Wildwood, NJ Review

[VOReason]

.maybe they had their sights set a little higher than be JUST A CONTENDER..either way I do believe that when you have your sights set for that Brass ring or de- throneing someone you come out prepared. especially since you know you competitor will be. With that said, Cabs can and I'm sure will come back hard and ready to give it everything they have as always...Good Luck

Well I am certainly glad that I'm not the only one who feels this way. I was beginning to think that coming out the first show not complete was a good thing.

[irishbugle]

Well I am certainly glad that I'm not the only one who feels this way. I was beginning to think that coming out the first show not complete was a good thing.

It's not a good thing. I think we can agree on that unanimously. My point is that it's not as catastrophic as some individuals are making it out to be.

Either way- there is a whole thread for this elsewhere so I will reserve my comments for there.

[oldschool1180]

John’s Wildwood 2011 Review ladies & gentelmen please do not forget about the bushwackers we have an awesome show in store for all of you our new director bob gupta has not left anything out of our show sit back relax & take in the new bushwacker attitude you will love it

This is my honest evaluation of the Cabs at the Beach show in Wildwood. NJ. I’ve noted numbers for the performing corps that should be pretty accurate based on what I counted as each corps entered the field. Despite many DCP show reviewers being skewered for their honesty, I’m going to give you exactly what I saw and heard. If you like it, great. If you don’t, that’s great too.

After spending the entirety of the last two summers on the DCI tour teaching, it was really nice to be able to just attend a drum corps show as a spectator. The wife and I arrived early to be apart of the mass rush for the very limited amount of seats in the “preferred” center area. We lucked out and sat pretty much dead center one row below the press box.

As the show started, the otherwise hot day had cooled off, and a very nice light breeze picked up making for very favorable conditions for both the audience and the performers. The small-ish stands were fully packed by the time the show started.

It was great to see and hear Fran Harring announcing the show tonight. Of course, we could all see him a mile away when he entered the stadium wearing yet another cringe-worthy #### that’s become his trademark. This one was a particularly evil shade of bright red. Thank god for sunglasses.

Kicking things off was a solo performance of the Star Spangled banner by Jim Cosetti. Jim knows how to fill a stadium with great sound, and really performed well.

Long Island Sunrisers (20 brass, 8 battery, 4 pit, 10 guard.) “Les Misérables"

It was really great to see the Sunrisers back on the field tonight. Coming back after a season off is always challenging, but you’d almost never know it by their performance.

I really liked the use of dark blue and orange bowling shirts with black pants rather than a traditional corps uniform. It gave them a simple, uncluttered look that really worked well for them.

Performing music from Les Miz, the corps had a much bigger and confident sound that I expected. This looks like a very young corps., but seemed very prepared, especially in the front half of the show. While they tired a bit towards the end, I was very impressed with the program. The musical arrangements were writen exactly where they need to be for a corps this young, without sounding easy or stock. In fact, this was one of the better versions of Les Miz that I’ve heard on the field in many years.

While there wasn’t a lot of guard work in the show yet, what they had was written smartly…they almost always had something to perform for each of the important impacts. Drill is written smartly, staged well, and was achieved at a very respectable level for the first show.

This isn’t a corps that is going to challenge for the Class A championship, and that’s ok. They are clearly educating their members and performing and entertaining, well-conceived program for the audience, and for that I applaud them.

Windsor Regiment (20 brass, 12 battery, 8 pit, 14 guard) “Tango Nuevo”

This corps was easily the surprise of the night. Looking very distinctive and professional in their crème, maroon, and black uniforms, Windsor took the field looking incredibly confident for a first-year corps. The brass instruments go extremely well with the uniforms, and there will be no confusing this corps with any other DCA (or DCI) corps.

Right off the bat, Windsor hits you hard with a wall of sound. It was clear they wanted to make a statement tonight, and they certainly did. Brass is very aggressive, very ballsy. The horn book is very challenging (most challenging of the night in Class A, but though not clean by any measure, was very readable. As the summer goes on, and they refine their sound, look for Windsor to challenge for the brass trophy in Rochester.

Percussively, the book is written pretty well, if maybe a bit notey at times (especially in the snare book). Visually, the drill is challenging, but will be achieved by the end of the season. Not a lot from the guard as of yet, but I liked what I did see, especially a rifle exchange early on. I also hope the add a lot more of the dancing they did early on. They perform actual tango moves, and not the same old tired band-style “body” moves you see from most corps.

This show is entertaining and full of GE opportunities. Its very original as well. I love hearing music and musical styles you don’t normally hear in drum corps, let alone DCA. Windsor brings that to the table.

