Pit_Girl_77 Posted July 3, 2013 Share Posted July 3, 2013 First up, local news coverage of the event: My link (Note that the video shows the Govies in green/white and black/white colorguard, plus some high school band footage from the pre-show, no freaking out about the saxaphones!) This is my first live show of the season, have not seen much on video, so this was a first look at pretty much everyone except for the Colts. I am not in the habit of writing negative things about a corps, as I know they are all working their tails off. Here are some things that stuck out to me as well done/cool/improved/etc. Govies: As always, a fantastic way to start off a show. The guard is great, with almost the whole show on the field (Sometimes in Mankato they don't quite have 1/2 done as DCA finals are still a long ways off, so "props" to them for all the hard pre-season work!) There is some great solo work in the hornline featuring several different people, "Send in the Clowns" is a fantastic momement in the show. Fun music, lots of energy, great job by all. John M-you always make my mom laugh, thanks for that! MN Brass: ummm....WOW. Huge sound, loved loved loved the hornline. Costume changes worked well and I thought fit the show, and the percussion was just cool to watch. If you only get to see MN Brass for one show this season, watch the cymbal line, they are amazing. (And not just because I spent the last few weeks teaching cymbals to a bunch of 8th graders...) Parents agree that the show was great and you guys look and sound better then last year, mom is sure you will be champions again. Colts: :) Great job kiddos. Keep cleaning and growing, you are getting so much better each time I see you! Field of Dreams is such a cool moment live, the whole audience is just holding their breath...parents both loved the show, "No weird music or voice things" INT: For some reason they moved INT from after Troopers to before Troopers. Not sure why... Troopers: From the 20-yard line ramp that I had to watch from, things looked pretty darn good. My dad loves your music choices and hopes you keep it up in the future. My nephew wants to be a Troopers drum major now. Blue Stars: For what it is worth, I had you solidly in 2nd behind Madison tonight. I liked the show alot, and could see the Voodoo theme most of the time. Maybe it is all the Mardi Gras parades I have marched in New Orleans that have helped me "get" the show more than some folks on the internet, but I think it is cool. I think my favorite part are the 5(?) voodoo dolls with their red hearts-these guys are doing a great job. Crossmen: Loudest corps of the night (Until Madison came in), brass line sounds great! I don't think these are new uniforms, but the black corps with the red colorguard really "popped" well under the lights. Lots of energy from the colorguard, some great individual performances during the pre-show trying to get the crowd into the protest. Mom really liked the hornline, dad does not like electronics in drum corps...(same stuff, differnet year...lol) Madison: You guys brought down the house. Huge sound, singing was great, I loved the show. Mom liked the helicopters and pretty much everything to do with the guard. When you were done, dad turned to me and said "So, who do you think is in 2nd?" Parents cannot believe there are corps on the west coast right now that are ahead of you by 5 points. Guard Uniforms for all: Somehow a group of us were talking guard uniforms on the way home, and we came to the conclusion that all the uniforms tonight looked good. They looked classy, people of all sizes looked good in them, the guys looked as good as the girls, and colors and themes really fit the show. Ususally there are a couple that stick out as a "What were they thinking", but this year it is all good! The venue: Good stuff includes stands so close to the action that half the corps DMs conducted from the 10th row, as there was not enough space for the podium between the pit and the stands. Traffic control and parking looked to be great, with port-a-johns in each parking lot (I think that is a year-round thing for the college, but still welcome). Concessions at the stadium are good with kettle corn, cold stone ice cream, and a stand from the local Hy-Vee grocery store that had hotdogs and such. Within walking distance includs a couple of restaruants, a large gas station/convience store, a CVS, and a hotel. The city of Mankato is a major shopping hub with lots of hotel rooms and good 4-lane highways in every direction. Bad stuff: some percussion warm-ups bleeding into the stadium, which is very open at either end zone. Part of this might be from the building demo they did a few days ago that cut out a warm-up area, but I think this has happened in years past as well. The concession lines and restroom lines at intermission were very long, and a bunch of folks did not get back into the stands to see the Troopers (Including me). There were lots of volunteers/ushers to help people, but there were several seat issues around us. The stadium seating are bleachers, with numbers painted on each spot. The reserved seats are a tight fit, and I think the combination of crap that people brought in (I saw a large cooler around the 50 yard line, about 1/2 up) and people with G/A tickets trying to sneak to the middle to get a better view, left many folks with no place to sit. The ushers could not physically walk down each row and check tickets (Not enough room, not enough time between corps, and no one would dare do it during a show), so they would try to find an empty spot for folks with a reserved seat, which would create a dominoe effect when more people came and their seats were gone. It sounded like many of those affected were parents of Troopers/Blue Stars/Madison members, who were watching in the lot and came into the show late. We all squished the best we could to fit people, as the ushers would not allow anyone to sit in the steps, but it was not a great situation. I am not sure how to fix the problem, as the stadium lay-out does not allow for very good roping-off of sections, and I know nearly 100% of the folks working the show are parent volunteers from the local high school band program. If every fan would just be considerate and not sit where they don't belong or bring a bunch of crap into the stadium it would make the world a better place :) (OK, end rant on that...) Overall it was another great night of drum corps in Mankato! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted July 3, 2013 Share Posted July 3, 2013 Colts: :) Great job kiddos. Keep cleaning and growing, you are getting so much better each time I see you! Field of Dreams is such a cool moment live, the whole audience is just holding their breath...parents both loved the show, "No weird music or voice things" Heh. Thanks for the review! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammondbrass Posted July 3, 2013 Share Posted July 3, 2013 Nice review! I'd give you a solid 75.3. Definitely on your way to a finalist position, haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brutus Posted July 5, 2013 Share Posted July 5, 2013 (edited) Madison: You guys brought down the house. Huge sound, singing was great, I loved the show. Mom liked the helicopters and pretty much everything to do with the guard. When you were done, dad turned to me and said "So, who do you think is in 2nd?" Parents cannot believe there are corps on the west coast right now that are ahead of you by 5 points. Wait until you see Crown live. If you have ever thought about infinite space and earth's place among the stars, and the meaning that humans build into their lives and how profound human life is in the vacuum of space, this show will hit you like a ton of bricks. I'm telling you, it's profound. It's weird, it's funny, and at the end, it's so powerful it punches you in the gut. The horn impacts are from heaven. The guard is stellar, and the live vocals are impressive and add to the music, not detract from it. If you can hang on through the first couple of minutes of chaos, you'll be rewarded. The audience at Riverside was speechless. My God. Edited July 5, 2013 by Brutus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted July 5, 2013 Share Posted July 5, 2013 Wait until you see Crown live. If you have ever thought about infinite space and earth's place among the stars, and the meaning that humans build into their lives, and how profound human life is in the vacuum of space, this show will hit you like a ton of bricks. So Crown's show is a sort of beneficial Total Perspective Vortex? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Link to discussion threads for all 2013 World Class corps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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