Prelims!

[dcvet95]

We are so tired after a long long long day. But a great day. I'll post more tomorrow, but thoughts from the stands around us were.

Attendance seeemed lower than last year, especially since we had 18 more corps performing.

Most people thought Madison was going to be much higher than Blue Knights in score. I thought they were close, but probably would have had Madison up by about 4 tenths of a point. Madison really connected with the crowd tonight.

Carolina Crown should be much closer to Cavaliers and the top, and should be about 3 points at least ahead of Phantom. Most people around us kind of mocked the new Phantom ending. I would say they got the crowd lame award for their new ending. Everyone was joking they were trying to take a 5th-7th place show, and turn in top 3 with a killing of the drum major, ala 2008. But this honestly should not even be within 3 points of Crown, who should have beaten them in every caption solidly, except drums. Phantom does have a beautiful show, but the difficulty and performance edge would definitely go to Crown, who also may have had the best crowd response of the evening.

Most people around us thought Cavies and Cadets should be neck and neck. I would definitely have given the edge to Cadets, but I still would not count Cavies out this week. I do not see BD beating Cadets the rest of the week, I think Cavies are the corps that Cadets should beware of personally.

2 shows the crowd didn't seem to react to that I find very nice, are Teal Sound(I am so surprised to be saying that after I didn't care for them much early season), and Blue Stars. This show has definitely grown on me. And while I think they are locked in 11th place, I totally enjoy this show, while people around us didn't seem to enjoy it at all(actually my wife doesn't care for this show either)

Quick predictions for the rest of the weekend, from what the judging looks like

Crossmen beat Colts tomorrow.

Academy beats Troopers

Madison overtakes Blue Knights

Phantom may beat Crown(I definitely would not agree with this at all-and I never thought I would say this, but Crown---YOU RACH)

Cavies beat Blue Devils

Heading off to bed after a hot shower. I hope everyone else enjoyed this day as much as we did. Some amazing performances, although a little quiet from a crowd standpoint.

Your previous posts have displayed an obvious hatred for PR... I can't possibly take your posts seriously... and I'm assuming the people around share the same view. But from where I was sitting, the audience gave PR a much stronger reception at the end of their show than crown.

I'm also surprised you were able to judge every caption at once without your obvious bias... saying crown should've easily beat PR in every caption except drums is hilarious! You're such an expert!

[skywhopper]

Only was able to make it to the theatre for the last eight corps, but here are my reactions:

Boston: The arranger is nuts to say that Les Mis didn't have enough material. The show has a lot of energy, and the visual package is just amazing. The only moment when the visuals feel a little dulled is at the very end of the closer, which is weird because that's clearly some manic drill. Now the "Bring Him Home" part was just too gorgeous for words. I had tears streaming down my face. That solo alone was worth the price of admission.

SCV: I love this show. I wish the brass were louder, but they sounded much cleaner than when I saw them live back in early July. I assume the Viper is still in the show somewhere, but it's been moved from the end where I was looking for it... The director choosing when to cut was doing a bad job and missed the visual impact in multiple places.

Bluecoats: My wife's favorite show. It's definitely much improved over the beginning of the season. Still doesn't compare to last year's show which I've been watching on Bluray this week. But Creep is pretty darn incredible. Dunno if the sampled singing was part of the show earlier in the year. It barely came through at the theater, but since the electronics designer talked about it, I noticed it. Meh.

Phantom: Gorgeous music, although I noticed way more synth this time around, even though the speakers were in front of the mikes. I just noticed way more synth parts. I'm assuming they've added a lot of synth to the show in the past couple of weeks. Too bad. This music doesn't need any of it. I like the new ending, but the music is my favorite part of the show.

Crown: My 9-year-old daughter's favorite show, but she's been a Crown honk since her first drum corps show in 2008. Their brass is phenomenal. Clearly, far and away, the best brass. Hope it keeps being scored that way. Heard some crackles in their right side PA early in the show. I think they are doing less drill than usual, and definitely less than they need to do to win, but what drill they do is pretty incredible. Love the energy of the "encore" closer, but the ballad is (as usual) my favorite part of the show.

Cavies: I like the new touches with the brass on stilts and the drum major directing upside down. The music is great and all fits together better than last year's. The audience in the theater clearly was hyping on most of their gimmicks, but I detected no reaction to the leaping at the end. Glad to see them back within reach of the top.

Cadets: I'm definitely rooting for this show to win. The visuals are amazing. The ballad is great. My wife says the music is boring. I can see what she means. I'm okay with the music, but this show is definitely all about the visuals and all the little touches between the two groups on the field.

Blue Devils: This is such a huge improvement for me over last year, but I actually like it less than 1930, which I don't really care for. The music is too choppy IMO, although I do love the Wives and Lovers section. My wife says she just wanted them to clean up the field; it was just a big visual mess most of the time between the props and the guard equipment etc. I feel like the BD shows in the past few years are mostly about checking off a bunch of boxes demonstrating certain skills. They definitely execute, but it doesn't flow and it doesn't have any moments that just wrench my gut, unlike every other corps I saw tonight. I *know* that BD's staff could design a show that had some real emotional impact if they wanted to, but they have other priorities. I realize this is a subjective thing, but it's just a very stark difference for me between the emotion I feel from watching all the other corps and then what I feel when I watch BD's show. I really don't think it's me hating on BD specifically: I've been unhappy with the Cadets' shows for the past several years and then this year they turned me around and I've been rooting for their show to win all year.

