Waukee Review

[TexasPRfan]

What a stellar review. Very detailed, and helps really get a picture for the live experience for those that haven't gotten to see a live field show yet. Well done!

Harvey

[BDAMom]

Next up, Blue Devils. I have been a major critic of these guys of late. 2010 had about five minutes of great show, followed by seven minutes of pain for me. I just can't enjoy that show beyond "Laura", though I've tried (to be fair I never saw their 2010 show live). And then last year I mainly felt their show was boring and cluttered, and that they took source material that ought to have allowed for some emotionally cathartic moments and chopped it up into technical showpieces that were impressive but no real fun. And then I see on the VODs a show that looks intentionally unjudgeable visually (you can't obviously miss your spot in a non-linear blob formation, or be out of step when each member of the corps is doing different moves intentionally off-beat) and smeared with pre-recorded audio and sliced up source material AGAIN, a nice rest period for the brass while they put on their uniforms halfway in, and just a general we're-being-weird-on-purpose-so-you-can't-criticize-it kind of design.

However, sitting there in the audience, I was totally mesmerized. The guard is seriously talented, and despite one or two drops, they totally deserved their 8.8 content score last night. When the entire guard does a toss in perfect sync with the music while spread out in an oval around the entire field, that just looks amazing in person. The opening brass statement sounds great, and when they march in a block diagonally towards backfield left, and each line rolls on the ground in sequence, you know these guys are serious. What looked like just madness on the videos comes off much better live and up closer, when you are just getting a visual feast from every angle. And when the brass would kick in and really play they are tighter and louder than I thought possible. Now, part of this is the design. They don't spend a lot of time playing all out, corps-wide, and with one exception that I recall they aren't playing loud while spreading the entire field. But when they kick in, it's impressive.

Other visual stuff: the hula hoops for the guard are genius. They look great on the field, the long tosses are great, the roll-out-and-back-and-swap move they wrap up the hoops with all look great. Also, the Angry Pit Girl who's beating the hell out of the weird pole thing with various percussive items mounted on it on the left of the pit is hilarious, and worth looking out for (it's towards the beginning of the show). And there's a moment towards the end where the corps is marching across field at different speeds. It's one of those visually random moments that ends up looking great in person.

As for the source material, it's chopped up but feels a lot more true than last year's. They linger more on the melodies than they did last year, and I thank them for it. Oh, and don't let me leave out the battery which I think is definitely giving Vanguard a run for their money. The one handed snare feature, very slick. I think Vanguard featured their battery a little more, and I wasn't paying as much attention to them for the Devils, but what I saw was equally impressive.

So, with everything I've just laid out, it would be my favorite show of the year hands down. Even surpassing Crown's show. While BD doesn't make me cry like Crown does, they're just so #### clean and this year's show does a good job of showing that off. The design works really well and the execution is flawless.

BUT, then there's the little matter of the electronics. Their goo was definitely there consistently with every big brass statement, but it did blend better than, say, SCV's. There were noises and sound effects here and there to create a mood, which I could do without but whatever. The opening trumpet solos were played mf and then miked with echoes added, unnecessarily I felt. Give us a screaming tone like Spirit instead, or just play to the stands and we'll probably hear you fine. The echoes just made it sound like we were in a big empty stadium... so it should sound just the same unmiked in Lucas Oil is what I'm saying.

But really what literally ruined the show for me was the pre-recorded "narration". Starting out with the French babble for about a minute or ninety seconds after the opening statement by the corps. That just creates noise that covers up the brass and percussion. Then in the middle there's the voice, in English, explaining that "the artist must necessarily add elements of irony to his work" etc etc, YES, WE UNDERSTAND that you are really clever and are doing some of this for fun, silliness, to reference old shows, to goof on the very idea of drum corps, etc, etc. Look, the show is clever, but self-referential metashows are not a new concept. They've been around for decades if not always. The Bridgemen were spoofing drum corps when BD was winning its first championship. I'm sure such shows weren't entirely new even then. How about giving the audience some credit and just letting us enjoy your clever show instead of pounding into our heads how you are really clever because you included an old recording of some guy explaining the theme of your show and your design approach from before competitive drum corps existed. That goes on for a minute or so, and then AT THE END, they bring the guy speaking English back. blah blah blah "that is the essence of Da. Da." Covering up their awesome snare solos. Why do you want to ruin those kids' feature?

Sorry for the rant, but really, what is the argument in favor of that narration? It's not being performed by anyone, it's just noise that covers up what the actual kids on the field are doing so amazingly well. I have no idea who is supposed to judge such parts of the show. But I believe they ought to be getting marked down for Music Effect and Music Analysis. They don't seem to be, but they ought to. They're sabotaging their own show. If they had a single contra player up front blaring noise at the audience and covering up the rest of the corps' sound during quiet moments, shouldn't that count against them somehow? But at least that could be considered a "solo". This isn't even something a member is creating in any sense of the word.

