FTNK Posted August 4, 2015 Share Posted August 4, 2015 Quick sleepytime thoughts-- PR--pretzel line I'm so sorry BK-- subdued but artistic Cavies-- much better than expected Cadets--dirty, crowd on their feet for Z pull Crown--on fire holy smokes guard SCV--captivating, much better in person, lovely mix of emotions and effects Bloo--powerful, new standard for electronics (but SCV does them really really well too) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jplan72 Posted August 4, 2015 Share Posted August 4, 2015 Still traveling back from the show. Not Surprised I had issues my phone couldn't handle Crown's show so sorry bout that. Sat around a lot of first timers or their first shows of the year. They all couldn't get enough of the shows which were well received. Lots of Love for Inferno and SCV's many effects. Not surprised with the scores, but thought Cadets had a really good run tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FTNK Posted August 4, 2015 Share Posted August 4, 2015 Any word on attendance? The place was slammed. Too crowded for me. Parking direction not idea--teenagers in dark shirts in the dark after the show, that's just asking for someone to get run over Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crown Phan Posted August 4, 2015 Share Posted August 4, 2015 Some quick thoughts: Phantom: Still disappointed for most of the show. I do love the closer. I especially loved the kneel kick at the end. Blue Knights: Another cerebral show that was very well done. I like this continued direction and look forward to next years treats. Cavaliers: saw them in Akron as well and it hasn't grown much for me. Some parts I like more but as a whole it's a forgettable show. Cadets: I like the black uniforms and I think the cadets should make them official from now on. The cummerbund should be neon. But as a whole this show is not my thing. I think it's a perfect example of No one around Hop telling him no. The George Lucas of DCI. Carolina Crown: pure bliss. Incredible hot line (low brass need to calm the eff down going into the ballad impact so the notes don't begin to come apart) and fantastic guard. I really hope they pull off the win. Santa Clara Vanguard: what a show. I LOVE pure imagination. The lighting effects at the end were incredibly cool. I wasn't sold when I heard about them but they made me a believer. The show is surprisingly scoring low and it saddens me. Bluecoats: YES! Make that push! This is such an innovative show that is finally earning it's due. They were on fire and I can't wait to see them keep on the gas pedal through Saturday. This is one of my favorite events of the season and this year kept that up. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvu80 Posted August 4, 2015 Share Posted August 4, 2015 (edited) I just got back from the show 2.5 hour drive, and I don't know yet who won! I'll give some impressions, then read the scores, then do an analysis tomorrow. I met and sat with N.E. Brigand. Our seats were sections DD, 30 rows up, about 10 down from the pressbox, and on the left 40 yard line. Weather was perfect, the night was perfect. The crowd around me was split with newbies and veteran show attendees. Most impressive was Brigand's dad, a 25 year HS band adjudicator who called the eventual winner, and was right on the money about what he heard. I think he told me he's retired from adjudicating, but he's still got it! The crowd was literally endzone to endzone, the place was absolutely packed! Huge crowd, and very vocal for all corps, especially Crown, Bloo, and Cadets. The crowd was over the top for Crown, I think, mainly due to that BIG finish! Cadets too, brought the house down with their Z-pull, which was very effective. Crown won (just my guess). Brass impacts were plentiful and just cracked concrete with their huge simultaneous hits! CG was off the charts good, the show is just so well designed and integrated with corps and guard. Their horn line is great, but different from Cadets hornline great. If Crown wins brass (or music) give 50% of the credit to the exposed flugal soloist, who has the most pure sound you ever heard, great tone! Cadets hornline was just fantastic. They articulate every note, and you can hear every section when called upon. The French horn feature which I heard in the first show of the year is now incredibly effective, and loud. Percussion too, just off the charts. I point to the pit for ultimate excellence, man those guys just FLY on the notes! Visual GE was off the charts bad, IMO. I would drop them behind Vanguard, who frankly has the best visual show design, again IMO. I'm through with tirades about the uniform change. All I will comment on is the corps is not visually interesting from the high seats. There are NO visual impacts whatsoever. Again, contrast with SCV which does it better than any corps. ANY corps. I put Cadets 2nd by a mili-squidgen. That's because of the lack of visual, and the BlooCoats who really had it going on tonight. Best