jwillis35 Posted June 26, 2013 Share Posted June 26, 2013 Just got back to my hotel. A wonderful show tonight in Fairfield, OH. I did not care for the entrances and exits to the stadium. Too limited, and this place was packed tonight. Perhaps more people at this show than were at Akron (and that's a much bigger stadium). My favorites in terms of entertainment: 1. Cadets & Madison & Troopers 2. Bluecoats (thought they were a bit off tonight, but this show is FAB when on) 3. Spirit of Atlanta 4. Cavaliers 5. Crossmen Biggest Goose-bump Moment = Troopers Closer Best overall Closer = Madison Loudest and Best Brass = Cadets Best Percussion = Cadets Best Visual = Cadets Best Theme = Bluecoats and Madison and Troopers Best Props = Bluecoats & Spirit Best Guard = Cadets The crowd was appreciative of all the corps. Just a few thoughts and then I will write more on the review site in the morning. Place Corps Score World Class 1 The Cadets 79.300 - This is an excellent show, an amazing corps, and they have plenty to clean and add/edit. What's amazing to me is that they look like the youngest and skinniest corps out there and then they just crush the competition. Serious training and discipline is the hallmark of this group and it was evident tonight. The Cadets also graced us with an amazing encore in which they did not play any of their show music. They played "On a Hymnsong by Philip Bliss," a Mahler 2 except, an outstanding arrangement of "Live or Let Die" from James Bond, and "Swing, Swing, Swing" from the movie 1941. The crowd went bananas and ate it up!! 2 Bluecoats 75.400 - I don't think this was their best performance tonight. It's still an amazing show top to bottom, and BLOOO still has one of the best brass books on the field, but they were not clean, and some of the GE hits simply didn't come across. Nonetheless, I love the show and this will be an excellent production for them. I love the angle they are taking on their patriotic theme. It's really complex and also appropriate. 3 Madison Scouts 73.000 - Whew! Madison I do love you guys. Guard is in military fatigues (think Desert Storm), the corps enters the field from side 1 in a company front and then, as the music builds, they begin to rotate that form. Goosebumps. 3 soldiers die in the show, and then they sing "You'll Never Walk Alone" in 4 part harmony...and it's stunning! That builds into a slow-pushing company front that will bring you to your feet and make you cry (as they care the dead off the field). This show features a battle scene, helicopters, and the whole nine yards. It's a fantastic patriotic show. 4 The Cavaliers 70.300 - Much better tonight for the Green Machine. Visual was better received. The end is wonderful, but most of the show lacks energy, flow, and performance quality. Percussion seems solid, but pit is nowhere near what they used to have. Brass is weak. Lots of stick outs, bad attacks, tuning issues, phasing, control and balance issues, and it feels to me as though they are struggling with the music...which was one of the easier books on the field tonight. The demand of this show is not very high, but I will agree with others that this is a better vehicle than what they had last year. 5 Spirit of Atlanta 70.000 - Spirit has a great show with all the demand and flow needed to put them in the top 12. They are dirty visually and musically, even more so than Cavaliers. They will be a worthy adversary to the Cavaliers all season I think. Love the bar drinking scene. 6 Crossmen 65.100 - Crossmen are good, but I am not sure if they are top 12 good. The show is nice, somewhat safe, and entertaining. Brass is nice and controlled, as is percussion. Love their guard. I like that their brass is playing controlled and not overly loud right now. This is probably hurting their GE numbers, but the kids are beginning to master the book. I really like the show but I worry it doesn't have enough highs. I also worry that their Civil Rights theme isn't tied into the music as well as they might think. Still, they will be a very clean corps come August; and with the right changes who knows. 7 Troopers 64.800 - BRAVO TROOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Folks, the Troopers are BACK!!! They are not clean, so this show is going to take some time. Demand is probably just right for this group, but if they wish to make the push for top 12 they may need to tweak a few things. All that aside, this was one of the better shows of the night. Patriotism TROOPER Style! Heroic themes (talk about this more tomorrow), some Battle Hymn in the most elegant of ways, great drill, brass is nice and all sections are featured (and the trumpets are awesome). Percussion is sweet, and the staging of this show is partly why it works so well. If I could buy a corps into the top 12, this is the show right here. Come on Troopers...clean this beauty!!! Ok, more later! Night! 