Fairfield, OH - quick thoughts

[cavies98]

Just got home from the Fairfield, OH show. Brought my five year old son with me for his first DCI show ever! It was wonderful to see him react to the performances. He had a blast. I'm still stuck in the 1990s as far as my tastes go in drum corps, so, you know, I get excited (for real) maybe five times over the course of the entire evening.

Beautiful weather tonight, dry and in the low 80s with a pleasant breeze. Glad the show was tonight, and not tomorrow, as the weather is supposed to top 100. Excellent crowd as well, in terms of attendance and responsiveness.

I'm tired, but I wanted to share a few very brief thoughts on the last few corps:

CROSSMEN - First big sounding corps of the night. I was impressed with the show design. Reminded me a bit of the 1992 show. Overall the corps was pretty clean - much more than the Colts, IMO. They had a few really nice grooves going in the show, rhythmically.

COLTS - Loud, but sloppy, musically. The crowd really liked their volume. Music seemed a bit esoteric (evil?) for much of the show, didn't really connect with me all that much.

CAVALIERS - Interesting. They definitely have a long way to go as far as show design and cleanliness. They will definitely get there though, and they will be fighting with the other big boys for the top spot. The show was kind of "weird" for me, for lack of a better description. The music is disjointed thematically, although I think that's what they might be going for? Not sure. It's not clear to me, which means it's probably not clear to the design staff as well. The use of electronics (the overblown, distorted sounds) were pretty clever initially, but grew tiresome in the closer. Again, the show will grow a lot over the course of the summer. I remember seeing the Cavies really early on in 1999, and I just did not like the show. By the end of the season, I loved it. I hope the same will happen this year. Anyway, musically, there were a few nasty blown releases (a big one in the opening tune by a baritone). I should note that the hornline still has that wonderful symphonic sound that has become their trademark. A few blown releases aside, they sounded quite nice, musically. The show got a mild response from the crowd, but it didn't connect like past Cavies' shows.

CADETS - Highlight of the night, for sure, with the most enthusiastic crowd response. Wonderful show, lots of fun. The Christmas music is very accessible and creatively arranged. Loved the little nod to Vince Guaraldi in the last moments of the show. Very clever arrangement of Jingle Bells - awesome park 'n' bark section in the middle! The Cadets are very clean for mid June. They still have a lot to fix, but they are definitely ahead of the Cavies in terms of performance. Again, overall, just a really enjoyable, accessible, and creatively arranged show. It's so nice to hear melody in this age of over-arranged, dissonant drum corps music.

Thanks, and good night!

Edited June 28, 2012 by cavies98

[cavies79]

Just got home from the Fairfield, OH show. Brought my five year old son with me for his first DCI show ever! It was wonderful to see him react to the performances. He had a blast. I'm still stuck in the 1990s as far as my tastes go in drum corps, so, you know, I get excited (for real) maybe five times over the course of the entire evening.

Beautiful weather tonight, dry and in the low 80s with a pleasant breeze. Glad the show was tonight, and not tomorrow, as the weather is supposed to top 100. Excellent crowd as well, in terms of attendance and responsiveness.

I'm tired, but I wanted to share a few very brief thoughts on the last few corps:

CROSSMEN - First big sounding corps of the night. I was impressed with the show design. Reminded me a bit of the 1992 show. Overall the corps was pretty clean - much more than the Colts, IMO. They had a few really nice grooves going in the show, rhythmically.

COLTS - Loud, but sloppy, musically. The crowd really liked their volume. Music seemed a bit esoteric (evil?) for much of the show, didn't really connect with me all that much.

CAVALIERS - Interesting. They definitely have a long way to go as far as show design and cleanliness. They will definitely get there though, and they will be fighting with the other big boys for the top spot. The show was kind of "weird" for me, for lack of a better description. The music is disjointed thematically, although I think that's what they might be going for? Not sure. It's not clear to me, which means it's probably not clear to the design staff as well. The use of electronics (the overblown, distorted sounds) were pretty clever initially, but grew tiresome in the closer. Again, the show will grow a lot over the course of the summer. I remember seeing the Cavies really early on in 1999, and I just did not like the show. By the end of the season, I loved it. I hope the same will happen this year. Anyway, musically, there were a few nasty blown releases (a big one in the opening tune by a baritone). The show got a mild response from the crowd, but it didn't connect like past Cavies' shows.

