Canton-Massillon DCI Show

[jwillis35]

Great overall show tonight! Many thanks to the Bluecoats and the Pro Football Hall of Fame for running such an amazing show. Parking was FREE, and the ticket prices were reasonable ($25 for reserved). I was very lucky to get excellent seats around the 45 yrd line, stage left, mid-way up.

Big crowd as always. Stadium was packed and the crowd was energetic and seemed to like everyone. This is very typical of the Canton show. Always a very appreciative audience.

Pioneer opened the show with a solid performance. They seem much smaller this year, and I thought they were smaller last year as well. Kids play well for their age and experience, and the show is fun. I really like that they include Gary Owen into the show this year, even using it as an exit piece. Classy! Would love to see them get membership up, especially in brass. Percussion is strong and big. Guard did a nice job. They just need a few more players in the brass and this show would have more impact.

Pacific Crest was next and they really hit a home run with the crowd. BIG SOUND! Love the uniforms and the guard. Music is engaging and fun and the drill is fantastic. This is a group to keep your eyes on. I think they will make top 12 one of these days if they keep moving in this direction. In my view they probably had more impact and had the audience "into" their show more than Academy and BK. Bravo to the flugel soloist! Very nice.

Academy was next and they have an interesting theme. The guard outfits are just wild, but I liked them. Music is demanding with a lot of exposure to error. The Stravinsky Rite of Spring snippets were good, but I wanted more development of those themes. I really loved it when they took their hats off and closed the show. The drill and music at the end was outstanding. Maybe not quite the crowd impact that Pacific Crest had, but still very entertaining.

The Blue Knights took the field next and WOW is that a colorful show. When you see these guys live you are taken back by the sheer blending of colors. The next things that grabs you is the DRILL. Classic Marc Sylvester. The body work and the flowing drill at the onset of the show is fabulous. Brass has a big sound, and it's always great to hear Firebird by Stravinsky. When they change the plumes to red the visual impact is incredible. The show did not have the impact that Pacific Crest did, but it was more sophisticated and stronger across all captions. Excellent guard and the percussion was smokin tonight. I, personally, love this show! Not sure about a few of the musical quotes, mainly the stuff that is piped in that sounds like a theremin. Other than that, I think it's brilliant design.

Intermission was short and it was great to catch up with some friends.

Boston Crusaders were on next and they did a wonderful job. They have definitely changed some things from when I last viewed their show on FN. Love the opening drill before the show begins. Brass is really good. Percussion is excellent, and the guard is wonderful. I think they arranged the Pines of Rome music very well for field and the impact moments really hit the audience. Their closer is really clicking now and I love the changes from earlier in the season. They will definitely contend for top 8.

Phantom Regiment performed next and boy do they have a show! WOW! Nice job Rockford. The brass is warm and dark when needed, very musical with lots of shaping, and extremely powerful when needed. The music is outstanding and well arranged. People probably didn't know much about Don Hill when he took the brass arranging job for this year, but he is a seasoned pro. He has written for some great DCA corps over the years, and I believe he also wrote The Cadets 2002 brass book. He is an excellent writer, and honestly this is where it starts. The musical construction goes a long way to generating an effective, entertaining, and logical show. Phantom has changed the closer a little. New drill, some musical changes that occur right after the BIG Nessum Dorma hit, and the two dancers end up on the podium at the end. The soloist was brilliant and he projected wonderfully. I would have had them in front of the Cadets tonight, and the show can make a run for 2nd...maybe, but most likely the highest they can finish will be 3rd. Phantom, Cadets, and SCV will be in a dogfight for that 3rd spot.

The Cadets brought their Christmas show to Canton and overall they did a wonderful job. The show is filled with great music, thematic development, playful skits, colorful presents and guard, and some classic Cadets drill. The percussion was incredible!! Brass was good too, but had a bit more harshness than did Phantom and Bluecoats. They hit you with more power though and the jingle bell shout chorus is really rocking. The flaws with this show are minor and mostly deal with GE. The ballad just never builds to a climax, and even though they swing the horns to the front at the end it feels like it's too late to save the lack of GE Music generated through the initial stages of the ballad. Carol of the Bells is wonderful for the most part but probably goes on a bit too long. Love the drill here...just classic Cadets. The closer is well done, but too many audio clips and they lose steam before the company front. When the front hits it's nice and all, but they never quite get the energy I think they want. Lots of feet phasing in the closer and also in the ballad. Still, one heck of a show, especially something like Christmas music. Gutsy!