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GREENBLUE Posted June 26, 2013 Share Posted June 26, 2013 Anyone else notice that some corps are outperforming their content scores on the judges sheets? Not sure that's a good thing or bad thing. Music or drill too easy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mckdan Posted June 26, 2013 Share Posted June 26, 2013 Could have been an off-night for Xmen, it could have been the sun in their eyes, it could have been the low tide, it could have been any number of things, but the Troopers jumping 2 points in visual GE and scoring higher than Crossmen in the category is a potentially important development. GE of all kinds, but especially visual, has been Troop's biggest hill to climb in recent years. Kinda hard to grasp 2 points of improvement in 48 hours, but they work like fiends and have a top-notch staff. Maybe the judges are finally listening to the screaming of the fans during Trooper's show! General effect is how the corps is, at least partially, appealing to the crowd, and, from what has been written this year Troopers are really making the crowd "throw some babies"! :thumbup: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theCHEZman Posted June 26, 2013 Share Posted June 26, 2013 jwillis is on this page; must be doing a review for us. :cool:/> I agree with one of your earlier posts. Bluecoats have a great product this year. Eagerly watching it develop. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cixelsyd Posted June 26, 2013 Share Posted June 26, 2013 That would upset the apple cart of the original G7. I highly doubt this would happen, but it would be awesome if Boston remembered the slight and declined to participate. I would love for several corps to keep that memory fresh, the idea that they weren't "good enough". Funny how it was originally the G8 until Blue Stars fell back down struggling to make finals. They had no problem severing those ties as well. Just to make sure there are no misunderstandings... a. There was never a "G8". The G7 have always been: BD Crown PR Cadets SCV Bluecoats Cavaliers b. Having a special show series for the previous year's top 8 was a DCI idea. Changing that to just the 7 corps listed above, regardless of ranking, was the idea of those 7 corps. The Boston Crusaders were in the TOC series in 2012, but were not given the option of participating in the 2013 TOC despite ranking ahead of the Cavaliers at DCI. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBadMadMan Posted June 26, 2013 Share Posted June 26, 2013 Just to make sure there are no misunderstandings... a. There was never a "G8". The G7 have always been: BD Crown PR Cadets SCV Bluecoats Cavaliers b. Having a special show series for the previous year's top 8 was a DCI idea. Changing that to just the 7 corps listed above, regardless of ranking, was the idea of those 7 corps. The Boston Crusaders were in the TOC series in 2012, but were not given the option of participating in the 2013 TOC despite ranking ahead of the Cavaliers at DCI. All the more reason to expose the "TOC" for what it is. And if it's a true Tournament of "Champions", why include the Bluecoats and Crown who have never been champions? The idea of crowning their own champion smacks of the ultimate elitist circle stroke. How proud they must be to pat each other on the back while one of their G7 group is getting 3-pointed by a corps who has recently fallen on their own hard luck, and who is within sniffing distance of returning to the Top 6. But if I remember correctly, the Blue Stars WERE a part of the original group that first proposed the idea of an "elite" group and were an instrumental part of that plan. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'll do some DCP search engine digging of my own. If memory serves, they were part of the initial PowerPoint presentation that was erroneously leaked. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LStover Posted June 26, 2013 Share Posted June 26, 2013 Is there a link you could post to the review site you mention in this post? Would love to read your reviews! Thank you.... Just got back to my hotel. A wonderful show tonight in Fairfield, OH. I did not care for the entrances and exits to the stadium. Too limited, and this place was packed tonight. Perhaps more people at this show than were at Akron (and that's a much bigger stadium). My favorites in terms of entertainment: 1. Cadets & Madison & Troopers 2. Bluecoats (thought they were a bit off tonight, but this show is FAB when on) 3. Spirit of Atlanta 4. Cavaliers 5. Crossmen Biggest Goose-bump Moment = Troopers Closer Best overall Closer = Madison Loudest and Best Brass = Cadets Best Percussion = Cadets Best Visual = Cadets Best Theme = Bluecoats and Madison and Troopers Best Props = Bluecoats & Spirit Best Guard = Cadets The crowd was appreciative of all the corps. Just a few thoughts and then I will write more on the review site in the morning. Place Corps Score World Class 1 The Cadets 79.300 - This is an excellent show, an amazing corps, and they have plenty to clean and add/edit. What's amazing to me is that they look like the youngest and skinniest corps out there and then they just crush the competition. Serious training and discipline is the hallmark of this group and it was evident tonight. The Cadets also graced us with an amazing encore in which they did not play any of their show music. They played "On a Hymnsong by Philip Bliss," a Mahler 2 except, an outstanding arrangement of "Live or Let Die" from James Bond, and "Swing, Swing, Swing" from the movie 1941. The crowd went bananas and ate it up!! 2 Bluecoats 75.400 - I don't think this was their best performance tonight. It's still an amazing show top to bottom, and BLOOO still has one of the best brass books on the field, but they were not clean, and some of the GE hits simply didn't come across. Nonetheless, I love the show and this will be an excellent production for them. I love the angle they are taking on their patriotic theme. It's really complex and also appropriate. 