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Delayed San Antonio Review


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I arrived at the Alamodome in time to see every corps but I will limit this review to top 12 with some brief comments on a few others. I sat in the 8th row of the upper level close to the 50 yard line.

Cascades... better than expected and they actually did something with the props... note to BD.

Pacific Crest... nice big sound and a lot of field coverage.

Crossmen... starting to become a hometown favorite. It takes a while for Texans to warm up to outsiders....LOL Vastly improved from earlier in the season and should have placed at least 2 places higher. Big ovation from the crowd.

Colts... not nearly on pace with last years show. Lots of spacing errors. Very surprised at their placement.

Troopers... a very beautiful show, but I dont think they will be in the final battle for that 12th spot.

Glassmen.... This show continues to grow on me to the point where I can safely say they are better than last year. Tons of demand in every caption. Probably going to stay in the top 12 this year because of a greater show demand than their closest competitors.

12th...Spirit of Atlanta. This is a very good, very clean show. Harlem Nocturne is wonderful. Brass sound is full and very balanced.

11th...Blue Stars. They have made quite a few changes to this show. It is very in your face and exciting. Some of the stunt work from the guard is simply amazing. The scaffolding distracts too much from this show and is a big waste of the field. It limits the amount of the field coverage that this very powerful hornline could use to show off a nice fast paced drill.

10th...Blue Knights Wonderful, recognizable, and beautifully arranged music. Lots of field coverage. The crowd loved this show. I really dont see any weak caption. More cleaning in the drill and this show could be as high as 8th at finals.

9th...Madison Scouts Very, very loud brass section with some truly lovely moments throughout the show and without doubt their best caption. But as I have said in previous post about this years Scouts the visual program is a disaster. It is either follow the leader, or scatter drill to a stopping point where they park and blow. The lack of demand is not top 20. They had a much better visual program last year or even the year before. I am sure I will be called a hater for pointing this out. I love Madison, but the membership deserves better than what they have been given to perform. The crowd response seemed bigger when they were announced than when the show was over from where I was seated. My hope is that with some staff changes in visual during the off season they come back with a vengeance next year. But this year I see them as far down as 11th at finals.

8th...Boston Crusaders I must confess to really disliking this show when I first saw it on the fan network, but boy have they come a long way. They have one of the better guards, and visual programs of the night. Maybe not as loud as some of the other corps, but they make up for it with good balance and excellent field coverage all done while playing. The Le Misarables parts of the show obviously work better for them than the 1812 sections and once again, like Blue Stars the big prop(in this case the large tarp)is a distraction. I see them no lower than 9th with an outside shot at 7th.

7th...Santa Clara Vanguard I may be in the minority but I must confess to really liking this show. They did have the misfortune of following Madison so the lack of volume in the brass was VERY noticeable. This show is still dirty and I am starting to have real doubts in their ability to get it clean. The brass arrangements are very demanding but difficult to hear over the overamped pit. The guard doesn't seem to have cleaned very much since June. But I do love the drumline this year and contrary to what some have posted they are playing some mean stuff. They should have been higher in that caption I thought. I can actually see them slipping as low as 8th or even 9th at finals unless they somehow find a way to clean this very demanding show. The least crowd response of the evening most probably due to the worst draw of the day.

6th...Bluecoats I love the opening of this show. Very powerful use of a fantastic hornline. Big time chills!!! But then the rest of the show became a bit of a blur with nothing very memorable happening. They definitely seemed to be having an off night. There seemed to have been a problem with the set up in the pit and I found it hard to even hear what they were playing. But still this is a strong corps with strength in every caption. To my great pleasure they have much greater field coverage this year than last, but just seemed flat tonight. Solidly 6th at finals.

5th...Phantom Regiment Where do I start? Beautiful, gorgeous, emotional.... a joy to behold. Very, very clean!!!! Note to Scouts... this is what a loud hornline should sound like. The brassline is balanced and controlled with great range in volume and all done while moving and really covering the field. I wanted this show to go on and on. This is one of the best guards they have ever had! While the drumline may not be as showy and in your face as the last few years I do really like their book and think that it compliments the total show very well. My only complaint... and it is very minor ....is that the transition into Elsa's still doesn't work very well. But who cares. A solid 5th at finals and closer to 4th than they are now.

