Metamora Review

[yellvanguard]

I figured my first post should be a review. I know I always appreciate reading reviews throughout the summer when I do not get to see many shows until finals week.

I do enjoy DCP, but try to avoid the anger threads. I think healthy disagreements are necessary, but sometimes it doesn't help at all in my opinion. The way I figure it, with corps struggling left and right, better we are all in this together for the good of the activity and thousands of young people out there who now, and hopefully in the long term future, want to have the same opportunity that most of us had. My tastes for corps and the arts are very wide and like many others, I wish to cast no ill feelings or bad karma anyone's direction: corps, members, designers, alumni, etc.

I have not had time to see videos or read up on the summer until now, so getting to attend this show was exciting and marks my start of summer vacation and time for drum corps.

COLT CADETS!

This show was fun and reminds us of the larger picture of what drum corps can offer its members and audience. The show was entertaining throughout most of the show. It was great to see so many really young members getting solid training and in some cases, performing like a world class member. The percussion section was the biggest stand out. Have a GREAT rest of your summer enjoying your show!

CASCADES!

I have never seen this corps outside of finals week, so it was good to get to see them earlier in the season. I did enjoy the uniform. It is quite distinctive and gives the corps a strong, unique identity. I tried to follow the show concept at first, but let that go and just allowed the show unveil itself over time. The guard had a few good moments, especially when standing and I liked the first flag and ballad flag a lot. The drum line also had some good moments as did the brass. It is still a bit early in the season and some time needed to clean the show visually and musically was evident. It was great to see you in early July representing the West Coast!

BLUE STARS!

The start of the show is pretty exciting and was of course made more so by where they were in the line up. The first hit was pretty solid musically and fairly clean visually. The visual images and props seemed to shout a show about sailors and sailing the high seas, but the music seemed to not say the say thing a lot of the time, though there were ship bells, etc. It was interesting to hear hints of New World Symphony throughout, though I cannot say I liked the arranging very much. The big famous moments from the original just could not come close to matching up to PR 1989, or some other versions I have heard since. Any way, the drill was pretty exceptional up to the ballad, then seemed to loose steam and guard integration. The horns sound well trained and had some very fine moments. I loved all the shaping in the softer moments and arrivals in the ballad. There were marching and playing issues and I felt the brass book was fairly light on world class demand, especially considering what the next three corps were playing. The percussion section was pretty clean for this time of year. They are extremely aggressive, and are out of balance a lot in my opinion. Some of the writing also seemed odd to me from a musical phrasing point of view. I really like the bass drum and tenor tuning. I loved the guard flags and thought their rifles had a very ON performance. The character acting from some of the guard members was very strong. I didn't like watching the guard run to and from the blue flats over and over. The siren section was interesting and the costumes did suggest mermaids/sirens to me. The big wave-like form at the end seems very fitting. It will be interesting to see this clean up. I am not sure that will up the GE value for me. I appreciate how hard it is to play while doing some difficult drill moves, and like that there seems to be an effort to do a show the crowd can understand. I liked all of the body writing. The uniform has grown on me the past few years and do think all the colors with all the musicians and guard unis work well. The show is perfectly fine and has lots of good moments, just not sure what it brings in areas of uniqueness, creativity, or originality. I kept thinking about how many times I have already seen a extremely similar show over the years from various groups with similar flags, props, etc. Thanks for your hard work and clear visual theme!

SPIRIT OF ATLANTA!

Sorry, but I am going to gush in that I loved this show. Been a long time since I have reacted like this to a Spirit performance, though last year was great. This is so much more. They certainly carry themselves with a lot of confidence as they enter the field, like they know they are going to rock it out. I wish the drum major salute was a bit more convincing since it is the very first thing we look at once the corps is set up and announced. She seems to enjoy receiving the crowd however. I must say I have loved their split drum major podiums the past several years. SMART! After the opening hit which was stellar on all accounts, I was grinning ear to ear, You just can't help it when a corps comes out with that much power and control. Though they and Blue Stars are both doing a theme we have all seen before, Spirit's take on Vegas/Sin City is nothing like what I have seen or heard prior, so the uniqueness, creativity, and originality part of design was on fire for me and kept me excited about what was to come next. The opener had so many well coordinated and interesting effects, it just kept coming at ya. The trumpet soloists for Luck be a Lady is fantastic, maybe one of the best, if not the best of the summer. Though not yet matching perfectly player to player, the fact that they are playing legit swing and Latin jazz on the field is IMPRESSIVE. No one does it any more cause its HARD. The crowd ate up the production of Luck and Spirit seems to be harkening back to its past with last year's and this year's production tunes. Some moments were so well done it would be easy to not notice how spread, split, the horn line is. All the Vegas-y show girls stuff with feathers, the poker chips, dice flags, sequins, etc. was almost over the top...AS IT SHOULD BE! Loved the GaGa ballad and when this gets all balanced out and the minor glitches gone, this will certainly be a leading ballad of the summer. The two featured dancers were stunning. A few chill bumps already which doesn't often happen in ballads until late summer. I had not heard about the Eminem intro of the closer, so when I heard it and saw the guard guy who does the flips and lip syncs, I thought, how perfect and modern for this show theme. He rocked that moment. I totally felt the take risks vibe visually and musically, this drill never stops and has lots to look at all of the time, totally supporting what I took away as the gambling part of their show. The stacking of poker chips near the end and the roulette guard flags seem perfect as does the gold flags once the corps comes forward and hits you again with the Luck be a Lady theme, but arranged totally different from the intro. Once that happens, it just keeps coming at you. The ending seems perfect with the guy on top of the poker chips. I guess this guy did not let his "one opportunity slip" and leaves Vegas a big winner. So well put together with lots of demand all around. The musical arrangements, brass and percussion, are pretty awesome and very melodically drive. LOVE THAT! There is lots to clean yet, and I see that continuing to up the GE value until finals. Cannot wait to see this one again. Thanks for figuring out how to be new Spirit and writing a show with competitive quality and depth, while entertaining our sox off!

