DCI Finals

[jwillis35]

The season is complete and last night's show was a very good one, if perhaps not a great one. All of the members of the World Class and Open Class corps are to be commended for their hard work and dedication, and it was a joy to watch them perform.

Let's start with placements. I thought they were correct and that the judges got the overall big picture correct. I could have seen Blue Stars over SCV, or Madison over Boston, or maybe even Cadets over Crown; but ultimately I think the placements were good.

Spreads were about right, but in a few cases I think the judges underscored some corps/captions. The Blue Devils, IMO, should have won by 2 points, perhaps a bit more than that. I think the judges were afraid to make the correct call for fear of backlash from the crowd, but I believe they did the Blue Devils an injustice. Placements 2 through 5 should have been far closer, and those corps should have been within 1 point of each other, maybe 1.2. The highest score in that group should have been no higher than 96.5. In my eyes and ears there was an obvious gap between BD and Cavaliers and there was NO NEED to try and keep in close just because the fans want it. Yeah, 2 - 5 were, 1 to 2 was NOT!

At any rate, the placements were right. I also thought that the judges did a nice job with caption placements. Cadets took 3rd in GE Visual which was a strong point for them, and Bluecoats took 4th in GE Visual and GE Music, as well as Visual Ensemble. Those 3 captions were what kept Bluecoats under the Cavaliers.

My only disagreements were with brass and visual performance.

The Phantom Regiment clearly, to me, laid down an amazing brass performance last night. They should have been at least .4 above the Cavaliers, but that did not show up. I had brass as follows: 1. BD, 2. Crown, 3. Bluecoats, 4. Phantom, 5. Cadets, 6. Blue Stars, 7. Cavaliers. It was clear and obvious to me who was articulating better, who had better demand and construction (Most of the Cavaliers best moments happened when they were not playing), and who had the timing, musicianship, and top-to-bottom balance. The Cavaliers were good, but not top 5 good in brass. Still a top 2 show, yes, but their brass score should have been lower.

The other area I felt was not accurately judged was with visual performance where the Blue Stars visual program (demand, content, and execution) was better than a few top 6 corps, notably SCV and Phantom.

Of course, these are my opinions, so take it for what it is.

The crowd was quite large, with all levels completely full from end zone to end zone. Now, how much of that was paid attendance? The crowd was very enthusiastic for the most part, with almost all the corps getting standing ovations at the end.

Ovations:

1. Madison Scouts - I counted at least 4 partial ovations and 2 full ovations. They really had the crowd on their side.

2. The Cavaliers, Cadets, Crown, and Phantom all had 1 partial in show ovation and an end-of-show ovation.

The rest of the corps had end of show ovations, with some being massive and some just good, appreciative types.

Most Entertaining Corps for ME:

1. Madison Scouts

2. Phantom Regiment

3. The Cadets

4. Carolina Crown

4. Bluecoats/Cavaliers

6. Blue Knights/Blue Devils

Biggest WOW Factor:

1. Blue Devils

2. Madison's opening statement

3. Cavaliers visual program

4. Phantom Percussion/Crown's opening brass statements

5. Bluecoats Guard

6. Blue Knights ballad (Nimrod)

Best Visual Moment:

1. Cavaliers "This is my rifle" sequence

2. Cadets end of "School for Scandal - S. Barber

3. Blue Devils entire show

4. Phantom Regiment's Closer

5. Blue Knights' opening drill sequences

Best Guard Uniforms:

1. Blue Devils

2. Cavaliers

3. Glassmen

4. Bluecoats

5. Blue Knights

Best Flags:

1. Bluecoats

2. Blue Knights

3. Blue Devils

Just BLUE!

Best Solos:

1. Madison's Trumpet at the beginning of Rhapsody In Blue

2. Madison's Mellophone soloist

3. Phantom Regiment's feature soloist

4. Blue Devils' Trumpet soloist during Laura segment

5. Bluecoats' Mellophone soloist during the ballad

Major Bravos!

