Mesa, AZ

[FTNK]

Revolution:

Honestly, I don’t know anything about Open Class, so I don’t really have a basis of comparison for this performance. The corps seems to have the same problem experienced by a lot of lower-level World Class corps: a big, full, mature drumline (in this case, 7 snares, 4 tenors, 5 basses) that is already in the groove and performing like crazy, against a small, young hornline. Pioneer has had this problem a lot. Still, this show seemed fairly well designed and achievable, and generated decent applause. The show concept centers around different “rides,” and while that is potentially a terribly cheesy theme, it was alright. However, the guard at one point uses tires in their work…I can’t imagine how awesome it would be to carry around a hot, heavy, dirty used tire to practice with all summer, and use it in about 2 minutes of the show. Otherwise the guard was fairly capable and looked to have over 20 members. The corps uniform pants were grey in the front, black in back, which I thought would look bad, but it actually was a total non-issue.

Blue Knights

This show is old school. When the corps, spread widely over the field, goes into “Seventeen Come Sunday” from Vaughan William’s Folk Song Suite, slowly and steadily marching forward, I imagine it’s a taste of what pre-1980 drum corps was like. At several points, you have the hornline spread out in the middle, the rifles doing tosses in front, the drums behind the horns on the 50, and the flags in the back. Classic. The crowd really dug it. The show overall is classy, understated, and accessible. I really liked the orangish wood drum finish, and at one point the pit comes out and plays on sling drums in British/Scottish/forgive me I don’t know the correct terminology style, with the stick twirls and such. Lots of fun. The guard costumes look very Robin Hood, which comes across as a bit silly in a show that otherwise plays it straight and wins.

Phantom Regiment

PR was the first corps of the night that elicited a decent reaction from me. Unfortunately, it wasn’t all good. First of all, the uniforms, which I know have been controversial for some, are fine. They don’t detract from anything. They don’t necessarily add anything either, and one might wonder if it might just have been better to have the DMs with the crest to get the point across. I have to hand it to the Buicks tonight—in that they sounded like an automobile horn. The brass in general just seemed a little forced, a little tight, a lot bright, trying too hard. Could be the equipment, who knows. The visual, as usual, is adequate but not astounding. The biggest problem I have is with the arrangement and overall programming of the show. There are some attempts to use electronics, but they are fleeting and seem half-hearted and not entirely thought out, as if Phantom’s staff really doesn’t want to use synths, but put a few sounds in there anyway so that the judges would give them credit for using them. The worst aspect is that things just take forever to evolve, musically and visually; the build in Elsa’s, for example, takes forever to build up steam, then suddenly arrives at a big hit—then it’s the end of the show. They need to make the soft building parts more convincing in their execution. Finally, the ‘Juliet’ guard girl going up the DM podium and holding up the helmet is unrelenting cheese and a transparent attempt to elicit the same crowd response as the Spartacus ending. It worked; the entire crowd was on its feet.

Santa Clara Vanguard

The rumors of SCV’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. Yes, the brass line needs a lot of work in both playing and marching, and there are a lot of moments that need to be tweaked and sorted out, but this show has potential. The “one hornline guy running around in a maze” thing is silly and distracting, and has been since 2004 Cavies. They should just have the whole “escape from hell” characterization be the drum judge getting caught in their drill, because that happened several times and he looked utterly terrified. The thing I like the most about this show is that it takes huge risks, both in its “out there” music selections and its level of visual and musical difficulty. In a year where so many corps seem to be doing exactly what has worked in the past and/or easing up the difficulty in favor of fan friendly tunes, SCV is sticking its collective neck out. It won’t win, but it will be in contention for top 5, and it will be a beast of a show by August.