MADISON SCOUTS!

Like Spirit, they enter the field with some swagger. And, I must say, they too are bringing some fine entertainment to the field. The use of frames for the show theme is evident right off the bat as we see the guard, and brass/percussion in a large frame forms. Though moving and playing with confidence, the intro took a while to get going. Once it did, the pay off was pretty awesome. Lots of goo however as some would say. That happened a lot throughout their show. The uniform is serving them well and probably helps some with the heat. After the intro, the battery parks and barks for a while. A little too long for me, though it was impressive how clean that moment is already for this early. Speaking of, I found the battery to be pretty clean throughout the entire show. The parts are pretty square, but speak clearly and show the drumline as much improved over last year. After the first drum break, were got to hear melodies passed around the corps with famous past Scout's tunes woven throughout. Those moments most often did not work for me at all. I found myself working really hard to hear and understand how all the voices worked together with the music from Pictures. The overuse of amps to support the brass, weak trumpets, and some odd scoring didn't help. Especially the Malaguena section. That was very muddled and almost annoying. The crowd reacted to their volume, but I figure many did not know it was supposed to be Malaguena. I am sure they will get the electronics thing worked out. The ballad is very nice but a little too long in my opinion. The tuba feature, certainly considering the field spread, was very nice. A second drum break is again very clean for early July. I liked the first one better. Both need to somehow tie better into the horizontal music flow of the show. The guard costume is very cool and works perfectly for the show. The guard started off very strong, but were fairly dirty for a lot of the show. The ending is a great nod to Scout's past and works extremely well no matter what decade it is. A big rotating front builds with the penultimate phrase of Great Gate, delivering the big hit once the front is done rotating and then comes at you. They were the loudest corps of the night, though I did not care for all the synth support. They delivered the best ending minute of the night. The corps communicates very well with the audience. I am not sure what can be done about the arrangements at this point to make the melding of Pictures and all the nostalgic Scouts tunes work/speak better. I assume they are still looking at changes, especially the middle part of the show. This is the third year in a row of good work by the Scout's team and I am glad they are again a solid finalist. Not sure if they will place higher in that everyone seems to have up-ed their game. Thanks Scouts for the entertaining show!

PHANTOM REGIMENT!

One hears and sees such sounds and sites and what can one say but, Phantom Regiment. This show is quintessential Phantom with big forms and big sounds. The red and white all over the field is beautiful to look at. I like the front of the uniform a lot and think it perfect for the show theme. It was interesting to see the use of curtains between movements like they did in the early 90s. The overall stand out for me was how clean they are. There were moments where nothing stuck out as flawed, visually or musically. Not that you look for such, it is just what you expect this time of year and when compared to everyone else, it just sticks out. The guard moves stunningly and the flag choices are simply gorgeous. It is evident that Jamey Thompson is writing the drill because of how well it flows, how well all the voices are staged, and how methodical the overall visual ensemble is married. The show flows so well it is hard to pin point a lot of specific moments, though there are of course well performed and paced GE events throughout. The brass are again great, but there seemed to be cracks and fracks scattered across the performance. It happens. I LOVE the overall grand feel and the tasteful use of Eastern sounds, indicative of the show theme. The pit is quite good. The battery had some strong moments and should do pretty well competitively in percussion, though from a music ensemble stand point, I am not sure all of it works. Like Madison's book, it seems to not always flow horizontally from musical phrase to phrase. They were clearly the best corps of the evening. Like Blue Stars, I am curious to see what happens with the show the rest of the summer. I am not sure they need to add demand as some have suggested, but I do think there needs to be more layers, depth, detail, for them to max out an already fine show. Thanks Phantom for being Classic Phantom in 2012. The is no corps like you!

Edited July 13, 2012 by yellvanguard

[oldsoprano]

Thanks for taking the time to write such a great review!! :thumbup:

[madalumni]

Superb and well thought out review, thank you very much!