Of the Class A corps we saw tonight, Windsor has far and away they best designed program, both musically and visually. It’s also the most challenging. If they can clean it, they will pass several of the bigger names in front of them. I expect them to challenge for a finalist spot, and if they can find the right accelerator, possibly even the title. I think they were underscored tonight. I’d like to think it was performance order, and not the “Welcome to DCA” spank we’ve seen new corps get in the past. I’d have had them 2-3 points behind the leaders instead of five. Their brass and ensemble music scores in particular were not indicative of their performance.

Interlude: It was at this point in the show where I got fed up with the three or four competing Dr. beats I could EASILY hear from the stands, especially during Windsor’s ballad. It’s bad enough at DCI won’t do anything about this nonsense, it’s time that DCA stands up and starts penalizing corps in the warm-up area. I can excuse a large hornline being heard faintly from very far away, but a metronome by a guard warming up close to the performance venue is ridiculous. Stop it.

Carolina Gold (23 brass, 15 battery, 7 pit, 10 guard) "A City Never Sleeps"

The new uniforms sported by Carolina Gold tonight are, in a word, spectacular. It’s an updated variation on what they wore previously, but MUCH more appealing and professional looking.

From the very first note, you realize that Gold means business. This brass line (and percussion line) is loud. And it’s mostly a good loud. The book is very jazzy, and there are some pretty sweet, and challenging, licks throughout. From an execution standpoint they were where you’d expect a mature line to be for June, but every so often you’d hear something that was remarkable tight for this early, especially in the mello voice. The problem with the brass is that they play everything at forte and up. There’s very little dynamic contrast, and zero low end, soft playing.

There’s nothing overly memorable about the way the book is written for about the first six minutes or so. It’s a typical DCA jazz book. Then they fire up Birdland. What a great arrangement! It’s very fresh, and not like any other I’ve heard. Obviously, their best tune.

They feature Jon Gifford playing solo soprano up from quite a bit. Unfortunately, as awesome as he sounds (and it’s GREAT), its very distracting relative to where the brass is staged. It’s like listening to a good jazz ensemble but one where the sound guy over-cranks the soloist’s microphone. They’ll get it figured out one way or another, but it was an issue tonight.

Percussively, this corps is amazing. They’ve really dialed up the whole section a few notches from last year, both with regards to the battery and pit. Clearly the corps strong section, they were second only to reading tonight, and far and away the best percussion line in Class A. It’s very groove-heavy, and very musical, not overwritten at all that I can hear. Pit performance is exceptional as well.

Visually, the corps marches well, very well at times. The drill, however, has some major design issues. While it’s staged fairly well for the brass and percussion, the guard drill and staging seems like an afterthought. It’s almost as if the drill writer left them off, and shoved them in later in the back, split on the sides (causing focus issues) or in front of the musicians. There’s almost no integration at all, and when there was, it was with no equipment, losing them in the geometric staging. It’s also very cluttered at times…very compressed. This issue really needs to be addressed, and soon.

Gold was clearly the better corps tonight, and should challenge for the Class A championship, especially if they make some drill/staging changes.

Fusion Core (21 brass, 13 battery, 8 pit, 13 guard) “AfriCore Untamed: Survival, Savannah, & Stampede"

Fusion was one of my favorite corps in all of DCA last year. I was very excited to see what’d they’d do for an encore in 2011. The purple and black uniforms still look great. The pit wearing African-inspired tops and head gear fit well with the program without looking goofy.

I’m going to be frank here. I was very disappointed by Fusion tonight. From a performance/execution standpoint, Fusion was a step ahead of the competition in all captions except percussion (though the drumline is much improved over last year). The brass has a very full, mature sound, and the corps has really outstanding foot technique.

The problem is the design of the program. The musical book, especially the brass book is very weak and choppy. There’s little to no challenge at all, and when there is any meat, the drill writer parks them. The book sounds like a stock arrangement popular with young marching bands. They play the living snot out of it, which is great, but what are they going to do in July when they can outplay the book?

Percussively, the show starts out great. They play a wicked African groove as an intro before the brass enters. Sadly, it’s about the only time the music book evokes much ethnic feel at all. Hopefully, there’s more to come in this area. If not, there needs to be.

The rest of the drum book is standard corps fare. They play it much better than they have in the past, it’s just not very remarkable.

Visually, it’s more of the same. Very easy (though well-staged) drill. There was little to no simultaneous responsibility at any point that I could see. What “body” there was seemed very derivative, rather than something cool and befitting the African theme. I know it’s early, but they need to figure this out, and fast.

Don’t misunderstand me…I’m not saying everything needs to be hard…it doesn’t. But this program is severely underwritten for the talent they have. It’s also not effective at all, especially musically. At first I thought I was alone, but murmurings from the audience around me echoed the same thing. Executed well, but easy and boring.