The Bluecoats were on last and first I must say that their brass perhaps sounded as good or better than Phantom and Cadets. The blend is awesome! Their was some phasing in the mellos in the opener of the show, but overall their are so many demands on the brass and percussion in this show it is perplexing to me how they are not closer to BD and Crown in music. Not saying they should be beating them, but they should be in the ballpark. Some of the brass riffs were incredible, and the high brass was perhaps the best of the night. Guard is really good. Much better than they are scored, I believe; and I love the silks. What hurts this show is the last 2 to 3 minutes. They are still struggling to get the ending to speak and for the impact of the music and drill to "drive" the show home. I was also not wild about all the audio clips inserted in the middle of the show. Just like with Cadets and some other corps, the audio clips, especially those that are of spoken word or some sort of vocal narration, tend to really pull the mood down. Maybe that is the effect, but I sense that the audience was just confused and distracted. If the closer was stronger this show would be in 3rd or 4th place. Let's see what Blooo does from here to finals. Overall this is one heck of a show!

All the corps are doing lots of body movement. Poses, gestures, rolls, and anything that they feel generates effect. While I am not against this type of GE, I think they all need to be careful. In the stands it is really difficult to get a sense of what is meant by each pose other than chaos or craziness. All the lunging and motioning to the sky, leg out and in, roll on the ground, crouch, and you name, is really more confusing than it is flashy and meaningful. But I guess if the judges are rewarding it, then great. I love the horn movements and the horn flashes, etc., but I have to wonder when the body thing is going to hit its peak and move into another direction.

AS I said above, a great overall show and the members of every corps kicked some butt tonight!

Onward to Finals the corps go!

[oldbandguy]

I always look forward to your reviews.

I thought it was a great show too. Some great moments for me included the first major impact of the night coming from Pacific Crown! The ballad, YELLOW,was fantastic. The flugelhorn soloist was outstanding and the electronic effects were great.

Phantom was....Phantom! (and that's GREAT.)

Cadets visual show is possibly the best (again) in DCI. Bocook's arrangements are awesome. McNutt's drumline is among the best again this year. Just as last year's championship show had, this show features some wonderful drill formations that fit the show theme PERFECTLY. The "shout chorus" on "Jingle Bells" is old school Cadets and really gets the crowd going. I'm sure the crowd would have been on their feet at the end, but the immediate segue into the next piece doesn't give them a chance.

Bluecoats followed 2 outstanding brass sections in Cadets and PR and, IMO, were on top. Doug Thrower is a MASTER and has given the Bluecoats a sound and identity they can call they're own.

I actually like the audio clips (spoken words) and think they give further meaning to the theme of each member "masking" a specific trait or characteristic. I especially like how they use the spoken word to transition into the "Ritual" music.

Your review lacked, IMO, one very important aspect of the Bluecoats show...an INCREDIBLE drumline. Most deserving of their top placement tonight and, like D.T., Tom Rarick is a MASTER of his craft. The Bluecoats have two of the best.

My biggest complaint with the 'Coats show, like yours, is with the very end of it. I don't mind so much that they aren't doing (like 99% of the corps) a 200 mph drill at the end. (They demonstrate that skill plenty of times earlier.) I like the power ending and the theme of removing the individual masks.

What bothered me, and almost everyone else I talked to after the performance, was the visual presented by the guard at the very end. The concept of the individual "WORDS" written on each member is fine, but it's done in a manner that most of the audience doesn't understand because the actual WORDS on many of the body suits were UNREADABLE and looked, for lack of a better term, CHEAP. I think they were striving for INDIVIDUAL expression, but I don't think it's coming across to the audience as hoped.

Still....my favorite Bluecoats performance I've ever seen.

Edited August 7, 2012 by oldbandguy

[ChrisVT2003]

I must have been sitting somewhere behind you jwillis35--I was in row EE and seat 30 up section 3. I felt your review is spot on so I won't do one of my own. Just a few quick observations however:

1. PR's ending was sweet...the Chevron hit with the kick halt got a few people on their feet before the last push. The only awkward thing is the break in sound for the soloist to play those pick ups. Everyone is cheering so much though it seems as if there is just dead silence. Would be nice if they just continued playing that loud note into the step off so people can remain standing and cheering til the end.

2. Cadets are MUCH improved from the last live viewing I had of them back in June. The pieces fit together nicely. I throught Regiment was louder, but not by much. Still don't like the balad at all, but the opener and closer have some wild drill. Love the company front at the end and the arrangements are bad ### in the last minute. I'll be listening to this one on my cd player for a long time.