Sigh, okay, I'll stop now. Suffice it to say, they ruined the show. Not as bad as the Cavies are ruining their show with electronics... But, the Devils are ruining it in a way that makes less sense.

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Finally, Colts! It's a home show for them. I was worried they would sound extra weak after Boston, Vanguard, and Devils, but they came out strong and were very impressive. I'm sorry to say that I can't remember as much of this show as I do the others. But, their brass sounded good, if not peel-your-face-off amazing. Their closer is going to be one of the highlights of the year though, once it's nice and clean. Great arrangement and great choice of music. And then at the very end, one of the drum majors picks up a trumpet and starts playing his solo backfield, and then turns around, on the track, now, and gives the audience an up-close solo. He wasn't hitting the high notes I expected, but it sounds like something that will be great once he's gotten it under control. In any case, the audience loved it, and then the corps backs him up and it's a great way to end the show. Really impressive.

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So that's the show. I think the scores came out about right, though I haven't looked closely at the recaps yet. I figured BD would score a little higher actually. They're just incredibly clean. I will not be surprised if they come out and trounce everyone this year. I had thought it was Crown's year, and I would prefer that they win (owing to my judgment of the negative design value of the pre-recorded narration in BD's show), but BD is going to be really tough to beat. Crown will have to be rock solid with their drill and get rid of their phasing issues in Fanfare. Good luck to everyone! This is another great year of drum corps!!

First off- THANK YOU for such an excellent and well-thought out review. It means so much to those who cannot make it to these shows. I LOL'ed when I read your "Angry Pit Girl" comments- actually- we've got TWO Angry Pit People here! At the beginning of the show, it's a boy beating that poor, defenseless device- he is the Angry Pit Boy Timpani Player. Later, we see Angry Pit Girl Vibe Player walk up to the plate. They both really let that thing have it. You would think it stole their cars or cheated on their significant others or something! We need to get one of these contraptions at home. In some of the photos BD has posted on their Facebook page, that rod is bent now, LOL.

Edited July 12, 2012 by BDAMom

[bayareafan]

I agree with your review on SCV and BD.

'm a BD fan that's been kind of disappointed the past few years. This years show has the potential to be brilliant, but the stupid voice narration really detracts from the GE of the show in my opinion. It muddies up what is otherwise an incredible horn line and drum line. And the show ends with a recording of the old guy saying "Dada is alive" completely with reverb. Really!!!! You have the best horn line in DCI and instead the final sound of the show is a recording of an old guy talking? I don't get it. I think this is a situation where their designers wanted to prove how clever they could be to incorporate all of this recorded stuff into the show. It is clever and actually probably very hard to do. But it isn't effective IMO.

[Fran Haring]

Absolutely excellent review... wonderful insight. Thanks!

[skywhopper]

First off- THANK YOU for such an excellent and well-thought out review. It means so much to those who cannot make it to these shows. I LOL'ed when I read your "Angry Pit Girl" comments- actually- we've got TWO Angry Pit People here! At the beginning of the show, it's a boy beating that poor, defenseless device- he is the Angry Pit Boy Timpani Player. Later, we see Angry Pit Girl Vibe Player walk up to the plate. They both really let that thing have it. You would think it stole their cars or cheated on their significant others or something! We need to get one of these contraptions at home. In some of the photos BD has posted on their Facebook page, that rod is bent now, LOL.

Awesome! Yes I loved Angry Pit Girl! So much fun to watch her bash the hell out of that ... thing. I totally missed Angry Pit Boy. I'll keep an eye out for him in the webcasts etc. Thanks for the feedback!

[skywhopper]

the stupid voice narration really detracts from the GE of the show in my opinion. It muddies up what is otherwise an incredible horn line and drum line. And the show ends with a recording of the old guy saying "Dada is alive" completely with reverb. Really!!!! You have the best horn line in DCI and instead the final sound of the show is a recording of an old guy talking? I don't get it. I think this is a situation where their designers wanted to prove how clever they could be to incorporate all of this recorded stuff into the show. It is clever and actually probably very hard to do. But it isn't effective IMO.

Yes! I forgot exactly what the guy was saying at the end, but it's true. That's no way to close a show. Always glad to hear from someone who shares my feelings about a show. No way will they drop the narration, but I think that one change would do wonders for the show as a whole.

[Liahona]

This is the best review I've read all season. I like your very in depth insights on each of the corps...AWESOME! Thank you!

[shaners]

great review! thanks!