The TILTING in Massillon...Coats Homecoming

[FTNK]

Just got back from the show. Cadets indeed played and marched the #### out of their show. I agree with the recap, they are very visually proficient.

Full review tomorrow evening

[OrlandoContraAlum]

The Cadets drum major, think her name is Kendall, is great! All drum majors are but she stands out this year for me as a really good one with a lot respect from her corps.

Agreed! Additionally, BD's DM is pretty rockin as well. I love the fact that the podium is no longer a "boys club".

(Honestly, not trying to get political or anything, I just really dig seeing young ladies rocking the podium).

[jwillis35]

Another fantastic show in Massillon tonight!! Bravo to all the corps and to the Bluecoats organization and the Pro Football HOF Enshrinement Festival for sponsoring this amazing show at this amazing venue. It was nice to FINALLY get to a LIVE show. I've only seen these corps via FN.

Quick impression:

1. Phantom Regiment BLEW ME AWAY!!!! Oh thank you so much for the wonderful brass line, beautiful guard, and stately and powerful show. One of my favorites of the night. Maybe they are not going to win or be top 5, but the BIG sounding brass line is back.
2. The Cadets were incredible, musically and visually. The show is magnificent, and my gripes with the last 20 seconds was somewhat made more palette-able on a live viewing. Visually this corps is STUNNING! Best marching, easily, tonight.
3. Obviously I thought Bluecoats were outstanding, especially musically. Brass and percussion is always a HALLMARK of this outstanding unit, and the percussion section is really throwing down. Visual was an issue tonight and I walked out of the stadium thinking they had also lost to SCV. I told a fellow college band director (and close personal friend) that it might have ended up Cadets then SCV, then Bluecoats and Crown. I'm not sure whether Blooo was that off or SCV that on. I will know more come Friday in Indy. The best closer, hands down, is Bluecoats end of the show. It just hits you like a ton of bricks and pull you to your feet. Fabulous ending. They just need to march that show the way they can.
4. SCV was ON FIRE tonight!!! This is the most colorful show, I thought, and the drill is impeccable. Amazing staging. The music was wonderful, although at times a bit over-arranged. Percussion is sweet, much like Coats and Cadets. There is much danger with this show now. I sense a dark horse in the making and would not be surprised to see this take 3rd, maybe even 2nd on Saturday. I'm not sure where that Carolina Crown score came from last night (and Crown is fabulous) but it was clear this is a complete package of a show. SCV may not have Crown's brass, but from my vantage point they have better drill, percussion, guard, GE, and overall design. Both Cadets and BLOOO better watch out.
5. I'm still not wild about Boston's Animal Farm show, but it's much better to see live...and the last 2 minutes are stunning!! With a stronger GE product this could have been a top 6 corps. Very talented. Tough show to pull off, but KUDOS to them tonight on a wonderful performance.
6. The Crossmen were AWESOME! This is a fun show with lots of great grooves and some old-school like percussion features. Music was a joy to listen to. The trumpet soloist was outstanding. One of the best solos on the field this year. Beautiful guard and the whole show made sense and seemed to captivate this audience tonight.
7. Carolina Crown put on another display of BEST BRASS!!! Sheesh can they play, and I continue to love their ballad and closing tune. Best part of their show. Overall their marching has come a long way. Percussion played nice tonight, and the show is presenting itself well. No doubt a solid and wonderful top 5 corps. It's so hard to judge between these top 5 (well maybe except BD who was not here tonight).

Big crowd tonight. They had to delay the show by 17 minutes because so many people were still trying to get in. Every corps received a big ovation at the end of their shows. Crowd was very enthusiastic for all corps, as they always are.

[N.E. Brigand]

Just got back. This may have been the best drum corps show I've ever attended, though personal reasons play into it. I'll try to post more tomorrow before I drive five hours to Michigan City for O.C. Finals (where I hope the weather is better than it was there tonight).

[futurebluecoat]

Got back a little bit ago. Amazing show tonight. I really hoped Bloo would beat Cadets but I truly believe it will happen by Saturday. The crowd was huge and loud tonight. We all bloo'ed at least 5 times during Bloo's performance. Lots of fun. And I think my favorite part was during the encore when the hornline sang Hymn of Acxiom. That was amazing! Great show.

[Pierce B.]

All season long the recaps have been all over the place. I like where Bluecoats' are in the recaps. High scoring GE and Music, and taking Percussion. Visual scores being so low is kind of disappointing but that's the Bluecoats for ya. I'm not sure why since it seems like they're always doing visual blocks. Maybe its just their marching style? Am I the only one that thinks they look kind of funny when they're marching at a fast tempo? Regardless, I'm sure they're gonna be doing nothing but cleaning those feet (and guard will do their thing) all the way 'til finals night. I love BD's show and they hands down deserve the gold medal, I just hope Bluecoats can ride the crowd support and rise above Cadets going into finals and get that silver.