4th...Carolina Crown From where I sat they were clearly the crowd favorite. Very clearly the best hornline of the night. A much improved drumline from previous years, but I had difficulty hearing the pit. Some might say that is good thing, but I wanted more. This is a love it or hate it show. I love it!!!! The music is familiar, arranged very well and the rock(or rach) theme is carried throughout the show. This is the only show of the night that I felt the sets were used properly and not a distraction. Now about the drill. Yes there are some scatter drills, but in this case they fit the theme of the show and are not used as a vehicle to move the corps from one park and blow to the next. This corps moves fast while playing and does it backwards. But honestly the lack of drill is what will probably keep Crown from it's first championship. I actually had them winning this night though. One other thing... this is a killer guard and possibly the best of the night..... but the utter slop in the encore left me and others around me with a bad taste in our mouths. Don't let that be the last thing the guard judge sees..... clean it or get rid of it.

3rd...Cadets This is an amazing show. This drill design is insane. This is a Cadets show that I can sink my teeth into. Musically it is nice but not among my favorites although they perform the heck out of it. The drill is so intricate and well written that I actually dont remember much that the guard did. The drumline should be top 2 in my opinion. What can be said about the visuals during the drum solo other than amazing. It would be next to impossible to keep the pace up for the full show and unfortunately the back to back balads almost bring the show to a dead stop. But the ending does bring the crowd to back to it's feet.

2nd...Blue Devils This corps is clean, clean, clean. The brass is loud, although playing in anything besides triple forte would be greatly appreciated. It is not possible to say anything about the Blue Devils of late without mentioning the props.... and these are the worst of the bunch. They are big and bright and a massive waste of time and energy. If you are going to drag something onto the field that is that visually striking then you better do something with it. Alas they do not. (spoiler alert) It's a house. Field coverage is non-existant and the guard is not up to previous years standards. The music arrangements are muddled to say the least. But of course that is nothing new. They did receive polite applause after their performance but not much more. Oh btw....Did I say they were CLEAN?

1st...Cavaliers Just when you thought that there was no way the Cavies design team could come up with a more amazing drill than the last one.... THEY DO! Jaw-dropping! It seems to be effortless and we all know that nothing could be further from the truth. Drill wise no other corps is in their league. End of story. But on the other hand they are musically boring. There is an over reliance on synth and pit effects. For the 2nd year in a row they have taken a few lines from an eerily moody ballad and based an entire music book around it. The decades old complaint that the Cavaliers don't do the difficult parts of their drill while playing is as valid as ever this year. I do agree with several of the other posters that they seemed to have had an off night in San Antonio. Some strained moments in the brass and some guard equipment issues. But the crowd went wild.

I won't speculate on finals placement for the top 4. Quite frankly I think it will depend more on the judging panel this year than anything else. This has become an evermore subjective activity.

All in all this was one of the best if not the best drum corps show I have seen in the Alamodome and look forward to following the corps for the rest of the season on the Fan Network. Good luck to all involved.

Edited by musclebud
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Thanks for a great review, for those of us who couldn't be there! How big of a crowd was there? It sounded like a big crowd on the FN, but it's hard to gauge for sure. Thanks again for your viewpoints!

It was a large crowd though not quite as large as I remember from a couple of years ago. I believe this may have been due in part to a late confirmation of the Alamodome as this years venue or perhaps that there were G8 shows in Dallas and Houston.

Edited by musclebud
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Awesome review! Thanks! I agree with you on most every corps, particularly about Boston, Blue Knights, and Phantom.

I'm not a guard person, so I was intrigued by your mention of the slop in the guard in Crown's encore. I hadn't noticed (maybe I will now) but maybe that explains their low guard scores of late?

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Your reviews were good, and I gave you a green point for those reviews. You also placed a disclaimer at the beginning that you would only review the top 12 with a few other minor comments about a few other corps; so you were consistent. But, you also stated that you were there for "all" corps which causes a reader to infer the following (and think about which director(s) at the top would agree with this inference):

Cavaliers, BD, Cadets, Crown, Regiment, etc... deserve to receive the bulk of the commentary because "they" are the show.

Boston, Blue Knights, Blue Stars, etc... should receive some commentary for being the warm-up acts.

Cascades, Crossmen, Troopers, etc... should receive brief acknowledgment for the good ole try-hard approach.

Revolution, Genesis, Forte, (and four others)... might as well not even been there because they do not matter.

