Jeff Ream Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 The percussion recap is kind of odd - all 6 corps within 1.0 and 5 of them within 0.4. Those seem like really tiny spreads for opening night with 6 corps. Overall, hard to argue with Cadets on top tonight. It's a fantastic music book. I wish they could borrow Bluecoats' electronics team for about 3 days - maybe figure out that taking an amazing arrangement of Shostakovich and pouring on 3 heaping cupfuls of goo is not such a great idea. high number 13, 2 sub box ties. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liahona Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 Thanks, TroopAlum. I forgot to mention that very thing in my write-up. That was my musical "heart goes pitter-pat" moment of the night. One, that someone programmed Bruckner. Two, that it was his 8th. LOVE that work. It probably was the bright spot of the Cavies program for me. Well that is how... 'On the Shoulders of Giants' begins.....like an insect coming out of a chrysalis...I absolutely LOVE it! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShouldveMarchedAgeOut Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 Then, they came out with this amazing rendition of Woods (the only good song Bon Iver has recorded) Wow. WHAT?!? The only good Bon Iver song haha. You need to update your music taste. Holy crap. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B-Flat Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 I absolutely love the level of quality each Corps put out tonight. With that said, my short recap of tonight's performances is as follows: Madison- Most improved corps season over season. I look forward to seeing this show grow Bluestars- I loved this shows theme and overall design concept. I think once this show gels and is cleaned it could be rated as high as #7 come finals night. Crown- IMO this show has the most potential of the top three corps tonight. I LOVE this new DARK CROWN! I really give the staff credit for the first 2/3 of the show and the guard looks ready to ###### the blue devils #1 spot away from them and brass also (once cleaned). If they re-write the ending and throw a little more general effect in the mix, this show could easily upset some folks and be ranked between #1-3 comes finals night. Cavies- I liked the beginning and some of the middle of the show, but the hornline needs a lot of cleaning. Not to compare, but it sounds like they were going for a Crown level of brass demand without the players to back it up with. I honestly believe this a good show and could surprise us all if tweaked and cleaned on placement. I honestly think this show will pass the Bluecoats if cleaned properly. Bluecoats- So maybe its just me, but IMO this show will most likely be a 4-6 show as I see it reaching the top of its potential mid-season. I honestly, thought the brass book was one of the more simple ones of the night and is easier to perform than most. Maybe I'm crazy, but I thought this exact thing last year (i.e. I thought the music played during TILT was easier than the other top 5 corps). With that said, the general effect scores are debatable and I don't see this show staying in the top 4 if SCV brings the pain this season and Crown rewrites the parts of there show that could propel them upward. I'll stop here, as I did not think this show deserves more commentary. Cadets- WoW!!!!! What a fantastic and demanding show. The staff really throw the kitchen sink at this show. I think this is the show to beat this year, even though I haven't seen the BD or SCV's shows. If I were a judge tonight the corps would of been ranked as follows: Cadets Crown Bluecoats Cavies Blue Stars Madison 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skevinp Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 Great because I'm not going to any #### theater. Drum corps is terrible in the theater. You may have been there anyway. Saw a brief flash of the Cadets 2000 trumpet feature in the promos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HornTeacher Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 Crown: Loved it ... much better than last year's show, but not quite as great as Einstein on the Beach, IMHO. Beethoven's 9th is, in many people's opinion (including my own), one of the greatest pieces of music ever written. They did it justice all the way up until the Ode to Joy theme at the end. When they hit the theme, I had goosebumps ... and then it just kind of died and didn't go anywhere. The piece deserves more than that, and I expect that they have some major changes to the ending. The opening theme, though, was great ... reminded me a lot of the Mahler 2 opening they did in 2010. I also appreciate that they took a more minimalist approach to the props this year ... the trampolines last year really ruined that show for me. My thoughts exactly, jasgre. The use of the 2nd movement of the Beethoven 9th is rather inspired, I feel. But maybe they should have segued from that into the finale of the Beethoven 7th. That movement has enough fire, positive message, and brass possibilities to serve as a great closer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liahona Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 Crown: Loved it ... much better than last year's show, but not quite as great as Einstein on the Beach, IMHO. Beethoven's 9th is, in many people's opinion (including my own), one of the greatest pieces of music ever written. They did it justice all the way up until the Ode to Joy theme at the end. When they hit the theme, I had goosebumps ... and then it just kind of died and didn't go anywhere. The piece deserves more than that, and I expect that they have some major changes to the ending. The opening theme, though, was great ... reminded me a lot of the Mahler 2 opening they did in 2010. I also appreciate that they took a more minimalist approach to the props this year ... the trampolines last year really ruined that show for me. I've never been a fan of 'Ode to Joy'...I didn't care for it when BAC did it many years ago either.... Please drop 'Ode to Joy'...winner winner chicken dinner...I can hope anyways...lol :-) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cappybara Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 Wow. I didn't see it in theaters but I just saw Bluecoats on Youtube. I think this is their year to win gold honestly. Incredibly exciting show. SO much use of electronics but it's great use. Throughout the season they will continue to tweak everything and hopefully add even cooler stuff. And man, that hornline is so freakin incredible. Regardless of what the judges say, they are by far the second best hornline in DCI behind Crown. The last chord of that ballad sounded absolutely unbelievable. They have an incredible brass staff. All of their