Greendale, WI

[SilentnDeadly960]

Warning: I'm not a fan of sugarcoating, but I'm a huge fan to giving props when it's due.

Yokohama Scouts: VERY IMPRESSIVE. A show featuring the music of Gershwin, Rachmaninov and Liszt came off better than expected. Drill compliments the musical arrangements well. While I caught moments of the percussion and Brass, the colorguard stole my heart. Those seven girls absolutely SOLD this show. I look forward to see how you guys progress this week.

Colt Cadets: Another well programmed show for you this corps. As much as I want to complain about the huge dirty drumline, I can't b/c I know better than anyone that it's a blessing for a corps like this to be able to find enough members to field a full drumline. None the less, they performed this show from beginning to end. The hornline seems to be younger than years past, and it show musically and visually. The Colorguard, while smaller than years past, took my breathe away! These girls have been trained well. They were all aware of hand placements and hard checkpoints. It was quite pleasing to see a young guard performing with such detail in relationship to the equipment. Kudos to the staff, you guys are doing great. On the flip side, this show was over scored by like 5 points.

Forte: I can't help but think of this show as part two to Colt Cadets 2009 show. Overall, the show is musically in a good place. While I love this corps and design of the show, some things really stood out to me good and bad. The main bed staged in the front is overused, WAY TOO MUCH. The overuse of this bed caused the drill to seem forced and sometimes didn't reflect what we were hearing musically. HOLY COLORGUARD. Oh my, was I impressed. Rifleline had some eye catching work an some clean tosses. Percussion section is clearly the strongest section of the corps. I so badly wanted to say the percussion had blend issues, but that wasn't the problem. The problem comes from an fairly weak brass line. While they march decent, the playing aspect is holding this corps back. The weaknesses in the brass is effecting both GE captions and the music ensemble caption. Good effort from this corps. I enjoyed getting to see you guys rehearse. Admirable staff. I heart Forte. Oh to the marching cymbal line: TASTY. keep it up.

Vanguard Cadets: Welcome back to the Midwest!!!! Now to the show. Show concept, didn't buy it, but these guys were selling it. Brass, good for the most part. Percussion, :) :) :). Guard, could have used alot more, didn't really impress me. All the choreography just seemed like filler work. C'mon designers. Let's be creative. While this show generates points. It does nothing fot the crowd other than force them to clap b/c the impact were obvious. Good work. I see gold in your near future.

Revolution: I never expected these musical selections to blend so well together. Kudos REVOLUTION! Overall this show was much more attainable than SCVC. Not as clean, but the show had energy, flow, and a clear storyline. Always enjoy the percussion. I predict Revo possibly taking down Spartans this week.

Racine Scouts: Hosting corps. Would have done you better to perform first. I'll be the first to say this years addition on Racine Scouts is not at the same level as the last couple years. I got a chance to catch this corps in rehearsal a few time at the beginning of the year, mid july and again before the show. I give major props to the kids for making this show happen. With no brass, colorguard and visual staff, the end product if nothing short of impressive. To the 2-3 staff that they do have, I suggest you guys get some consultants next season to help you guys. It's clear you guys aren't exactly sure of what your doing, and I observed several times, the members cleaning the show ALOT better than the staff. And what's up with not giving no feeback in between reps during ensemble? To say the least, I'm less than impressed with the staff. I watched this corps rehearse last year and they had an AMAZING staff. They were young, but they had talent, patience and the willingness to still learn as teachers. This year, I wish I could say the same with this new staff. Oh, and what's up with the change in musical style. Honestly, it's not working for you. Go back to what you were doing before, a show full of band/choral music only display how untrained your kids are. Just some advice. I hope you guys figure it out.

[skywhopper]

Thanks for the excellent review. Great to see a review of an OC performance. Was the show well attended?

[SilentnDeadly960]

Thanks for the excellent review. Great to see a review of an OC performance. Was the show well attended?

No really. I'd say about 75 without the performing members. Also had a 50/50 raffle that noone knew about, caused some bickering in the stands.

Oh and to the good people of Racine Scouts, don't sing your corps song in front of your home crowd if the marching members, clearly don't know the words. I heard a few marching members of the corps standing around after the show say that they didn't even know that they were singing the corps song.... song didn't even know what the corps song was. Let's figure it out people, not helping your image at all.

[MelloHorn13]

Oh and to the good people of Racine Scouts, don't sing your corps song in front of your home crowd if the marching members, clearly don't know the words.

As a alumnist of this corps, along with many other things I observed about how this event operated, this had to be the most embarrassing part of the entire night. (And for those of you who were in attendance that ask, "Why weren't you down on the track singing the corps with the rest of the alumni?" Simple, I wasn't "welcome". Sounds silly, but unfortunately true.)

I too, hope they figure it out soon. I would hate for them to disappear b/c of poor decisions, and lord knows alot of poor ones were made this season alone.