3 Madison Scouts 73.000 - Whew! Madison I do love you guys. Guard is in military fatigues (think Desert Storm), the corps enters the field from side 1 in a company front and then, as the music builds, they begin to rotate that form. Goosebumps. 3 soldiers die in the show, and then they sing "You'll Never Walk Alone" in 4 part harmony...and it's stunning! That builds into a slow-pushing company front that will bring you to your feet and make you cry (as they care the dead off the field). This show features a battle scene, helicopters, and the whole nine yards. It's a fantastic patriotic show. 4 The Cavaliers 70.300 - Much better tonight for the Green Machine. Visual was better received. The end is wonderful, but most of the show lacks energy, flow, and performance quality. Percussion seems solid, but pit is nowhere near what they used to have. Brass is weak. Lots of stick outs, bad attacks, tuning issues, phasing, control and balance issues, and it feels to me as though they are struggling with the music...which was one of the easier books on the field tonight. The demand of this show is not very high, but I will agree with others that this is a better vehicle than what they had last year. 5 Spirit of Atlanta 70.000 - Spirit has a great show with all the demand and flow needed to put them in the top 12. They are dirty visually and musically, even more so than Cavaliers. They will be a worthy adversary to the Cavaliers all season I think. Love the bar drinking scene. 6 Crossmen 65.100 - Crossmen are good, but I am not sure if they are top 12 good. The show is nice, somewhat safe, and entertaining. Brass is nice and controlled, as is percussion. Love their guard. I like that their brass is playing controlled and not overly loud right now. This is probably hurting their GE numbers, but the kids are beginning to master the book. I really like the show but I worry it doesn't have enough highs. I also worry that their Civil Rights theme isn't tied into the music as well as they might think. Still, they will be a very clean corps come August; and with the right changes who knows. 7 Troopers 64.800 - BRAVO TROOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Folks, the Troopers are BACK!!! They are not clean, so this show is going to take some time. Demand is probably just right for this group, but if they wish to make the push for top 12 they may need to tweak a few things. All that aside, this was one of the better shows of the night. Patriotism TROOPER Style! Heroic themes (talk about this more tomorrow), some Battle Hymn in the most elegant of ways, great drill, brass is nice and all sections are featured (and the trumpets are awesome). Percussion is sweet, and the staging of this show is partly why it works so well. If I could buy a corps into the top 12, this is the show right here. Come on Troopers...clean this beauty!!! Ok, more later! Night! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BradF Posted June 26, 2013 Share Posted June 26, 2013 But if I remember correctly, the Blue Stars WERE a part of the original group that first proposed the idea of an "elite" group and were an instrumental part of that plan. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'll do some DCP search engine digging of my own. If memory serves, they were part of the initial PowerPoint presentation that was erroneously leaked. You are wrong. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBadMadMan Posted June 26, 2013 Share Posted June 26, 2013 You are wrong. Not from my recollection and other coberration in this thread. So the Blue Stars were only a pawn in the G7 agenda? I don't recall that being the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slingerland Posted June 26, 2013 Share Posted June 26, 2013 Not from my recollection and other coberration in this thread. So the Blue Stars were only a pawn in the G7 agenda? I don't recall that being the case. Blue Stars were not (and are not) part of the G7 group. They were added to the TOC shows as part of the truce negotiation between Coates/Gibbs/Hopkins and DCI's Board, for the same reason as Boston was last year. The current TOC shows are actually just a re-use of the old name for what were going to be a new series of shows by the original G7 group. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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