DrumManTx Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 (edited) I have my top 5 picked out for sure. I'd bet a lot of money on it. Blue Devils Bluecoats The Cadets Carolina Crown Santa Clara Vanguard Performance levels and design are a noticeable step above everyone else at this point by quite a bit. This is going to be an absolutely incredible season, the amount of talent, variety, and consistency across every caption in these 5 is ridiculous. Blue Devils - I have my reservations about the middle parts of this show, but they are undeniable already in terms of performance. They're easily a caption contender in Brass, guard will probably as well (though Vanguard did top them tonight). They're going to win A LOT if not all shows between now and Atlanta, after then is when this gets interesting. IMO they're not unbeatable in terms of design, but they're going to be hard to beat just cause of how #### good they play an march. Bluecoats - This show has the potential to be huge, and already is in some ways. Something totally refreshing and new in what they're doing with sound. Just incredible to me. My favorite show right now, though 1 isn't far behind after tonight. I'm in total love with what they're doing. Don't have much else to say than I'm completely behind this show. The Cadets - An absolute beast of a show, the Waltz section is ridiculous. I see this show getting layered for the better down the road. The front half through the ballad is spot on thematically IMO, after that I think they probably have some things in mind. The ending they have for July should be a fantastic addition. Brass and Percussion are top notch. Guard will be interesting to watch, if they clean up they'll be fine. Strong across the board. Carolina Crown - Dark Horse. Some people are already counting them out which is a huge mistake. They won brass and guard tonight, and I see that happening a lot down the road. Percussion, we'll see. The drumline is hugely improved, regardless of scoring. They have a lot of work to do thematically and some changes to make IMO, but if they do they have the talent to really surge late for a medal. I see potential for this to be huge. Just depends what they do down the road. Santa Clara Vanguard - Will go into a little more detail here since a lot probably haven't seen it. Talk about throwing a wrench in. I had my doubts about this show but after watching them tonight, completely gone. Visual design is top notch, and I see this cleaning well. It was a lot more polished than they were last year at this time. Visual design is sublime, my favorite visual package I've seen this year. All sorts of REALLY cool circuit, lightning, electric, nuclear symbolism in the drill. Props are integrated almost seamlessly, almost didn't noticed they had moved, those moments are woven into the design and aren't glaring. Hornline sounds fantastic, they're way ahead of the last two years. Percussion is killer again, up there with Cadets. Color Guard is also hugely improved. Absolutely love the costuming and silks, they're very striking. This is the first JD Shaw book at Vanguard I can say I'm in love with. Creepy, eerie, quirky kind of mad scientist vibe going on throughout the entire show. "Pure Imagination" is given an absolutely haunting treatment. The closer is musical bliss, and visual. Best product since at least 2004. They're going to throw a wrench in some peoples predictions. This is the show we've been waiting for from this staff. IT. HAS. ARRIVED. I have absolutely no idea what order those top 5 will finish in. Some could finish 1st or 5th. Been following the entire season since 2009, and this is by far the best set of championship worthy shows I've seen at this point. We're in for a historic season in my eyes. None of these shows reads off as a dud in any way. I can easily say that 4 of these are at least as good at last year, if not better. They will sort themselves out come finals, but right now it's anyone's guess as good as mine. I'm blown away. Every single one of these shows I can enjoy in varying ways, and I can say that in past years that is definitely not the case. Not by a long shot. 2015's going to be a year for the ages. Bluecoats, Santa Clara Vanguard, and Cadets I can say I love. Edited June 21, 2015 by DrumManTx 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoyWonder1911 Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 (edited) I have my top 5 picked out for sure. I'd bet a lot of money on it. Blue Devils Bluecoats The Cadets Carolina Crown Santa Clara Vanguard Santa Clara Vanguard - Will go into a little more detail here since a lot probably haven't seen it. Talk about throwing a wrench in. I had my doubts about this show but after watching them tonight, completely gone. Visual design is top notch, and I see this cleaning well. It was a lot more polished than they were last year at this time. Visual design is sublime, my favorite visual package I've seen this year. All sorts of REALLY cool circuit, lightning, electric, nuclear symbolism in the drill. Props are integrated almost seamlessly, almost didn't noticed they had moved, those moments are woven into the design and aren't glaring. Hornline sounds fantastic, they're way ahead of the last two years. Percussion is killer again, up there with Cadets. Color Guard is also hugely improved. Absolutely love the costuming and silks, they're very striking. This is the first JD Shaw book at Vanguard I can say I'm in love with. Creepy, eerie, quirky kind of mad scientist vibe going on throughout the entire show. "Pure Imagination" is given an absolutely haunting treatment. The closer is musical bliss, and visual. Best product since at least 2004. They're going to throw a wrench in some peoples predictions. This is the show we've been waiting for from this staff. IT. HAS. ARRIVED. Not mine :D I believe I had picked them 3rd, after BD and Bloo. I'm still betting that when all is said and done, SCV will get the bronze by a hair. I can't wait for all these corps to meet. I believe Bluecoats and SCV meet up as early as July 5th. They've been on the cusp for a couple of years. If they were at Cadets' level last year, then this year one could surmise that they're still relatively equal overall - and I think I'm leaning towards thinking that the judges are going to reward SCV for having a fresher, more unique show idea. The wrench that's been thrown into my predictions is having Crown 6th after the Cavs...big mistake. The judges have pretty much made it apparent at this point that the Cavs don't yet belong back into the top 5. :( In any case, it's going to be a close fight between 1-5. Hoping for slim, but clear margins. Edited June 21, 2015 by BoyWonder1911 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clutchtow Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 My official top 12 predicitons: 1) Bluecoats 2) SCV 3) Blue Devils 4) Crown 5) Cadets 6) Cavaliers 7) Blue Knights 8) Phatnom Regiment 9) Blue Stars 10) Boston Crusaders 11) Madison Scouts 12) Oregon Crusaders... But actually probably Crossman... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCI-86 Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 I think Cadet's guard is going to hurt them this year. Not because they are not clean right now but because of the writing. The guard adds very little to this program (take them out and you really wouldn't miss them bar the ballad). The guard is a distant 5th in the top 5 grouping. They need to learn that they have to do more than just spin flags and rifles at 100 mph. And the hoops and sticks add nothing and I bet will be removed at some point. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 1) The Blue Devils 2-25) Everybody Else Corpse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phan_of_Drumming Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 After getting an idea of each group's show: 1) Santa Clara Vanguard 2) Blue Devils 3) Bluecoats 4) Cadets 5) Carolina Crown 6) Cavaliers 7) Blue Stars 8) Phantom Regiment 9) Blue Knights 10) Boston Crusaders 11) Crossmen 12) Madison Scouts Finals Cut 13) Colts 14) Pacific Crest 15) Troopers 16) Spirit of Atlanta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brutus Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 (edited) See below. Edited June 22, 2015 by Brutus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brutus Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 (edited) When the Bluecoats start their show, you get that slow-black, crow-black, deep in your bones feeling that this is the future. You watch it, as if from your satisfied Our Town grave. The only thing the show needs is for the designers or performers to reveal on a personal level what this music means to them, viscerally, spiritually. Edited June 22, 2015 by Brutus 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 1) The Blue Devils 2-25) Everybody Else Corpse That is certainly how I felt in 2014 after seeing BD in person. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nine White Russians Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 1 Blue Devils 2 Bluecoats 3 SCV 4 Cadets 5 Crown 6 Blue Knights 7 Phantom 8 Cavaliers 9 Boston 10 Crossmen 11 Blue Stars 12 Madison Scouts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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