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Quick Review of Sound of the South Standstill


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Just got home from Sound of the South figured I would write up a quick review of what I saw/heard

First off, the weather this year was SO much better than last year, with the temperatures being so much friendlier than the 105 degrees it was last year. I was a little bummed out that the show was a standstill, but I completely understand from a site perspective and a safety for the performer perspective. I do wish this show was not so out of the way (it might bring in more people) and I wish the stands were higher because if they were marching it would have been a little hard to read some of the forms the corps were putting on the field.

Since the show was a standstill the only things I can talk about would be music and guard. I'll just go in show order:

Tampa Bay Thunder

They had a pretty good sound. Loud agressive hornline. Drumline was alright. I liked the theme of the show (a bit overdone) but well excecuted. Everyone seemed to enjoy the Christmas portion of the show. Personal opinion is that the mello line could tighten up a bit, little fuzzy sounding, but once they get a little bit more time together I'm sure they'll be just fine. Guard looked like it had some new people, so there was some issues keeping together or remembering the work, but that comes with time, I liked the work, just needed to be cleaned up.

Sun Devils

HOLY CRAP! This corps is going to be the corps to beat. Starting with the hornline, they were clean, they were powerful, and they played the heck outta their show. All sections played clean but I have to give it to the mellophones, I didn't just hear them, I felt them. They were good through the entire performance, but during that closer they really let loose and let us have it. Loved the overall hornline package they had, great soloists and a clean group, can't wait to see what happens as the season progresses. Alright, now this drumline, this is the cleanest beginning of July drumline I've heard in years. As soon as they started their percussion feature, everyone had the same HOLY S*** expression on their face because they were that good. Couple this drumline with that hornline and there will be no stopping them. Guard was pretty good, held together nicely and the work was well written for the show.

Carolina Gold

This group is going to do well in Open Class. The show was really exciting and the hornline played the heck out of it. Good size hornline and a fantastic percussion section balanced well with each other creating some great musical moments. While the musical side was great, the visual side was something that I could not stop watching. The guard was fantastic. Great work that was already well excecuted. The soloists were great and the enesmble was really together. I wish this show could have been on the field, because I really want to see how this show truly sells it on the field. This is definitely one of the shows that I want to see full out because I know that its going to be really good.

Fusion Core

What a great group. Great show concept and so well excecuted. This group has been one of my favorites since I first saw them a few years ago and they never disappoint. They definitely know how to play to the crowd. Their hornline was fantastic, so well balanced and executing the music really well. Drumline was on fire, they definitely helped give the show that drive to be even better. Very large guard complimented the musical program very well, especially the dance duet with one of the hornline members. They not only played their show and played it well they gave the crowd a little encore which was really nice. They started with the drumline performing I think part of their show and with the body visuals it was very entertaining. Next the hornline played Canon in D from right inside the fence and the crowd loved it.

Shenandoah Sound

Shenandoah Sound came out tonight with new uniforms (white with read and black) that they got from a Virginia high school. While they looked good, and they had hats for the first time since 2008, I think their last jackets (gray and red) looked a little nicer. Musically they were extremely overbalanced on the percussion end. 4 snares, 2 tenors, 4 basses, and 3 cymbals plus 6-7 pit overbalanced their 8-9 person hornline by a long shot. Musical choices were alright for the ensemble, but except for the times when one of their drum majors was playing mellophone, the hornline was missing that alto voice throughout the rest of the show. I wish they had taken some of those drumline members and put them in the pit to add to the melodic sound the pit was adding to the overall musical package. The percusison section was definitely the best I have heard from them in a while. The guard however left much to be desired. The two of them spent much of the time sitting behind the corps and when they were doing work together, it wasn't together. There needs to be some serious revisions of the visual part of the show to sell this program. After they were done performing the field show, they provided an encore of the Cupid Shuffle, which is apparently their parade tune this year. That got the crowd clapping along and on its feet cheering them on.

Overall this was a good show and I can't wait to see where these corps go from here. Its a shame there were no scores to see where everyone would line up with everyone else that has performed so far, but you could definitely tell that all the performers enjoyed the chance to just perform without worrying about a score.

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Good stuff. Nice review!!!

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Thanks for the review!!! Even it being a standstill, many thanks to the fans and corps that came and performed! Great job under the circumstances SS. That being said, would have been nice to see what played out while on the move!!!

Travel safe getting home to all!