1. Congratulations Bluecoats!!! You are now an elite corps for the year 2010. What an amazing and historic season for the corps. In the end I know many of us hoped they would pull into 2nd place. But as I stated in my reviews, they just didn't have the clean feet and visual ensemble timing to get it done. They also took 4th in the GE captions come Finals, and that hurt a little. But all that aside, they took 3rd because of a stellar brass line, percussion line, and flag line. The Bluecoats are definitely for real (which many of us have known for years), but it's more apparent today than ever before. Last night's performance was riveting and exciting, and you definitely earned your stripes, BLOOOO! Way to go!

2. Way to Finish Strong, Cavaliers! In June many of us counted you out, and although I may not have been the biggest fan of your brass this year, I fully recognize your ability to craft a show, add layers, flesh out the needed elements and highlight them, and the ability to draw attention to the most striking elements in your show, and you do that better than almost any corps.

3. Star of Indiana Alumni Corps - WOW!! I was crying, cheering, and just in plain awe of the music that I fell in love with many years ago. That presentation should show many folks just how good Star was in their day, and it also shows just how excited a crowd can get when they hear music arranged to perfection. Thank you, Jim Prime!

4. Thanks for entertaining us once again, Cadets! Despite all the chat over electronics and cheese and vocals and the distracting character of Jeffrey (and he was distracting at times), I must agree with another reviewer that when you peel away all the icing and the outer layers what you still have is a fantastic corps that marches and plays their tail ends off with a terrific music book and a visual book as good as any. Please do NOT leave DCI and keep entertaining us!

5. Bravo, Blue Devils! No other corps could have pulled off that show this year, and although many fans will not get it (and perhaps this was a show for the minority), we must remember that not every show has to have massive appeal. There is a minority in any fan base, one that changes from corps to corps and year to year. I found the Blue Devils show to be amazing, perplexing, a wild ride, a musical journey of good, bad, wacky, calm, and the weird. And the last minute of the show left me breathless!

6. And Finally, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, MADISON SCOUTS! That was fun and energetic. It was riveting and thrilling, and balance in all captions was amazing, especially considering how the corps finished the year before. It is clear that every corps above you had better watch out. I saw first hand what that staff did with Star of Indiana and the Garfield Cadets of the 1980s. Folks...Look OUT!

Overall, it was a great weekend and I was entertained. It may not have been the most entertaining finals I have been to, and I am sure this will be discussed over the coming months, but for now I feel the members of the corps, all of them, need congratulated for their hard work. There were some shows that just didn't click. In fact, there were quite a few shows that didn't click. I caution the staff and designers of next year's crop of shows to take note at the very polite applause received during the bulk of the summer, and also to keep in mind that selling and marketing your product depends on ticket sales (the customer). This cannot be an activity for the artists ONLY.

As Steve Jobs once told employees and designers at Apple Computer back in the 1980s: "Real Artists Ship." He was letting his employees know that regardless of how creative they were, the product had to ship and be purchased. This is how DCI will improve its fiscal numbers.

Edited August 16, 2010 by jwillis35

[saxfreq1128]

This was a joy to read. Thank you.

I agree, re: the judging. I thought they did a great job.

[star87man]

From the OP "Placements 2 through 5 should have been far closer, and those corps should have been within 1 point of each other, maybe 1.2."

I'm with you on this point! I really expected (going into the week) that we'd see the spread you suggest in the 2-5 group with pretty much any order possible based on performance.

[TexasPRfan]

What an outstanding assessment of the season & finals, Jonathan! You were so spot on to my own opinions on everything. I'm glad me & my friends were not the only ones that felt Cavaliers (who had a great show that I thought deserved 2nd) got way too much credit in the Brass caption, and that Phantom perhaps did not get enough.

I would have made a case that Blue Stars were pretty high up my personal entertainment rankings, but otherwise I think you nailed my opinions there too. We'll have to agree to disagree on BD's show & how much they should have won by, but that's what makes the activity so intersting.

Totally with you on your thoughts on Star of Indiana's alumni performance. A pure goose-bump experience for me too.

What a great & easy read, too! Nice job.

Harvey

Edited August 16, 2010 by TexasPRfan

[Plan9]

Wonderful review. The layout was very interesting and the content was exceptionally easy to read. I think your brass comments were spot on. Thank you.

[Jeff Ream]

a home run as always