The Cadets

Full disclosure, I marched Cadets in 2006 and thin their 2005 show is the Greatest of All Time. That said, I find myself being quite critical of their shows, because I want them to be so good. 2011 has definite potential. I’ve always wondered how the corps would look if everyone wore the old cream/maroon drum major uniform, and the cream “angels” side with the gold cummerbund is pretty close. It looks great, as expected. The whole “Angels vs. Demons” thing is so simple and easily conveyed through the drill that I really hope they don’t cheese it up. There was a guard girl on the Angel side tonight in a pure white flowy nightgown thing, which to me indicates they’re going in that direction. I will punch someone if the sideline panels are covered in screen-printed flames and white fluffy clouds to represent heaven and hell. As for the actual show, it’s pretty classic Cadets, of the 2000, 2007, 2009 vein; a performer’s show for sure. The opener, like most Cadet openers, runs along at about 185 mph for about 3 minutes. Frank Ticheli doesn’t do it for me, but you can write crazy drill to it, so it works for them. The show has almost the opposite problem of PR’s show: things happen and develop too FAST. Blink and you’ll miss something. The crowd apparently didn’t blink, and half of them stood after the opener. Lots of “WOOOH” noises after the drum feature/battle. The ending seems to be lacking something, but we all know what that something is. I think this will be another one of those typical Cadets shows, like 2009: incredibly fast, incredibly impressive, incredibly challenging physically for the members, and possibly too dirty to win. It depends on what the judges reward this year. Regardless, the high cam will be exhilarating. PS: Watching Jeff Sacktig’s drill makes my blood hurt.

Blue Devils

The Blue Devils March Easy Drill and Sound Amazing for Twelve Minutes. That should have been their show title this year, and if we’re honest, a lot of previous years. I’m one of the few people who though 2008 and 2009 deserved to win, and actually actively liked 2010. That said, it gets a little old; they have most of the same movin’ stuff around cleverly, makin’ shapes on the field, doin’ cool stuff with props, sittin’ on the props antics as 2008-2010. But the hornline…the last time I heard a hornline sound this good live was BD in 2008. In August. They just stand and play like CRAZY. It sortof sets up a conundrum, at least as I see it; if you’re old-school and want recognizable tunes played amazingly well and loud without a sacrifice to visual, you should love this show. However, a lot of that set doesn’t like BD because of their proppy shenanigans and use of electronics. Judging-wise, I think BD rightly assumed that the judges would reward them the same way they did the last two years, with cleanliness and confident performance taking precedence over difficulty and accessibility. Unfortunately, the powers that be are pushing fan-friendly shows…so I’m not sure. People did seem to like their show, and it’s impossible not to love that sound, but after Cadets kaleidoscope of crazy it was a bit of an anticlimax.

The Academy

Surprised. This corps was much more mature in both marching and playing than I had expected. Likewise, their show was quite ambitious—but they seemed to be coping with it. The field coverage in particular is quite nice. I thought the new uniforms were hideous in close-up, but I like them on the field; they certainly don’t look like any other corps anywhere. I honestly thought they would be closer to BK in scores, and they could definitely make a finals run. Regardless, if this is a non-finalist corps, then the top 12 is pretty imprethive.

[Guizeppe]

Tremendous review! Thanks.

[wesleyrp]

Great review, thanks!!

[cromei]

My complaint review in 5 words or less:

Revolution: Tires are very memorable.

BK: Errol Flynn Robin hood outfits.

PR: Dump the synth and amp

SCV: Running Man wasn't good movie.

Cadets: Dump the Angel in White.

BD: Park and Blow.

Academy: Tune with PIT. Closer doesn't.

My happy review in 5 words or less:

Revolution: Growing Corps, nice drumline.

BK: Most recognizable tunes, still humming.

PR: Nice horn Power, Baritones on fire.

SCV: Cerebral, artistic.

Cadets: Wow. Power and high speed.

BD: Hornline and Percussion are phenomenal.

Academy: Suprising hornline power.

[Room_101]

pretty imprethive.

:worthy:

Thanks for the great review! I'm with you 100%, which doesn't happen very often.

[Schickmeister]

:worthy:

Thanks for the great review! I'm with you 100%, which doesn't happen very often.

My GOD they play. Making the judges lose their pencils like gang-busters.

[Room_101]

My GOD they play. Making the judges lose their pencils like gang-busters.

And how about thothe TALL tubath?

[FTNK]

My my my my my my my my...MMM! You look like you just eat it UP!

[euphjock]

My my my my my my my my...MMM! You look like you just eat it UP!

And those sashes! So pretty!

[BOSMarcher]

My GOD they play. Making the judges lose their pencils like gang-busters.

My that is one HUSKY sound!

... LOVE that tape!