Carolina Crown 2015

[archbananas]

Musically speaking, there are moments that sound AMAZING.

Design however...... makes me slightly worried.

POSITIVES:

• The hornline's aggression in the opener is the angry hornline sound I've been wanting to hear from Crown. That adds so much character to what is going on that it sucks me in right away. I literally feel like I have been transported to a dark and aggressive place. The sign was also a cool little touch I did not expect at all. Wow. The opening sequence is somewhat dirty, but all of the design elements feel 90% fleshed out to me in that section.
• Colorguard is outstanding. There really isn't much more to say. The staging REALLY helps showcase the guard as well.
• I love how musical the percussion section is. After the brass introduction, the percussion takes over and really drives not only the rhythmic intensity, but the musical intensity as well. Unfortunately, that does not translate well on internet video, but I bet in person, the percussion section's intense musicality really set-up the Verdi's Requiem hit much better than what was depicted in the video.
• Gosh. An aggressive Crown sound with Verdi's Requiem....... MORE PLEASE.
• The musical interaction with the colorguard was awesome. Once again, it probably translates a LOT better in person. The integration this year is outstanding!
• That ballad is WONDERFUL. I would have preferred it being somewhat more spooky. However, it is still outstanding. The ballad is something that also feels about 80% flushed out.
• The fabric over the ensemble......... simple yet effective. I love it.
• The ballad is also just a gluttony of musicality. Give me more please.
• All aspects of the corps seem VERY strong this year.

NEGATIVES:

• Dirty. But that's to be expected.
• ELECTRONICS TOO LOUD. Oh my goodness. It better be the camera picking up the electronics too much, but the amount of goo is getting distasteful.
• There are moments where there are TONS of layers, but it is translating off as awful blurriness visually and musically. What's holding back those moments from being spectacular is the fact that there is no focus. NOW GRANTED. I know the show is called INFERNO. Tons of things going on at once = Chaos = Hell. Yeah sure I get it. But, I feel like subtle chaos can be more effective than "Let me hit you over the head with some layers and let me layer more things on top of that." One particular section that suffers from this is the section after the brass interplay with the colorguard all the way up to right where the ballad begins.
• The very complex brass double tonguing section after the ballad feels too happy for me. I was hoping for a more..... demented voicing. (I mean, you don't HAVE to go for a diminished chord. But you could have at LEAST gone into a Minor 7th or a Minor Triad with emphasis on the flat third).
• The ending. No. Just no. Sorry Crown. That ending doesn't work. You set up the audience with such an aggressive sounding intro that having an ending such as this is like.... no.

Edited June 14, 2015 by archbananas

[CrownLeadSop]

Couple early thoughts so I have something to come back to:

• It's a time-honored (at least back to 2006ish) Crown tradition of basically fully re-writing the closer. It's almost not a point of evaluation at this point as it will change so drastically.
• Love: The look of the unis (guard and corps proper, both) from an ensemble point of view, the pre-show, the banner, the ballad, the ballad scrim.
• I prefer this ballad to anything Crown has done in a very long time, maybe ever. Wild Horses is up there, but this may supplant it.
• Can't wait to see: More engaging transition from drum solo following pre-show into Dies Irae, developed closer, obvious growths in endurance and performance quality.
• The show most reminds me of Crown 2008 - a loose collection of ideas centered around a theme that just begs for season-long development, resulting in a pretty fantastic vehicle.
• I really appreciate that this is less of a technical gun show for the brass than the 2014 (and to some degree, 2013) show was. Track and field style brass books are fun, but we know they can play just about anything - it's good to see that they know it, too, and have backed off to get to some great "sound" moments while still showcasing some pretty wild literature.
• I don't know if it has the legs to win and I don't really care either way, it's just a fun program and I've been begging for "dark" for a long time. Black on black with a splash of red and this content is just what the doctor ordered.

NE Brigand - re: Avon, there is a lot of design team crossover between the two programs, and the connection has been drawn before (Avon 2004, a show about football, in many ways ended up serving as a test bed for Crown 2007).

[Tummygoat]

For those they see this as a BOA show because of the theme, look at Bluecoats last year. Tilt was entirely infused throughout the program - every second went by, you could find yourself connecting back to the theme of tilt. This show is similar to me. You really feel brought in to theme and for most of the show your are constantly reminded of the idea and journey with so many cool effects. Of course that closer was a fish out of water. Felt like that belonged to Finis more than Inferno. Just need to start over with that. I don't even know if they can work with the source music. It was just so odd, but I know they will find a way to finish the story and make it connect better.