CADETS - Highlight of the night, for sure, with the most enthusiastic crowd response. Wonderful show, lots of fun. The Christmas music is very accessible and creatively arranged. Loved the little nod to Vince Guaraldi in the last moments of the show. Very clever arrangement of Jingle Bells - awesome park 'n' bark section in the middle! The Cadets are very clean for mid June. They still have a lot to fix, but they are definitely ahead of the Cavies in terms of performance. Again, overall, just a really enjoyable, accessible, and creatively arranged show. It's so nice to hear melody in this age of over-arranged, dissonant drum corps music.

Thanks, and good night!

Nice review! I won't get to see anybody live until San Antonio. I really hope Cavaliers have their show together by then.

[JayM]

Thanks!

-cavies03

[A Cavalier TDY]

Thanks for the review Jay. I'll see the corps, and others, in Kalamazoo.

Jeff

[cavies98]

My pleasure, although, who said I am Jay? :)

Thanks for the review Jay. I'll see the corps, and others, in Kalamazoo.

Jeff

[lcarlton]

Overall it was very entertaining and obviously it's early season it's good to see corps hittng their closers really hard. I missed Legends but caught all the other shows. I agree with Cavies98 on his Cavies comments and echo some.

Colts - Their closer is strong and has some nice build up but the ballad seems a little long with not a lot of contrast. Sloopy marching, and weird guard costumes along with disjointed music make it hard to grasp at times.

Cavaliers - Visually, their show is excting though hard to follow at times. Guard uniforms are epic and really work to showcase someone who is in the middle of their "15 minutes". LOVED the playback of "Fame" by Bowie and how they weaved it into the show but the electronics and amplification are too much to the point you question if the speaker is blown or are they going to start playing some DUBSTEP in the middle of the show. Hopefully they balance it out before finals but otherwise nice show. 6 BASS DRUMS!!

The Cadets - A very entertaining show with some elements from 93,97, and 97. Mainly the FUN side of the corps with music and visuals that are accesible and easy listening. Amazing backfield full corp work that creates amazing contrasts. There were some phasing issues and some feet issues in the closer but again.. it's early season and they'll be melting our faces and moving lighting fast as before. As always George Hopkins had perfect hair and might be the most buff director in DCI.

[A Cavalier TDY]

My pleasure, although, who said I am Jay? :)

Whoops. Saw your screen name and saw Jay's above too. 1 + 1 /= 2 in this case ... and I'm an accountant! ;-)

Edited June 28, 2012 by A Cavalier TDY

[cavies98]

Yes, George was in full bloom last night. Someone get the man a chair to sit in!

Overall it was very entertaining and obviously it's early season it's good to see corps hittng their closers really hard. I missed Legends but caught all the other shows. I agree with Cavies98 on his Cavies comments and echo some.

Colts - Their closer is strong and has some nice build up but the ballad seems a little long with not a lot of contrast. Sloopy marching, and weird guard costumes along with disjointed music make it hard to grasp at times.

Cavaliers - Visually, their show is excting though hard to follow at times. Guard uniforms are epic and really work to showcase someone who is in the middle of their "15 minutes". LOVED the playback of "Fame" by Bowie and how they weaved it into the show but the electronics and amplification are too much to the point you question if the speaker is blown or are they going to start playing some DUBSTEP in the middle of the show. Hopefully they balance it out before finals but otherwise nice show. 6 BASS DRUMS!!

The Cadets - A very entertaining show with some elements from 93,97, and 97. Mainly the FUN side of the corps with music and visuals that are accesible and easy listening. Amazing backfield full corp work that creates amazing contrasts. There were some phasing issues and some feet issues in the closer but again.. it's early season and they'll be melting our faces and moving lighting fast as before. As always George Hopkins had perfect hair and might be the most buff director in DCI.