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Your reviews were good, and I gave you a green point for those reviews. You also placed a disclaimer at the beginning that you would only review the top 12 with a few other minor comments about a few other corps; so you were consistent. But, you also stated that you were there for "all" corps which causes a reader to infer the following (and think about which director(s) at the top would agree with this inference):

Cavaliers, BD, Cadets, Crown, Regiment, etc... deserve to receive the bulk of the commentary because "they" are the show.

Boston, Blue Knights, Blue Stars, etc... should receive some commentary for being the warm-up acts.

Cascades, Crossmen, Troopers, etc... should receive brief acknowledgment for the good ole try-hard approach.

Revolution, Genesis, Forte, (and four others)... might as well not even been there because they do not matter.

You are right about the fact that I fail to write more about the corps that finished lower. I think I was adding as much as I thought folks would be willing to read or that my aging brain could remember. Of the top 12 I wrote the least about the Blue Knights which is actually my personal favorite show of the year. My Bad. I even forgot to include a mention of The Academy, but my memory was a little fuzzy after all of those margaritas I had down on the Riverwalk after the show. I don't know if the ringing my ears the next morning was from over-amped synths or tequila. I will try to more inclusive next year and stay away from the Riverwalk.

A quick word about The Academy. They have a great show and a very powerful hornline. When this corps learns how to clean the top guys need to watch out.

Edited by musclebud
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You are right about the fact that I fail to write more about the corps that finished lower. I think I was adding as much as I thought folks would be willing to read or that my aging brain could remember. Of the top 12 I wrote the least about the Blue Knights which is actually my personal favorite show of the year. My Bad. I even forgot to include a mention of The Academy, but my memory was a little fuzzy after all of those margaritas I had down on the Riverwalk after the show. I don't know if the ringing my ears the next morning was from over-amped synths or tequila. I will try to more inclusive next year and stay away from the Riverwalk.

A quick word about The Academy. They have a great show and a very powerful hornline. When this corps learns how to clean the top guys need to watch out.

I was willing to take those negative red marks to bring home a point. Whether we realize this or not most of us (me included) unknowingly support the Hop/Gibbs self-righteous arrogance by completely ignoring, or forgetting to write about, the lower corps. Nobody can deny the competitive quality difference from the top to the bottom; and that competitive difference makes for great entertainment. However, we tend to view the corps as competitive entities in of themselves apart from the human (youth) aspect that actually makes up those entities. And since DCI is also a youth 501c3 activity, as well as a competitive venue, all I was pointing out was this question: Should our vocal and written support for a 501c3 youth activity really be this top heavy while ignoring, or forgetting, the youth outside of the top units?

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I was willing to take those negative red marks to bring home a point. Whether we realize this or not most of us (me included) unknowingly support the Hop/Gibbs self-righteous arrogance by completely ignoring, or forgetting to write about, the lower corps. Nobody can deny the competitive quality difference from the top to the bottom; and that competitive difference makes for great entertainment. However, we tend to view the corps as competitive entities in of themselves apart from the human (youth) aspect that actually makes up those entities. And since DCI is also a youth 501c3 activity, as well as a competitive venue, all I was pointing out was this question: Should our vocal and written support for a 501c3 youth activity really be this top heavy while ignoring, or forgetting, the youth outside of the top units?

Your point is well taken. I should have made a stronger effort to give each corps their due. I marched drum corps in the early eighties in the Memphis Blues Brass Band. This was a corps that never managed to make finals and lasted only 3 years due to financial issues. The issue that the non-top twelve corps don't get the attention they deserve is one that I have experienced personally. These corps members deserve our respect... working as hard if not harder than members of the higher placing corps. I will make a true effort to give these corps the written attention and respect they deserve in any future reviews I post.

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Your point is well taken. I should have made a stronger effort to give each corps their due. I marched drum corps in the early eighties in the Memphis Blues Brass Band. This was a corps that never managed to make finals and lasted only 3 years due to financial issues. The issue that the non-top twelve corps don't get the attention they deserve is one that I have experienced personally. These corps members deserve our respect... working as hard if not harder than members of the higher placing corps. I will make a true effort to give these corps the written attention and respect they deserve in any future reviews I post.

Thank you from the mom of a rookie non-top twelve corps member who is working his behind off and having the time of his young 16 year old life. It would be appreciated if one positive comment could be found about each corps with these reviews particularly if the reviewer did not like their show. We parents like to hear good things about what our kids are doing! :-)

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