2-5 will be intense going into WCs this weekend and I can't wait to see how it pans out!

[superOOk]

Recaps were pretty dead on tonight. Would have had Crown higher, SCV lower.

[N.E. Brigand]

Never saw that BAC on the field before!

Those banners at the end were added tonight; they weren't there the previous night in Pittsburgh.

[Jplan72]

Just got back as well and missed the Encore driving home.

What.A.Show. Everyone has already mentioned what I wanted to bring up, but I have to say there was about a minute of the cadet show about 3:30-4:00 in that was a total coordinated effect buffet. Had my 3rd chills of the night by that time. Thank you Cadets for that.

Family behind thought SCV was Madison because they were at Akron.

Artistry in Blue had a great show. Wonder how that alleged mass brass with their young Corpsmates went :)

Boston's additions were nice and the Corps sounded great. Drumline had a nice show too.

Phantom was great from the Phantomette swans running onto the field and that BRASS. Oh that Brass...... swoon.

Crown.... was Crown. Loved you as usual. I heard some stuff, but it could if just been me. Guard was practicing outside after the show once again.

SCV. Just not a Scheherazade fan, liked the 2004 version better, but wow this show was killer tonight. Very entertaining and GE through the roof.

Just a great night for the corps and fun to hear the reactions of all the kids and casual fans in attendance.

And Bluecoats....what can you say. Sounded great.

Should be a fun week ahead.

[wvu80]

Another fantastic show in Massillon tonight!! Bravo to all the corps and to the Bluecoats organization and the Pro Football HOF Enshrinement Festival for sponsoring this amazing show at this amazing venue. It was nice to FINALLY get to a LIVE show. I've only seen these corps via FN.

Quick impression:

(Snip, see below:)

I just got back from Canton, 1am now, about a 2 hour drive. Well, no need for me to write a review, Willis was spot on with everything. I'll do the color comentary (in Bloo, of course).

Another fantastic show in Massillon tonight!! Bravo to all the corps and to the Bluecoats organization and the Pro Football HOF Enshrinement Festival for sponsoring this amazing show at this amazing venue. It was nice to FINALLY get to a LIVE show. I've only seen these corps via FN.

Quick impression:

1. Phantom Regiment BLEW ME AWAY!!!! Oh thank you so much for the wonderful brass line, beautiful guard, and stately and powerful show. One of my favorites of the night. Maybe they are not going to win or be top 5, but the BIG sounding brass line is back.

This may sound funny, but this is one reason I like drum corps, because these are not girls, they are women, and they can do sexy in a way girls can't. The brass was just great, and very loud.

1. The Cadets were incredible, musically and visually. The show is magnificent, and my gripes with the last 20 seconds was somewhat made more palette-able on a live viewing. Visually this corps is STUNNING! Best marching, easily, tonight.

The Cadets made the entire field alive with sound, you have to be there to understand it. The sound was probably the loudest of the night, maybe Bloo or Crown could take that as well. In any case, Cadets have a HUGE sound. Despite the complete field of props, this was an old-school horn driven show.

I'm not crazy about the narration, but that is a personal preference. The announcer was FANTASTIC, and I was close enough to know he was speaking LIVE! and not lip syncing. He has a great voice and it is very powerful to hear live!. The cumberbun color change was very effective, from blue to light yellow to bright yellow, it helped transition from one presidential era to another. (see comentary on Crown for the negative view on unforms)

I loved the ending and it gave me goosebumps. Surely this is the finals version. It really seemed like there was something else they were going to put on the ending.

Has anyone talked about Cadets' uniforms? They are not wearing jackets. Those are jacket looking shirts with all the "tradition" in them. I bet they enhance performance because they look like they would breathe better than a jacket ever would. Trousers with no stripes? These are not your father's Cadet uniforms, but they are SUPER effective. I would give them higher GE scores just because they unis are so visible on the field.

As I write this, I still don't know who won. Cadets rolled out some large "face" banners, but they were invisible to me because they were so flat. You would have to view those from the blimp to see what they were supposed to represent. This was probably the only gimmick that was NOT effective. That front stage is impressive, they have an intact scaffolding, and roll the whole thing in with a crew. This is probably the most complete set of props covering the field I have ever seen.

1. Obviously I thought Bluecoats were outstanding, especially musically. Brass and percussion is always a HALLMARK of this outstanding unit, and the percussion section is really throwing down. Visual was an issue tonight and I walked out of the stadium thinking they had also lost to SCV. I told a fellow college band director (and close personal friend) that it might have ended up Cadets then SCV, then Bluecoats and Crown. I'm not sure whether Blooo was that off or SCV that on. I will know more come Friday in Indy. The best closer, hands down, is Bluecoats end of the show. It just hits you like a ton of bricks and pull you to your feet. Fabulous ending. They just need to march that show the way they can.