[EJD440]

On a side note, I think some corps need to reevaluate how tight the pants are on their male marchers...

LOL. . . . the white pants in particular are a little tooooooo revealing. . . . .

I was in a theater in Atlanta in a very small crowd of maybe 25. It was strange to be in such an empty theatre. About halfway through people started making comments in between shows and we sort of started chatting with each other between performances. The reaction in this crowd was very similar to what others have reported. Lots of clapping throughout most of the shows. Blue Stars only got applause at the end - it was rather flat. Blue Devils got a few claps at the end of their show. NONE during. When they started, the woman behind me said, "Wake me when it's over." The man with her told me he was a HUGE BD fan, but hated their show this year.

Phantom got WHOOPS. BK, Madison, and Cadets were the other favorites based on the noise of the reaction.

Two questions for you experts:

Years ago, it used to be standard to do the long straight line of horns marching straight towards the audience. This year (and maybe in past years?) it seems most now start on the right end of the field (THEIR right) and walk forward and left when they do "the line", ending up centered on the 50. Any reason for the side walking? Is it so much more impactful than straight on? Is it just coincidence that so many do it this year?

What is it about Harlem Nocturne that makes it such a perennial favorite? My high school even played it in 1979 or 1980 based on (I think) the Bridgemen version. MANY corps seem to have done it. What mkes it such a "go to" song? What do you think?

THANKS!

[PhantomCav]

I taught a Jupiter line for two years. I know exactly what those horns are capable of. While I wouldn't trade them for the regular Kings, I would trade them for the System Blue horns in a hot second :)

Hmm, well I certainly won't argue with your personal experience. I have no qualifications for that. I do know that Regiment has had a litany of issues with them though.

They completely redesigned the mellophone because they hated it so much.

That's not usually a good sign. But who knows. They certainly sound good now, no argument here.

[JulesBry]

I must admit I got a little chuckle from this comment...

I had the EXACT same reaction. How long's the original show, something like three and a half hours? And there aren't 11 minutes of music in it?

Of course, I love the melding that they came up with, so I'm glad they went the way they did, but HOLY COW!

(The guy next to me leaned over and said, "did he just say what I think he said"?)

[Liahona]

Their brass is phenomenal. Clearly, far and away, the best brass. Hope it keeps being scored that way.

KUDOS to Crown for their awesome brass...Absolutely loved it

On another note...My vote for next season is to add a second brass judge in the press box in addition to the field brass judge and then average the two scores...And along with that there goes DCI's budget right along with it

[Fran Haring]

Cadets were magnificent tonight. They might have the best visual program I have ever seen. Devils were glorious musically. I thought the spread from BD to Cavies should have been a bit wider, but in all honesty, the judges' job tonight wasn't the top 3.

They got the right corps into semis, and set up the right corps for top 12. Tomorrow should be fun.

John, I nearly 100 percent agree with what you've said.

Nearly. LOL.

I thught Crown's score could have been a bit higher, closer to the top three.... love the horn line and the show. But I could see what you mean about them not being as clean overall. And like you said, Phantom should be right there with them... they were excellent.

I and the the two other Sunrisers alums watching the cinecast were impressed with the Blue Knights continuing their streak of "Sunrisers' greatest hits"....LOL.... Farandole (Sun 1978) last year, English Folk Song Suite (Sun 1977-78, 1982) this year. Seriously.... this is the most enjoyable show I've seen from BK. Great stuff.

While on the "Sunrisers Pride" kick here, briefly... Cadets visual designer Jeff Sacktig and Blue Devils brass guru Wayne Downey are both Sunrisers alums. I'll bet most of you didn't know that.

Jeff and the rest of the Cadets' design team did an amazing job this year. Fantastic show.

Blue Devils' brass line was wonderful. We were joking that if the old "tick system" was still in place, we would be giving that horn line back tenths, instead of deducting tenths. And their marching technique, as always, was oustanding. I very much enjoyed their show this year.

Scouts and Boston knocked me out. I hadn't seen Boston since late June, and their current ending really rounds out their show, compared to their "not-quite-getting-this" June ending. I agree with you that Scouts did overdo the low-end synth. No need for that with the talent in that horn line. Yikes.

Kudos to the theater manager at the Regal Cinemas location where we saw the show. When I got there, I asked her if she could make sure the volume was turned up in our auditorium, if she had any control over that... she said she would do so, and she certainly delivered. Volume was WAY up, compared to some previous years... and loud is good!!!

Edited August 12, 2011 by Fran Haring

[N.E. Brigand]

I'm at the theater. We're watching the June broadcast for some reason. Academy was supposed to step off about five minutes ago. Any idea what might be up?

So you weren't at Valley View, after all? The show started right on time there.

[skywhopper]

Oh. For one corps I could hear the pit or some members on the front counting. Maybe it was the Cadets? I'm not sure. Did anyone else catch that?

[JulesBry]

Most people around us kind of mocked the new Phantom ending. I would say they got the crowd lame award for their new ending. Everyone was joking they were trying to take a 5th-7th place show, and turn in top 3 with a killing of the drum major, ala 2008. But this honestly should not even be within 3 points of Crown, who should have beaten them in every caption solidly, except drums. Phantom does have a beautiful show, but the difficulty and performance edge would definitely go to Crown, who also may have had the best crowd response of the evening.

Maybe it looked different on the field, but in [my] theater, the new ending got rave reviews. I'm sure most people smiled (thinking of 2008), but they were simultaneously cheering and clapping.