Boston Blue Knights Nice review. Got any picks for 11th, 12th and 13th place? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saxfreq1128 Posted July 26, 2010 Share Posted July 26, 2010 (edited) Great review! I totally agree, re: the Cadets. Their performers are so talented, and the design staff is so talented too. They could be pushing the envelope a lot more. Not in a 'mad hatter' or soap opera sort of way. Just... more varied ways of achieving visual effect, for example. The other top corps are doing so much to distinguish themselves, that sometimes it's easy to see why the Cadets get lost in the shuffle... Edited July 26, 2010 by saxfreq1128 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob984 Posted July 26, 2010 Share Posted July 26, 2010 (Cadets)..."the visuals and the drill aren't pushing forward artistically".....and whose are?? Nobody's drill, including BD and Cavs, are doing anything groundbreaking.....BD adds mirrors to some effect......Cavies drill is rehashed stuff that they have done before.......it's cool to say that you prefer their drills, but all have comparable levels of visual packages. Music-wise I totally disagree. I don't think Procession of the Nobles or Dance of the Tumblers sounds like anything they have played before....yes they use some "tried and true" audio/visual impact ideas....and so does all of DCI........also, they are not copying these from others, as they were the first corps to do many of these, and they still are as demanding as anything out there, including mirrors and rifles........... GB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgg80 Posted July 26, 2010 Author Share Posted July 26, 2010 Nice review. Got any picks for 11th, 12th and 13th place? 11 Madison 12 Academy -- really liked them 13 Glassmen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgg80 Posted July 26, 2010 Author Share Posted July 26, 2010 (edited) (Cadets)..."the visuals and the drill aren't pushing forward artistically".....and whose are?? Nobody's drill, including BD and Cavs, are doing anything groundbreaking.....BD adds mirrors to some effect......Cavies drill is rehashed stuff that they have done before.......it's cool to say that you prefer their drills, but all have comparable levels of visual packages. Music-wise I totally disagree. I don't think Procession of the Nobles or Dance of the Tumblers sounds like anything they have played before....yes they use some "tried and true" audio/visual impact ideas....and so does all of DCI........also, they are not copying these from others, as they were the first corps to do many of these, and they still are as demanding as anything out there, including mirrors and rifles...........GB Hmm ... I don't agree on visual package comments. I thinkBD,, Bluecoats and Cavs all LOOK different, with greater effect and impact. I just don't see the Cadets pushing the envelope beyond what they've been doing (great!) For the past decade +. I think this is why they are in 5th right now. This can change of course, but I think the judges are seeing same ole, strong Cadets. Music selections seem similar in style and arrangement. Don't get me wrong -- I really enjoyed listening to it. No one rehashes old scv standards like the Cadets. :) Edited July 26, 2010 by bgg80 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris ncsu Posted July 26, 2010 Share Posted July 26, 2010 Hmm ... I don't agree on visual package comments. I thinkBD,, Bluecoats and Cavs all LOOK different, with greater effect and impact. I just don't see the Cadets pushing the envelope beyond what they've been doing (great!) For the past decade +. I think this is why they are in 5th right now. This can change of course, but I think the judges are seeing same ole, strong Cadets. Music selections seem similar in style and arrangement. Don't get me wrong -- I really enjoyed listening to it. No one rehashes old scv standards like the Cadets. :) The Cadets pretty much don't do dark, and they don't do much rolling/posing/running/dancing...so you're likely not going to get those kinds of shows out of them, at least not under its current direction/staff. They also like fast, and they like music that adhere to more traditional concepts of rhythm, melody, and harmony. They also tend to like "happy" music, and they like Americana. So, we're mostly 'stuck' with this from The Cadets. Take it or leave it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris ncsu Posted July 26, 2010 Share Posted July 26, 2010 BTW, just a sampling of some of the very different pieces of music they've done in the 2000s: Epcot Center laser light show music Moondance Farandole Young Person's Guide Field of Dreams Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy Malaguena Rocky Point Aqualung Living in the Past Dancer in the Dark Vertigo Jim's New Life Bernstein's Diaspora Dances Blue Shades Vesuvius Round 4 West Side Story School for Scandal Children's Dance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quegrawks Posted July 26, 2010 Share Posted July 26, 2010 Back for night 2! It really is great seeing the top corps this late in the season. 2007 was great for CA dci fans. Cadets: the good here is a wonderful brass line. I'm not surprised they took high brass tonight. They sounded full and outstanding. Full brass sound? You mean from the (what sounded to me like) mic'ed instruments and the "backup" from the sound system? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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