[ashevillemurphy]

This is not a dig on what Crown's doing. Almost anything creative act has at least some precedents in earlier work; that doesn't make the later work "derivative".

It's no surprise that there are similarities between past Avon shows and CC - there are a few folks who do work for both.

[PeteInGA]

It's no surprise that there are similarities between past Avon shows and CC - there are a few folks who do work for both.

Edited June 14, 2015 by PeteInGA

[crfrey71]

I can't believe the oversights in these comments. I love the interaction of the organ into the show. That is spot-on perfect and it belongs!

The piece right before the ballad (Adagio in G Minor), "Symphony for Organ and Percussion" is just simply bad a$$ awesome! Favorite part of the show. That is just owning it!

I am glad folks could figure out the ending is not at all even close to a finish product or even much of what the closer will be. Could you not see the flag line at the start of that doing simple flag twirls? LOL Sorry, just a bit of a jab.

Anyways, the point of the show is a "preview" and that is what we got. I am sure there will be uniform change at the end to seem less hellish. ;-)

The snare line is and the battery in general is playing awesome! Will be interesting when the guard gets its performance silks. This is definitely a vehicle they can drive towards a DCI championship.

There is a lot of interesting interaction during the percussion feature with the guard closely integrated with the battery. Could not see clearly from the angle of the video what was going on or in a few other spots.

​The comments about how the ballad should be played are just mind-boggling from you folks. Have you not heard that piece before??? My gosh, they are playing it just about spot-on, not deviating much at all off the proper playing of it. Again, the organ integration in the show is awesome and well thought out, even playing with the hornline in the Symphony for Organ and Percussion piece.

Can't see what hell this show gets. ;-)

[Tobias]

Yeah I thought highway was referring to a different video than the one that was already linked.

I'm going to say this cautiously as I know I haven't seen a single person say they don't like the show so far....

But am I the only one who watched this thing multiple times and ended up saying "meh" by the end? This show is pure Crown. No gimmicks whatsoever. The opening few minutes were amazing and that black banner that the guard ran over the corps that said "Abandon all hope, ye who enter" gave me goosebumps. But after all that... it all just blended together for me. I don't know, maybe it has to do with the quality of the recording (there was a lot of background noise from something), but the arrangements didn't have much life to me. Obviously I'm going to wait until atleast midseason before making any final judgements, but right now, I'm not entirely enthralled and this is coming from someone who has enjoyed practically every single show from Crown since 2007 (minus 2009. Still don't like that show for some reason).

I will reserve judgement as I only saw the one run through. My concern is, they're up against themselves now. I'll always compare them to that glorious 2013 show which after the first viewing, was pulled in, sold, in love. I'm getting more of a 2014 feel this season. Now this design may just take multiple viewings for me and that's fine but 2009 and 2013, my two favorite Crown shows hooked me on viewing one and kept me all season. (This is my personal feeling, not an opinion on competitive potential). Edited June 14, 2015 by Tobias

[2000Cadet]

I gotta say I'm looking forward to the progress of this show. There are a lot of great things going on there. Percussion is MUCH improved.

[wigwam]

I love the absence of narration!!

Just fix that ending please.

[yogitom]

I can't believe the oversights in these comments. I love the interaction of the organ into the show. That is spot-on perfect and it belongs!

The piece right before the ballad (Adagio in G Minor), "Symphony for Organ and Percussion" is just simply bad ### awesome! Favorite part of the show. That is just owning it!

I am glad folks could figure out the ending is not at all even close to a finish product or even much of what the closer will be. Could you not see the flag line at the start of that doing simple flag twirls? LOL Sorry, just a bit of a jab.

Anyways, the point of the show is a "preview" and that is what we got. I am sure there will be uniform change at the end to seem less hellish. ;-)

The snare line is and the battery in general is playing awesome! Will be interesting when the guard gets its performance silks. This is definitely a vehicle they can drive towards a DCI championship.

There is a lot of interesting interaction during the percussion feature with the guard closely integrated with the battery. Could not see clearly from the angle of the video what was going on or in a few other spots.

​The comments about how the ballad should be played are just mind-boggling from you folks. Have you not heard that piece before??? My gosh, they are playing it just about spot-on, not deviating much at all off the proper playing of it. Again, the organ integration in the show is awesome and well thought out, even playing with the hornline in the Symphony for Organ and Percussion piece.

Can't see what hell this show gets. ;-)

Sorry guy, but just because some people don't agree with your gushing synopsis of the preview show, doesn't mean it's an "oversight" by them. It's their opinion, it's different than yours and they're entitled to them. Get over it.