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Just got home from Sound of the South figured I would write up a quick review of what I saw/heard

First off, the weather this year was SO much better than last year, with the temperatures being so much friendlier than the 105 degrees it was last year. I was a little bummed out that the show was a standstill, but I completely understand from a site perspective and a safety for the performer perspective. I do wish this show was not so out of the way (it might bring in more people) and I wish the stands were higher because if they were marching it would have been a little hard to read some of the forms the corps were putting on the field.

Since the show was a standstill the only things I can talk about would be music and guard. I'll just go in show order:

Tampa Bay Thunder

They had a pretty good sound. Loud agressive hornline. Drumline was alright. I liked the theme of the show (a bit overdone) but well excecuted. Everyone seemed to enjoy the Christmas portion of the show. Personal opinion is that the mello line could tighten up a bit, little fuzzy sounding, but once they get a little bit more time together I'm sure they'll be just fine. Guard looked like it had some new people, so there was some issues keeping together or remembering the work, but that comes with time, I liked the work, just needed to be cleaned up.

Sun Devils

HOLY CRAP! This corps is going to be the corps to beat. Starting with the hornline, they were clean, they were powerful, and they played the heck outta their show. All sections played clean but I have to give it to the mellophones, I didn't just hear them, I felt them. They were good through the entire performance, but during that closer they really let loose and let us have it. Loved the overall hornline package they had, great soloists and a clean group, can't wait to see what happens as the season progresses. Alright, now this drumline, this is the cleanest beginning of July drumline I've heard in years. As soon as they started their percussion feature, everyone had the same HOLY S*** expression on their face because they were that good. Couple this drumline with that hornline and there will be no stopping them. Guard was pretty good, held together nicely and the work was well written for the show.

Carolina Gold

This group is going to do well in Open Class. The show was really exciting and the hornline played the heck out of it. Good size hornline and a fantastic percussion section balanced well with each other creating some great musical moments. While the musical side was great, the visual side was something that I could not stop watching. The guard was fantastic. Great work that was already well excecuted. The soloists were great and the enesmble was really together. I wish this show could have been on the field, because I really want to see how this show truly sells it on the field. This is definitely one of the shows that I want to see full out because I know that its going to be really good.

Fusion Core

What a great group. Great show concept and so well excecuted. This group has been one of my favorites since I first saw them a few years ago and they never disappoint. They definitely know how to play to the crowd. Their hornline was fantastic, so well balanced and executing the music really well. Drumline was on fire, they definitely helped give the show that drive to be even better. Very large guard complimented the musical program very well, especially the dance duet with one of the hornline members. They not only played their show and played it well they gave the crowd a little encore which was really nice. They started with the drumline performing I think part of their show and with the body visuals it was very entertaining. Next the hornline played Canon in D from right inside the fence and the crowd loved it.

Shenandoah Sound

Shenandoah Sound came out tonight with new uniforms (white with read and black) that they got from a Virginia high school. While they looked good, and they had hats for the first time since 2008, I think their last jackets (gray and red) looked a little nicer. Musically they were extremely overbalanced on the percussion end. 4 snares, 2 tenors, 4 basses, and 3 cymbals plus 6-7 pit overbalanced their 8-9 person hornline by a long shot. Musical choices were alright for the ensemble, but except for the times when one of their drum majors was playing mellophone, the hornline was missing that alto voice throughout the rest of the show. I wish they had taken some of those drumline members and put them in the pit to add to the melodic sound the pit was adding to the overall musical package. The percusison section was definitely the best I have heard from them in a while. The guard however left much to be desired. The two of them spent much of the time sitting behind the corps and when they were doing work together, it wasn't together. There needs to be some serious revisions of the visual part of the show to sell this program. After they were done performing the field show, they provided an encore of the Cupid Shuffle, which is apparently their parade tune this year. That got the crowd clapping along and on its feet cheering them on.

Overall this was a good show and I can't wait to see where these corps go from here. Its a shame there were no scores to see where everyone would line up with everyone else that has performed so far, but you could definitely tell that all the performers enjoyed the chance to just perform without worrying about a score.

Thanks!!! Appreciate the review.

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Thank you so much for the kind words! It is always great to get an unbiased perspective of our corps. I appreciate your time and I am glad you enjoyed our show! :devil:

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Looking forward to seeing SunDevils gald to hear your back and strong .With the choice of music im sure you;ll wow the people up out of there seats Go SUN DEVILS welcome back

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Looking forward to seeing SunDevils gald to hear your back and strong .With the choice of music im sure you;ll wow the people up out of there seats Go SUN DEVILS welcome back

Thank you!!! :thumbup:

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