As it stands now, Fusion has the talent to repeat, they just haven’t been given the program. Without some very substantial changes, I see them getting passed by Windsor Regiment in a few weeks, and they won’t come close to challenging Carolina Gold.

They have the talent and execution to get into finals, but the program isn’t going to win them a championship as it stands now. I thought the judges were kind tonight, especially in both effect captions.

Reading Buccaneers (‎60 brass, 25 bat, 11 pit, 28 guard, a full corps) “A Dancer’s Dream”

Entering the field the Bucs have a presence no other DCA corps has. They looked very confident tonight, as well they should, given recent history. It wasn’t easy to miss the “ballet bar” props either as they were carried onto the field. The drum finish is very different too. They best way to describe it would be to say it looks like a bowl of Fruity Pebbles in a bowl of milk. I’m not really sure why they went this direction, but it sure is unique.

They didn’t have any kind of on-field warm-up, so when they hit you with the opening statement, they hit you hard. This corps is loud. Really loud. Right from the start. It’s a start reminiscent of 2005. No build up, no pit feature, just a wall of sound.

As they started into Chairman Dances, the first thing you notice is the brass line (except tubas) all have straight mutes. It’s a really cool effect, and they are playing well with them. Straight mutes are the most challenging mute to play with, especially with regards to sound projection and intonation, but the hornline really does it well. It’s very exposed, maybe the most exposed brass playing in DCA in years, if not ever. It’s also pretty well executed as it stands. In a month it will be ridiculous.

You wouldn’t expect a 20th Century piece by John Adams to be riddles with music effect moments, at least not many the audience could grab onto. You’d also be wrong. The arrangement is really impressive, and connects easily with the audience. They received a standing ovation before the song ended from a large portion of the crowd, and not just the Reading fans either…there were a lot of folks wearing red that leaped up as well.

Chairman Dances was probably the most “traditionally Buccaneer” of the four pieces in the program tonight, but was remarkable more fan-friendly that I expected. Then everything changed…

The Danzon is, quite frankly, one of the coolest Spanish pieces I’ve heard on the field in years. It’s nothing like how Carolina Crown did it either, which is a very good thing. While there were a few “ensemble incidents” with this piece (I won’t call them tears, they weren’t), the audience really enjoyed seeing and hearing Reading play a piece that’s such a departure for them. When they get this piece refined, it’s going to be even more incredible and entertaining.

To this point in the program, I noted that the guard was fully integrated into the drill, and was pretty close to complete with work. By far the most prepared guard of the night, and more than I’ve seen from Reading this early in the past. And it’s great work.

I do wish the guard’s interaction with the ballet pole props was as seamless and creative as when the brass interacts with them. There’s one spot, I believe in Swan lake, where the entire trumpet section stands by the bars and performs a deep plié and a strong relevé, all while holding the bar with one had. While playing a whole note crescendo. Yea, nuts.

Swan Lake is performed with a very dark mood compared to the rest of the show, and it makes sense. It’s not a traditional corps-style ballad either (there’s no long build into loud chord followed by big release and silence), and that’s a good thing. It also sets up the most unexpected and entertaining song Reading has played in a very long time…the Mambo.

The transition out of Swan Lake into the mambo is performed by the pit, and incorporates the melody from Maria. But unlike every other drum corps in the history of the world that’s played West Side Story, this isn’t WSS. Reading’s insirtation for the arrangement is clearly the Gustavo Dudamel/Venazuelan Youth Orchestra version. It’s high-energy, and incredibly entertaining, and it’s crazy hard too, especially musically.

If you see nothing else in DCA this year, you must see Reading play the Mambo. I was floored at how engaging and entertaining this piece was. The featureette section was exceptionally well-played. The jam-out ending had the whole crowd on it’s feet, and holy crap it was loud.

The Buccaneers were ready tonight. They are far ahead of where they were at this point last year. The show is written smarter, and is written with the audience in mind. For all of the anit-Buccaneer DCP posters who pushed for DCA to change the rules (which they did), I have bad news for you. The Bucs simply made a slight course alteration with their programming style, and wrote for the new sheets.

This program is at Statesman-level entertainment, without the cheese or gimmicks (which work for Statesmen but would be a disaster for anyone else).

Brass wise, this is the best line, top to bottom, I’ve heard from them. It’s on par with the 2009 line, and may surpass it. Percussively, it’s very musical and achieved at a very high level, especially in the pit. The guard is big and really contributes well. The drill is written very smartly too. It’s not a ten minute track meet, there’s lots of variation in tempo and staging.