captions look strong and I really love their drumline this year. The whole corps is on fire. I can't wait to see Kinetic Noise in Akron on Saturday! Bloo wins gold this year. You heard it here first. Just think about where they were at this point last year and they still improved significantly and got silver. Oh my god this is gonna be a great year for them. I don't know... I've certainly written on here how spectacle Bloo's hornline sounded, but something tells me BD will be atleast the 3rd best hornline this year. I've listened to some of their recordings/warm ups and they shound GOOD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Mulvaney Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 Finally home from the theater. Didn't feel like typing up all my thoughts on my phone, so here they are, in order of performance: Madison - I feel that they are already stronger than last year on the achievement side of the house, but I just can't connect with this show. It feels like the late 1980s meets early 2000s drum corps. There's nothing even remotely modern about it to me; everything from the arrangements to the drill to the cheesy acting from the guard seems old fashioned. Choppy arrangements with a lack of clarity in theme just makes it hard for me to love... I will say that there was a great amount of visual clarity for this early in the season, as well as some great brass moments. Drums in 3rd is laughable. Blue Stars - I generally love Blue Stars shows... this is a major exception. This was ROUGH, even for this early in the season. The brass had no clarity, neither in music or visual performance. It seems like there were lofty expectations for the show design, but it falls flat in most regards. With a title like "Side Show," I'm expecting a spectacle of a show with lots of great visual moments. When they started explaining how it had to do with a depression-era carnival, I immediately felt a disconnect with the show title, even moreso when I heard the choppy musical arrangements to little effect. The drumset was distracting and sounded very out of place stylistically (tuning and concert-hall style amplification made it worse). It works for Grom's indoor writing, but much less outdoors, especially in this show. One bright spot for this show was the guard, which makes me scratch my head after seeing the recaps. They have a ton of work to do, and I unfortunately think they will be on the outside looking in this year unless they make some MAJOR changes, both compositionally and in execution. Madison was clearly better, at least in my opinion. Crown - Holy crap... I wasn't expecting much initially after seeing some clips online, but they really came across well today. Brass is already performing at a high level, but there are some moments that are super exposed and will need a ton of work. The guard is phenomenal, as was the entire corps visually. Everything works thematically except for the closer, but others have already mentioned that this is likely going to be scrapped. Drums in 6th is puzzling to me and I can't help but feel a bit concerned over last place in composition. I will say, to the ire of many on this site, Crown NEEDS to embrace their use of electronics even more for this show! They didn't come across at all in prior clips, but the little I could hear of them tonight made a HUGE impact on the show. They weren't relied upon to carry the show, but they provided excellent effect and ambiance that I feel will be necessary to convey the sinister themes in this show. Overall assessment of potential: I'm expecting this will likely challenge for a medal, certainly moreso than last year, but will miss out on a top 2 spot. Cavies - The opener was great ... after that, what a mess! That "Run Boy Run" section ... what exactly were they thinking? Nothing appealing about the music, and the awkwardness of the singing made me very uncomfortable. Everything after the opener felt like a total it was trying to recreate the magic from early 2000s Cavaliers shows, unsuccessfully. Major re-writes coming folks. They have talent, but the vehicle they were given is an incomplete thought. Cadets - Already being performed at a high level. The instrumentation is a bit strange (not much bottom end), but works for the most part. The percussion section is amazing. Flam city in the drumline and some pretty interesting orchestration in the front ensemble. The french horn feature was phenomenal, but I really hope they watch where they're going on those podiums! All that said, they will do well based on how much they are integrating the "ten" concept, but there's nothing supremely innovative about this show. It's a typical fast-paced, exciting Cadets show with a basic, easily-conveyed concept rather than a theme, and it will work out very well for them competitively. I'd be surprised if they fell out of medal contention. Bluecoats - I need to apologize for the fellow audience members whose babies I will inevitably throw. I don't have any of my own, and the Bluecoats deserve to have some tossed in their general direction. I can't even begin to say how impressed I am with the sheer amount of risk the design team has taken with this show. I already know that a majority of fans will not like or identify with this show due to lack of melody, heavy electronics, etc. I have no issue with any of it, and even embrace it. It's so different than anything that has ever been put on the field. It's almost like the entire show is one continuous effect, perfectly wrapped into one full length show. I can't wait to see where they take this show once they work on some balance issues. One other area to work on will inevitably be individual visual performance. LOTS of bouncing and some uniformity issues. Overall, I really feel this show, along with the Cadets, has the potential to challenge BD for the top spot this year. The only way to go is up! I agree with every word of this review.Bluecoats knocked my socks off. They will get standing ovations every night. With all the new corps, shows like these( and last year's) and three internationals coming to finals, this beloved activity is clearly on the upward track that we have been waiting for , Theatre attendance was a little disappointing in Aliso Viejo CA, but adult ticket price was $24 which is less than reserved seat at the big 12 corps (BD,SCV, BK,Regmnt,PC,Acad.,Mand.)show on the 28th in Riverside. Show will sellout (2,000 reserv.)like last year. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasgre2000 Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 (edited) Wow. WHAT?!? The only good Bon Iver song haha. You need to update your music taste. Holy crap. Bon Iver is the worst ... so obnoxiously hipsterish. Woods is an amazing song. Edited June 18, 2015 by jasgre2000 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.