Metamora Review

[westcoastblue]

I wish I had time for this to be more in depth. I will expand on my quick review in the Matamora thread.

Racine Scouts: They were small but very respectable. The guard of two and hornline of about 10 were joined with eager and confident percussionist who entertained. Isn't that what we pay for when we attend shows? I must admit the entire time I was thinking about the rumored G8 agenda of ending all corps but themselves. If there is truth there, viewing this corps is perhaps more than just being entertained, but being reminded that such a quest to only promote a few corps is way outside of any philosophy of drum corps being a true youth-activity with various levels of purpose and service. These members certainly were having a good time, which helped me have a good time. I hope the members are as proud of themselves as I was of their efforts. Well done.

Legends: The corps is very good, better than last year though smaller. The corps spreads the field quite a bit which at times amy make communication and projection more difficult. The brass served some quality sounds with good intonation and blend throughout the performance. The less than stellar moments are still pretty evident. The small guard is quite musical and olds their own for their size. The concept is a little allusive but I ma not sure it really matters. Good job.

Crossmen: The drum and brass writing of the 1990s is back with a slightly current twist and a little less attitude. This unit is much better than last year and is pretty clean for this time of year. There were some solid impacts and some tasty battery playing. Brass soloists were very talented and style is well done for the most part. The guard is good but not impressive. They spend a lot of time in shallow arcs in front of the corps and not integrated enough for my taste. There is some variety in the musical selections, but the tempos are too much the same (moderate tempos) and way too similar too often. To be honest, their greatest effect is that they are much better than last year and perform in control, but after 5 minutes, I was extremely bored. It is all just much too safe with too much sameness throughout. There are two big arrival impact moments, but there seems to be few interesting moments throughout. Thanks for all of the improvements and effort to be Crossmen again. I see them as a very respectable corps, but not a finalist.

Spirit: The corps went on in very low light, almost to the point that several of us were worried about their safety. Storms had knocked out the power. Spirit of Atlanta put on an extremely entertaining and sophisticated show. There was a clear jump in production and performance value compared to Crossmen. The preshow recording set a cool mood. Though not a film noir expert, the production made sense to me, dark, mysterious, sounds that remind me of old film scores, images of characters from that movie era, etc. The horn line packs a punch with a lot of exposure including multiple tonguing and lots of melody and solo and section features throughout. The percussion writing is super tastey and very musical, more like the writing you expect from the top six lines. The guard is vastly improved and at times quite impressive. The drill and coordination of effects kept coming.

I enjoyed the show a lot and frankly do not think it can be compared with Crossmen in any caption nor Troopers. Politics, judges that are scared of making a statement, who knows.

If there is a better corps that should be in one of those bottom finalist corps spots, bring it.

Troopers: I just didn't get this. I am a Troop fan for the same reasons as most people, but did not think they should have been a finalist in 2009, nor this year. They are pretty clean and have three good moments, but there just isn't any real depth that gains my respect as them being a WORLD CLASS drum corps that is demonstrating things that a really good high school couldn't produce. Not an example of marching's major league, Sorry. The brass sound good, but are playing a grade 2 book (out of 5). The drum line good, guard good, marching good, but like Crossmen, after 5 minutes I was bored. I fully expected Spirit to three point them. As I said earlier, weak judges maybe, judges afraid to call it as is, who knows, just my take on it. A good corps none the less. There is a Trooper vibe, but similar to SCV (old SCV) lite or old Cadets lite. I do not know what else to say. A good corps that I could see again or wait for fall videos.

Blue Stars: I was excited to see this as I enjoyed their show last season and I am a huge Bourne fan. The brass section is excellent and can produce both ends of the volume spectrum well. The guard design and equipment choices are fitting and add a great deal to some drill that is a little slow or uninteresting at times. The drums had some stellar moments and were staged well. I am not sure I followed a story line, but not sure I needed to do so. There are several places where things seemed a little unfinished like something has yet to be added. I thought they should have won the show, easily. More of that judge unqualified or unwilling thing.