It’s not perfect. There are two quibbles I have from a design standpoint. The first, the musical beginning of Swan Lake (after the Danzon ends) seemed very abrupt to me. I’ll need a second read to be sure. The second was picked up by pretty much anyone with a set of eyeballs. The neon green and pink used in the flags and guard uniforms for the Mambo is a complete clash with the end of the show (witch starts with some backfield brass). I’m guessing they know this and are working on a solution. I hope they keep it another couple of weeks though, it’s almost comical and worth seeing.

Hawthorne Caballeros 42 brass, 17 battery, 10 pit, 23 guard.) "Heritage: The Days of Future Past"

The last competing corps on the field tonight was the host Caballeros. The first ting that I noticed was the small size of the percussion line. Four snares, three quads, four basses and four cymbals is almost jarring to look at compared to what you’d expect from this corps and it’s rich history of percussion achievement. The brass line is noticeably smaller than I expected as well, given an “anniversary year”. They did have four brass standing in the end zone, so they obviously are working them in. it was hard to determine what number the drill is written for, so I have no idea if they have holes or not.

They may have a smaller than normal brass line, but the sound they put out is anything but. It’s big and loud, and has they signature edgy Cabs sound (and no, that’s not a bad thing). Clearly the corps strongest section, the line has a balanced sound, though at times a bit rough. I think that’s mostly due to drill and staging though (see below). The first half of the brass book is very cool. I was told it was original music “inspired” by the corps’s past but they do play a rather large chunk of Spanish Fantasy directly from the original arrangement.

The color guard contributed quite a bit (though by no means as much as Reading’s), and the costuming is really appropriate. I look forward to seeing a complete program from the guard. I do believe they had a few “band-aide” spots…work there to fill space that’s temporary in nature. A lot of what they did seemed unmusical, which leads me to believe it’s not the “real” work.

Unfortunately, there were some major issues percussively and visually.

The percussion section is not achievement at this point. I don’t know if the achievement issues are related to their size, but they are not playing well at all right now, especially the battery. It was difficult to hear the book at times, and it was clear not all performers can play it (or know it). They also aren’t being done any favors by the drill.

The drill for the whole corps seemed unnecessarily difficult at times, and there are some pretty significant staging problems. I suspect the drill was written for a much larger corps and has been condensed, leaving some very large gaps on the field at times, especially between the brass and percussion. I see a pretty major rewrite session in Cab’s future to fix this.

Having said all that, I like the program. It’s fun. It’s Spanish. It’s very “Caballero”. It’s also not finished, but that will come.

However, this corps is not going to contend for the title. They are not in the same league as Reading, nor are they in the same league as MBI has been over the last few years. If they can fill the holes and fix the design problems that have, they can challenge for the 3-5 spot, but that’s going to be their ceiling. I really believe the judges gave Cabs the benefit of the doubt tonight with their numbers. I like the show, but I have to be honest in my assessment.

I’m going to write a separate review of Raiders later. We didn’t stay for Cabs Alumni.

Class A Wrap up:

I was impressed that everyone in Class A seemed very prepared for tonight’s show. In the past, many smaller corps have performed incomplete or at times really incomplete programs. Everyone, from Sun to Fusion came out ready.

Carolina was the clear winner tonight, and probably should have been given a larger spread from Fusion. The best program in Class A, however, belongs to Windsor Regiment. I think their show has the most legs, and if they can overcome the fact that it’s more challenging than their competitors, they may pass both Carolina and Fusion in the coming weeks. That’s a big “if”.

Gold’s percussion, however, will be very hard to beat for the drum trophy come Rochester.

Open Class Wrap Up:

I tried really hard to avoid seeing or hearing anything about any of the open class corps before the Reading preview show in May. I have no idea what Empire, Connecticut, or MBI are doing, and won’t until I see them. But I will say this….Reading isn’t letting up. If anything, they are MUCH better than last year in all areas, and this year they are bringing a very entertaining package with them.

If there is a DCA corps out there capable of upsetting Reading, it’s one that will have no weaknesses in any area. The difference for Bucs this year may be the fact that it’s easily the most blatantly entertaining show they’ve ever done, and as entertaining (if not more so) than anything I’ve seen in DCA in years.

The real irony would be if Reading adapted to the new sheets, and no one else did.

I would have had a much larger spread between Cabs and Bucs. I knew the judges would stick to the usual 6-7 points, though it really should have been 10-12. As much as I like Cabs program, they really aren't close to Reading.

Lastly, the Caballeros showed just how classy an organization they are by allowing the Raiders to run the concession stand as a tour fund raiser. Very cool.

Note: I will be Tweeting/Facebooking from several DCA and DCI shows this season. Feel free to follow me @loudbrass on Twitter.