Should Scouts bring back Empire State of Mind next year?

[AlexL]

Honestly i never got the hype on this one.

[CQuinn]

As great as that tune was as their closer last year, they won't reuse it on the field. The crowds will love it as an encore though!

[84BDsop]

I'm trying to remember what year the Cavaliers had to completely re-design their show when the composer denied them the rights to even arrange and perform. Mr. Boo?

89, I think...I remember it not being the entire show, but one of the charts...either Gloria or Images Diabolique (more likely images Diabolique, since Gloria was done again in 90)

[GUARDLING]

* Note: I deliberately made the poll a forced choice Yes/No so we can eliminate the meaningless responses of "who cares" some posters feel a need to express.

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Back in the good 'ol days, corps routinely brought back their best song from the year before, but today that is unheard of. The Scouts 2011 production of Empire State of Mind has gained the kind of rabid crowd reaction not seen in a long time.

Assuming the copyrights could be obtained, should the Scouts be innovators and play this one again next year? Please tell us why, or why not?

WE , as most people, have selective memory when refering to THE GOOD OLD DAYS...I say absolutely do not bring back or follow the format of repeqating a show, theme, or song the following year. When observing a show ( for me ) in 2012 I want to see what comes next not a repeat.or 3 peat. Now several years from now if they want to re- invent it then maybe....JMO

as for the song as another poster said I also never got the hype on the song and I saw Scouts many times while on tour.

Edited October 9, 2011 by GUARDLING

[Michael Boo]

89, I think...I remember it not being the entire show, but one of the charts...either Gloria or Images Diabolique (more likely images Diabolique, since Gloria was done again in 90)

It was "Images Diaboloque," which slowly grew out of the drum feature (with some horns) that the corps was doing of David Maslanka's "A Child's Garden of Dreams." Horn caption head Ken Snoeck (of Lake Park HS) kept tweaking it almost every day so that by the time it was finished, it was unrecognizable to what the corps had come out on the field with at the start of the season. He did this rather than trash the piece and it was fascinating to see it evolve each week. By the time Snoeck was finished with it, the corps members barely realized they had just totally overhauled a significant part of the show.

[Michael Boo]

Even if the corps could get the necessary permissions to perform the tune, it more than likely wouldn't fit into the theme, whatever that will be. It would be hard to pull that off, for example, in a show titled, "Kenton!" or "Third Herd," (the name of one of Woody Herman's bands).

[Geoff]

Honestly i never got the hype on this one.

I agree with you, Alex.

[ayesha3]

I'd LOVE to hear Empire State of Mind again, but, as many others have said already, only as an encore tune. Not as part of the show.

Empire State of Mind and You'll Never Walk Alone... Mmmm that's some goooood Madison.

[Mephistopheles]

...I watched most of the Youtube recordings, and forgive me Scouts fans, but the corps overblew the tune to the point that sometimes the quality of the sound was almost obscene. I know they can play it better than that.

...I also think the drill could be upgraded.

I watched most of the Youtube recordings, and forgive me Scouts fans, but the corps overblew the tune to the point that sometimes the quality of the sound was almost obscene. I know they can play it better than that.

You made your judgments about how their hornline sounded based on the sound quality that youtube videos played through your computer provide?

Be careful, or you will torpedo your own credibility on all things musical.

I also think the drill could be upgraded.

That is something that you can tell by watching a YouTube video. And I agree with you that their visual program leaves something to be desired.

[perc2100]

* Note: I deliberately made the poll a forced choice Yes/No so we can eliminate the meaningless responses of "who cares" some posters feel a need to express.

+++

Back in the good 'ol days, corps routinely brought back their best song from the year before, but today that is unheard of. The Scouts 2011 production of Empire State of Mind has gained the kind of rabid crowd reaction not seen in a long time.

Assuming the copyrights could be obtained, should the Scouts be innovators and play this one again next year? Please tell us why, or why not?

I think that ESOM is one of those 'magical' moments that should not be repeated: kind of like hoping lightening strikes twice. This piece was used to convey a very specific emotion relating to the theme of the 2011 show, and reusing it would likely feel like a cheap copy or something (unless the 2012 show is, say, a "sequel" to the 2011 show in which case ESOM mind feel like a great piece to bridge the two shows/themes).