3. Coats were amazing of course. Special love goes out to the horn line for getting up close and personal for the encore presentation on that last song, my ears are still ringing!!!

[TexasPRfan]

Excellent Review, Jonathan. I was lucky enough to see the Allentown & TOC shows this past weekend, and you nailed it on all these corps - my thoughts too.

Harvey

[jwillis35]

oldbandguy, thanks and I enjoy your comments on the show as well. You are right, I forgot to mention the Bluecoats percussion. I'm a brass guy so sometimes I don't say enough about percussion, and I think it goes without saying how good the Bluecoats percussion has been over the years. Last night their line was on FIRE! In deed anything can happen at finals. SCV, Cadets, BD, and Bluecoats seem to be the contender for the percussion title.

I also agree with you on Cadets visual and musical book. Rarely do they disappoint in that regard. The visual book is always one of the tops in the activity, and as I said I give them mucho credit for attempting something like Christmas. But they, like any corps, have some flaws that they just couldn't get ironed out. That shout chorus you mentioned in Jingle Bells just needs to go a bit longer and develop a bit more and it would bring the crowd to its feet. The ballad just never reaches a climax. Good stuff, but I think Phantom will take them.

Interested to see how Blooo cleans over the last week.

ChrisVT2003: I like your comments as well. And yes, that kick that Phantom put into the show after the main hit in Nesum Dorma when the get into the Chevron was AWESOME! I just love their musical book, but boy does that ending give me goosebumps. I will say this though, that new drill they just put in looked dirty. Hope they have enough time to clean that.

[bandbuck]

Great review, and great additional comments from others too!

My thoughts of a couple of other things:

Pacific Crest was my surprise of the night. A really well designed show, lots of great musical and visual impacts, and like Jon said, at this rate they'll be a finalist soon. I've liked their shows before, but tonight was a huge step up for them! Keep it going PC!

I loved Phantom's show, but the pre-show synthesized sound effects were SO loud that the first horn impact seemed soft by comparison. To me it really took away from their great opening.

And yes, Bluecoats horns and drums were definitely on fire, but like you stated, the final bodysuit 'word' effect wasn't very visible.

What a great, responsive crowd as usual here. It's nice to see lots of standing O's (and well-deserved ones!)!!!

[KC4Bloo]

oldbandguy, thanks and I enjoy your comments on the show as well. You are right, I forgot to mention the Bluecoats percussion. I'm a brass guy so sometimes I don't say enough about percussion, and I think it goes without saying how good the Bluecoats percussion has been over the years. Last night their line was on FIRE! In deed anything can happen at finals. SCV, Cadets, BD, and Bluecoats seem to be the contender for the percussion title.

I also agree with you on Cadets visual and musical book. Rarely do they disappoint in that regard. The visual book is always one of the tops in the activity, and as I said I give them mucho credit for attempting something like Christmas. But they, like any corps, have some flaws that they just couldn't get ironed out. That shout chorus you mentioned in Jingle Bells just needs to go a bit longer and develop a bit more and it would bring the crowd to its feet. The ballad just never reaches a climax. Good stuff, but I think Phantom will take them.

Interested to see how Blooo cleans over the last week.

ChrisVT2003: I like your comments as well. And yes, that kick that Phantom put into the show after the main hit in Nesum Dorma when the get into the Chevron was AWESOME! I just love their musical book, but boy does that ending give me goosebumps. I will say this though, that new drill they just put in looked dirty. Hope they have enough time to clean that.

And I have to assume the Bloo pit contributed greatly to that percussion score. The front ensemble works just as hard as the rest of the corps (and sounds just as good) and deserves a mention, so I'm mentioning!

Edited August 8, 2012 by KC4Bloo

[oldbandguy]

Believe me...I'm a huge fan of the 'Coats front ensemble. When I say they have an incredible drumline I mean that in a TOTALLY inclusive way. The keyboard players are outstanding and the effects and embellishments that they get from the synth parts are, IMO, the best in DCI.

This speaks to how outstanding Tom Rarick is...most corps have different folks write for battery and front ensemble. Tom does both

[KC4Bloo]

Believe me...I'm a huge fan of the 'Coats front ensemble. When I say they have an incredible drumline I mean that in a TOTALLY inclusive way. The keyboard players are outstanding and the effects and embellishments that they get from the synth parts are, IMO, the best in DCI.

This speaks to how outstanding Tom Rarick is...most corps have different folks write for battery and front ensemble. Tom does both

Yup! I completely agree! For whatever that's worth!

Edited August 8, 2012 by KC4Bloo