One thing that suprised me is that Bloo didn't get the "home field" crowd support I thought they would. Every corps got polite applause, but the crowed, which was PACKED from end-zone to end-zone, gave a couple of "routine" standing O's for the Big Boys, but it didn't seem heartfelt. Bloo DID get that enthusicastic standing O from the last 30 seconds to the end. I thought the ending was much more effective by not having the last performer jump near the end-zone, he is closer to the 20 or 30, but he catches MAJOR air!

I would have had Bloo in first place tonight, based on the CROWD REACTION. Bloo and Cadets both had Big shows, HUGE sound, great creativity, and tremendous drum lines. I would have put Cadets drum line in 1st, but let me explain why.

'Coats drum staff pay attention, I can get you some additonal tenths: Right after the drum solo, the snares come across the field from left rear towards the 50. A CONCERT SNARE IN THE PIT PLAYS THE SAME PART ON THE RIGHT FRONT. THIS DOESN'T WORK. The reason why has nothing to do with the skill of the performers, the problem is technical. I can SEE the concert snare guy in the pit, on the right listening to the battery, catching the sound as it comes past and syncing with it. The problem is that the dry sound snare reaches him before the audience, and by the time he plays the same part on a lower pitched drum, THE SOUND IS NOT TOGETHER. It never will be, because of the distance and the disparate drum sounds. This does NOT add to the "cool" factor, and it creates an ERROR that can be heard. The concert snare playing just after is fine, but I'm telling you, they can increase their drum score if they take that one concert snare section out. No one will miss it.

1. SCV was ON FIRE tonight!!! This is the most colorful show, I thought, and the drill is impeccable. Amazing staging. The music was wonderful, although at times a bit over-arranged. Percussion is sweet, much like Coats and Cadets. There is much danger with this show now. I sense a dark horse in the making and would not be surprised to see this take 3rd, maybe even 2nd on Saturday. I'm not sure where that Carolina Crown score came from last night (and Crown is fabulous) but it was clear this is a complete package of a show. SCV may not have Crown's brass, but from my vantage point they have better drill, percussion, guard, GE, and overall design. Both Cadets and BLOOO better watch out.

Another vote from me on the maturity factor of having WOMEN in the color guard. I have to take points away because I am not a fan of seeing MEN wear gold bras and skirts. Maybe it's just me.

I also HAVE to give some props (ahem) to SCV for the great uniforms. The white was VERY effective visually. The trombone instruments are a COMPLETE waste of effort and add NOTHING to the show. I am not a hater of new stuff, but the trombones looked like they were in there so they could say "we have trombones, see, we are innovators!"

The horn line was unleashed tonight! HUGE horn sound, the biggest I have heard from SCV in years. Overall, great show.

1. I'm still not wild about Boston's Animal Farm show, but it's much better to see live...and the last 2 minutes are stunning!! With a stronger GE product this could have been a top 6 corps. Very talented. Tough show to pull off, but KUDOS to them tonight on a wonderful performance.
2. The Crossmen were AWESOME! This is a fun show with lots of great grooves and some old-school like percussion features. Music was a joy to listen to. The trumpet soloist was outstanding. One of the best solos on the field this year. Beautiful guard and the whole show made sense and seemed to captivate this audience tonight.
3. Carolina Crown put on another display of BEST BRASS!!! Sheesh can they play, and I continue to love their ballad and closing tune. Best part of their show. Overall their marching has come a long way. Percussion played nice tonight, and the show is presenting itself well. No doubt a solid and wonderful top 5 corps. It's so hard to judge between these top 5 (well maybe except BD who was not here tonight).

Crown has an UNBELIEVABLE horn line, and I think they are winning brass because they show it off. ALL the top corps, especially Cadets and Coats have about the same talent. Crown takes that horn line and separates them by 50 yards end-to-end on a diagonal, and they NAIL the articulations. It's incredible.

Crown's trampoines was a kind of cool idea, that just didn't work. Crown's staff did a good job of taking most of the jumping around out of the show.

The big difference to me in General Effect Other Than Brass is Crown's blue pants unis really make fuzzy formations on the field. Combine that with what I think is too many cluttered formations, and the show loses sizzle. I am not a judge, that's just how it looked to me.

Big crowd tonight. They had to delay the show by 17 minutes because so many people were still trying to get in. Every corps received a big ovation at the end of their shows. Crowd was very enthusiastic for all corps, as they always are.

Best T-shirt of the night was "Orange is the new Bloo." Coats currently OWN the T-shirt design wars with terrific designs.

Thanks again for writing my review, Willis. It's 2am, and I'm going to bed. GREAT show, GREAT weather and wonderful memories. I'll remember this one for a long time.

BTW, who won? I still don't know.

Edited August 5, 2014 by wvu80