Stockton: Moonlight Classic June 26

[Guizeppe]

Stockton

Moonlight Classic

June 26 2011

Venue: University of the Pacific's Stagg Stadium is still the second greatest venue to see a corps show (Stanford is really the best). Weather was great, mid-80s. A beautiful night for drum corps.

RENEGADES:

I missed these guys and gals for the first time ever. 6:30 start time really means 6:30. We were still parking and walking so I apologize to the Evil 7s. Sounded good from the parking lot.

BLUE DEVILS C:

Fun as always. Music this year is a little more mature, as does seem the corps in general. Bigger kids, full drumline, definitely a sign of more great talent coming up for the world champs. Drums and low brass are their strenghts. Good show.

SANTA CLARA VANGUARD CADETS:

One of their most accessible shows musically. They play out the "Balance" theme of their show quite nicely. Drumline feature was top notch though a bit dirty, and I always love to hear a bottom base solo. Brass was confident and powerful through the first half of the show but seemed to get a little fatigued in the second half. Nice show to listen to. Gaurd did a nice job as well.

BLUE DEVILS "B":

Holy "A" corps drumline Batman! These guys can throw down with the best of them. Big brassy sound coming from this big corps with a couple of classic BD-jams thrown in for good measure. Guard is world class quality as always. Pit was turned upa little too much on the amps, drowned out the corps during some soft moments. Overall a very enjoyable show, well done.

REVOLUTION:

Great to see a new corps come out West: Welcome. Shows theme is "Ride" which is portrayed well with the sound effects of a plane taking off and the tires being tossed around in the guard. Corps about half the size of the groups before them, though they could really blow at a standstill. I thought the grey and black unis actually helped accentuate the vibrant colors of the guard flags. First sign of "GOO" tonight and I wasn't terribly excited with the synth sounds being played overthe drum feature. They end with some world class drill done pretty well for this early in the season. Thanks for coming out Revo, your welcome back anytime.

PACIFIC CREST:

BIG full sound from the Cresters this year. Beautiful balance in the horns with a finalist quality low brass section. Can't recall the music but I remember it being very nice to listen to. Drums had agoodfeature but overall got lost inthe volume of the brass. Lots of movement which left some forms looking a little chaotic, but overall one of the best PC shows in recent memory. Very enjoyable.

MANDARINS:

Ah, my little home corps that could. Corps size is about 2/3s that of other World class groups, but when they need to they can let loose with some serious power. The mellos and baris are clearly the strong points in the brass. Drums were good, bit of dirt here and there, and thepit had an excellent feature, well done. Show ends with the drum feature, which I'm not sure means the show is finished. Kind of leaves the audience wanting more. Good show Mandies.

BLUE KNIGHTS:

First corps to just come out and blast you away, major goosebumps! Love the music, don't know it, but love it. Huge hits from the brass and the drum feature with the tradition English drums isreally cool. First group that I thought really staged the color guard well with effective integration. The only weakness they have is in their feet, which seemed to affect the higher brass when they would move, and the mic on the top tympani was WAY too loud. But overall, Blue Knights are quickly becoming a big fan favorite. Excellent show. And THANK YOU FOR THE LACK OF GOO!!!

CADETS:

Angels, Demons, and thunderous Goo. Who will win? Anyway, this show istremendous. Great staging of the corps throughout. Brass is insane with the drill their pulling off this early in the season. Many oohs and aahs were heard from those sitting higher up, a testament to the great drill design. Drum feature is legendary, colorguard is good as well, their best moment obviously being the shiny silver and gold rods. Great effect. The big Amazing grace hit brought the house down. Unfortunatly, the goo is ever present, and that kind of cheapens it for me. Why have tubas? That being said, this is probably my favorite Cadets show in 10 years. World Champ quality. My 5-year old likd this one the best.

BLUE DEVILS:

If you can't jive with this show musically they should take away your ears. What fantastic music, and played just how I like it, LOUD! Really sharp tonight, thought they might pull out a victory tonight. Guard was unbelievably good and should win their caption every night. And nobody stages a production better, nobody. I guess I'm in the minority but I don't find the cubes that distracting. The long white posts are way more distracting to me. Drums are on fire, brass is to die for, really a show for the BD fan in all of us. Threepeat? Perhaps.

SANTA CLARA VAN"GOO":

This show should be called "tough". I'm a big SCV fan, but this was a little rough for me to watch. Brass has good power and hits you when they want, but really needs more practice. Lots of movement, second only to the Cadets in that respect. The running doesn't work for me. Now the drums, best since 2004, and all they did that year was win the drum title. By far the best section. Music may be a roughly played but is enjoyable and the ending sequence was very nice. Now for this SCV fan, they WAY overused the goo, to the point where I couldn't even hear any low brass. This could be a great top 6 show, but it needs work.

PHANTOM REGIMENT:

Goo haters rejoice! What a wonderful performance to end the night. Easily the best complete brass sound projecting off the field of the evening. Guard looks beautiful in their elegant gowns, and when they use the double flags with the full corps behind them during the ballad, pure gold! Low brass is get-out-of-my-way good. And isn't it amazing how full and lush a hornline can sound without the help of three fingers being mashed on a keyboard!?! Gorgeous music as well. Drill is mostly forgetable, and the drums could use some better staging as they get lost big time in the brass. But I tell you, this show was the classiest of the night. Everyone in my group of family and friends liked this one the best. Well done Phantom.

There you go. Now it's off to work. Guess I'll go put a shirt on now.

[BlueRevo]

Thank you for posting this positive review. When the kids are on tour, they DO have their iPhones with them. It kinda kills their spirit when they read anything overtly negative in any size corps (large or small) . I hope that others keep that in mind as the season progresses.

Doug

[Schickmeister]

Hope they didnt read my review.

[wesleyrp]

Hope they didnt read my review.

Or mine!:) Great review!

W P