Throw down in Allentown!

[IMcomguy]

2. GET THE DANG BRASS JUDGE OFF THE FREAKIN' FIELD. The biggest joke in DCI for the last several years is giving the award for best brass line at field level. Devils were clearly better up top, and Crown, though really good, had some serious breakdowns the field judge simply didn't catch.

Since you are an expert, please tell us what portions of Crown's show "had some serious breakdowns"...

Because I'm really curious to hear what my semi-trained ear, along with the judges trained ear (pretty much all season) obviously missed...

They are performing the crap out of their book, not only with power and technique, but sonority and near philharmonic qualities at times. But really, you know, maybe I'm just on acid when listening (???). I guess that is the Rach Star effect after all, taking us back to the days of Black Sabbath, GNR, and stumbling off the tour bus as old groupie hacks.

Edited August 8, 2011 by IMcomguy

[Kamarag]

Since you are an expert, please tell us what portions of Crown's show "had some serious breakdowns"...

Because I'm really curious to hear what my semi-trained ear, along with the judges trained ear (pretty much all season) obviously missed...

Certainly. The biggest one was the very beginning of Eruption. There was a pretty substantial clarity issue in the first two bars, particularly with the trumpets. They locked it back in by the third bar or so. Additionally there were a few individual issues throughout the Emmerson, particularly in the mellos. Those were articulation and release problems. The last one was individuals sticking out in the new encore ending causing some balance and blend issues.

Don't get me wrong, I love this hornline. They have established themselves as one of the best brass programs in the world. But in Allentown, they weren't at their best, nor were they the best on the field that night. Frankly, I would have had them third in brass last night, as I thought Cadets had a particularly good show. Devils were just off the hook in every way.

I had Crown up in West Chester a couple nights prior, so, there you go.

Edited August 8, 2011 by Kamarag

[IMcomguy]

Fantastic opinion. Thanks for pointing the specifics out to me.

Hopefully it was just a bad night, and Devils had an extraordinary night.

[N.E. Brigand]

Since you were at both the shows in Lawrence on Thurs. ( Boston 2.5 tenths in back of SCV), and last nite in Allentown where Boston was buried by over 2 points by SCV, did you think that SCV improved their performance, or did Boston have a flat night? From the reports we heard, many thought Boston was right there, or perhaps even better than SCV last night.

Just to clarify a bit before I give my opinions... I had two different perspectives at each show. In Lawrence, I was 50 yard line lower/mid level(not that great for drill read) and I was on upper level section Q at Allentown...

In terms of performance, SCV had a good solid run at Allentown, but I thought they were more exciting to me at least in Lawrence. I would say the same for BAC as well. Intensity level for both corps was a little better at Lawrence in my opinion, but in terms of projection I think Boston beats SCV hands down at both shows in terms of both visual and music GE.

Interesting. A Boston fan sitting next to me Saturday night told me before SCV's performance that he'd seen them in Lawrence and found them rather boring, but after we watched SCV's performance, he was cheering loudly and told me that they'd really stepped up and delivered a much more powerful show in Allentown.

[N.E. Brigand]

My $.02 on the crowd reaction (as seen from Section K): Blue Devils were superb. I love the show, and have been a huge Bacharach/David fan for years, so it was almost like a show personally designed for me. So, yeah, I clapped enthusiastically and gave it a standing O at the end. The crowd was not overtly hostile; they were in fact polite. But I don't think many were as moved by what they were seeing as they had been by Cadets, Crown, and Boston. And I don't think they're just haters. I think the show's designed that way. It's like a fine wine--you sniff it, and swirl it in your glass, and admire it and sip it slowly and savor it. It's not a Slurpee that you guzzle down in ten seconds on a hot day. So my question to the OP is this: at what point in the show was the average fan in the stands supposed to be welling up with emotion and barely able to stay in their seats, and saying, give me more of this. As I say, I love the show, but I don't think it has as many of those moments as a lot of the other shows have.

This seems about right to me. There was plenty of more-than-polite applause for BD in section F, where I sat both nights, and a warm standing ovation at the end. As with Crown, the audience seemed particularly appreciative for Blue Devils playing through a steady rain. (Cadets caught a break in the weather. The real deluge began just in time for the Bridgemen Alumni.) But Crown's and Cadets' are simply more accessible shows, despite the friendly melodic nature of Bacharach's tunes.

I so enjoyed my first experience at Allentown last year that I convinced a friend to make the seven-hour drive from Cleveland with me this year. He has seen the occasional drum corps show, on and off, for more than 20 years, but for a total of much less than one show per year. By no means does he follow the activity closely: he doesn't know the Blue Devils from the Blue Knights or the Blue Stars, but he does realize that Bluecoats are the local corps, and he remembers Santa Clara's 1988 "Phantom of the Opera" show, the first he ever saw, very warmly. Despite his lack of expertise, he is a very picky respondent to any arts or entertainment he views. (I don't think he has a favorite movie, though he's seen thousands, always hoping for the one that will finally win him over.) After Friday's show, he was disappointed not to have been blown away, though he admired the power at the end of Phantom's performance and some of the athleticism of the Cavaliers. When the rain began Saturday afternoon, he was more than a little concerned about spending an evening wrapped in a poncho watching shows that never excited him.

And then he saw "Between Angels and Demons", and thought it was the best drum corps show he'd ever seen; he actually gave Cadets a standing ovation (he never does that), and marveled at the sheer planning of it all.

But next --as the lady behind us, the one who had sung along to Crown's take on "Bohemian Rhapsody", asked how many "bands" still had to play-- he noticed BD entering with their cubes and groaned. More blocks, just like Cascades, whom he'd disliked rather much on Friday. And after the Devils performance, he wasn't convinced they had done any better than Cascades in making their props important. His eye, he complained, kept being drawn by the blocks because they were so large, but until the end of the show, he thought the corps did far too little with them. And the music meant nothing to him in itself, though he recognized that they played well.

I think one problem that BD may be having with the audience is that "A House Is Not a Home" is not a well-known work, in my opinion. I'd previously heard every other Bacharach song in BD's repertoire, most of them many times (the Costello song only twice or thrice), but never that one before seeking it on youtube when I saw the Devs were playing it. For the fan without a program book handy --and that was most of the audience on Saturday, with the rain pouring down-- the song's title is never encountered. Brandt Crocker only mentions the overall show title, so the untrained fan finds it difficult to identify a clear theme to connect with the house built on the field.

(For myself, the best BD show of the past five seasons remains "Constantly Risking Absurdity". I'd much prefer that one had won than the three that did! But not in place of "Spartacus". 2008 = annus mirabilis.)