SCV: I will be pretty brief. Though a fan of modern art and modern drum corps at times, I found this to be neither. The first step to getting modernism to sell to the general public is to convince them of the quality and the overall effect. This has neither at this point. Guard good, percussion amazing, drill good and not good, horn line clearly weaker that Blue Stars, Troopers, Spirit, and Crossmen. Yes, they spend a lot of the show at the pp-mp range, but poorly. There was less than a minute of the show where I was intrigued or entertianed, The rest of the time I was irritated and disappointed. I wonder what would happen if all corps got this level of benefit of the doubt or license to do this and score an 80?

Have Crossmen do this same show at this level in their uniforms and it would be a score much lower. I will see this show again soon. I hope I just ate a bad corndog and missed the whole amazing thing. Minus the drum line, I would of had them in fourth.

[oldsoprano]

Thanks for the review. Great job!

[oldsoprano]

"weak judges maybe, judges afraid to call it as is, who knows"

Bingo. I think you just found the head of that nail and pounded it good.

[TerriTroop]

Just a point re Troopers vs. Spirit: the recaps are where the information is. There were years where I thought the championship corps played a less difficult brass book and yet their total score still topped everyone else who had more demand. There are corps that haven't been in the top 2-3 who I thought were more exciting, intriguing or less boring than the top 2-3 and who I wish had made that top mix. Anyway, my point is, again, that the recap is where it's at. I don't know what's going to happen between now and finals. It's an exciting ride for some, an anxious ride for others.

As for judges and politics, I think it's really easy to pull that ace out of a sleeve when we think something doesn't line up with our own expectations and opinions. And just to be fair, I've had many, many conversations with folks in my own circle of corps friends and supporters who have used that same ace - from Troop on up and down the line. I've done it, too. It never gets old, and it never changes the game. It's armchair quartbacking, backseat driving, etc. A corps tries to change the game by playing to the sheets with their corps' particular strengths. Cadets do it with demand, Cavies do it with visual, BD does it with execution, Crown does it with musicality, etc., and of course there is enough excellence across the board in the rest of the recap captions to add up to a championship or close to it, consistently.

In any case, will Spirit 3-point Troop in the end? Maybe, maybe not. The story will still be in the recaps.

[oldsoprano]

I don't see anyone, Spirit included, three-pointing anyone else in that pack of corps making a run at 12th place at any point between now and semi-finals. In fact, I would almost be willing to bet that the 12th-place corps will not be the same in San Antonio, Atlanta and Indy.

[TerriTroop]

I don't see anyone, Spirit included, three-pointing anyone else in that pack of corps making a run at 12th place at any point between now and semi-finals. In fact, I would almost be willing to bet that the 12th-place corps will not be the same in San Antonio, Atlanta and Indy.

I see that happening. The only way anyone 3-points another is by doing what a very few corps at this level can do with any consistency: become the 500 lb. gorilla in the room. If you are completely, absolutely, undeniably stronger in all captions than the direct competition, it will be shown on the sheets. It takes a quantum leap these days to get past the 12th place barrier and stay there.

[skywhopper]

I thought they should have won the show, easily. More of that judge unqualified or unwilling thing.

I agree with you about the SCV brass, and I did come out of the stadium having enjoyed the Blue Stars more, but hey look, the judges thought BS was better in terms of brass and music performance, as well. Why would those judges be willing to rate Blue Stars higher if there was political pressure to do otherwise?

Have Crossmen do this same show at this level in their uniforms and it would be a score much lower. I will see this show again soon. I hope I just ate a bad corndog and missed the whole amazing thing. Minus the drum line, I would of had them in fourth.

I don't think the stadium at Metamora was big enough to get the visual impact of SCV's show. As Terri says, look at the captions. SCV beat Blue Stars because of visuals. I think Blue Stars' scaffolding at this point is still a net negative for the show design (though it has potential as they do more interesting things with it), and while the drill has been greatly improved, the performance of the new visuals was very dirty. Clean the visual performance up and Blue Stars could have won.