last two minutes of any show, and best closer of the year. The Z pull is fantastic integrated into the ending, a real goosebumps moment. N.E. Brigand said he saw some diagonals that were off and thought that with some cleaning the show could win finals. I noticed the tempos were pushed in the last two minutes. This is my favorite show of the year, but I don't think it can win due to lack of visual impact. It's dropping in effectiveness as the season comes to an end, which is a shame IMO, it is otherwise a championship show. Bluecoats: Great run, although this is not my favorite show, I don't know the music, and for the most part, I don't like it. The ballad is the best part IMO. The electronic stuff is too gimicky, and the tuba feature is cool, but "eh" in terms of throwing babies. It''s nice the tubas can syncopate and trade quarter notes across the front sideline, but it's not worth big music points, at least not to me. I might put them in third, but second is where they deserve to be from a technical point of view. Crowd really got behind them and cheered. Sure, it was a home crowd, but they really deserved the wild cheering and the standing 'O at the end. Vanguard: Wow, best opener in drum corps. I love the marching, and the pit is fantastic and carries the interest musically like no other pit in the activity. That is probably what puts them a notch above to win percussion. And when I say notch, I mean just a fraction above Cadets, which can match them note-for-note in speed and precision. I was most surprised to hear how LOUD the horns were. They can crank out the sound with the top three, no question. The lights in the sash's, drums, guard poles and the red sash in the DM's uni at the end were noticed and really applauded by the crowd. It is ten times more effective live than on the internet feed. SCV BY FAR has the best show design in terms of using the color palette of the uniform to create visual impacts and change the mood of the music PERFECTLY with the horn sound. They can turn their backs to get green, turn sideways to get some red, and full frontal to get maximum visual impacts with white and red, and the white plume. I don't understand why this isn't reflected in the scores, this design is #1 in EXACTLY the same way Cadets Angels and Demons were #1 with coordinating the creme/maroon uniforms into the drill design in 2011. I would put them in 4th overall, but 1st in drums and in 1st in whatever category show design is in. Blue Knights: LOUD! This is the loudest and best sounding BK I've ever heard! The first part of the show to me is slow, but the horns really pick it up in the middle! The bari solo is the best in the business. Cavaliers: I love the music in their show. The guard runs around the whole show acting like they are doing manly gestures, as if it were designed by someone who wasn't manly but had the impression this is what manly would look like. It's silly looking, at best, like two girls slap fighting with their hands and their faces turned away, but without actually hitting each other. Drums almost completely fell apart in the drum solo being off by at least a half-count from the pit, and were so far off it also threw off the horns when they came in after the drum solo. I credit the horns with the recovery. Phantom: I don't like the American in Paris stuff, so this show is never going to be my favorite. That being said, I thought it was the best performance of the season for them and the horns are cranking out some real power. They score with Claire de Lune, and the Organ Symphony is the highlight of their show. Edited August 4, 2015 by wvu80 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cappybara Posted August 4, 2015 Share Posted August 4, 2015 Some quick thoughts: Phantom: Still disappointed for most of the show. I do love the closer. I especially loved the kneel kick at the end. Blue Knights: Another cerebral show that was very well done. I like this continued direction and look forward to next years treats. Cavaliers: saw them in Akron as well and it hasn't grown much for me. Some parts I like more but as a whole it's a forgettable show. Cadets: I like the black uniforms and I think the cadets should make them official from now on. The cummerbund should be neon. But as a whole this show is not my thing. I think it's a perfect example of No one around Hop telling him no. The George Lucas of DCI. Carolina Crown: pure bliss. Incredible hot line (low brass need to calm the eff down going into the ballad impact so the notes don't begin to come apart) and fantastic guard. I really hope they pull off the win. Santa Clara Vanguard: what a show. I LOVE pure imagination. The lighting effects at the end were incredibly cool. I wasn't sold when I heard about them but they made me a believer. The show is surprisingly scoring low and it saddens me. Bluecoats: YES! Make that push! This is such an innovative show that is finally earning it's due. They were on fire and I can't wait to see them keep on the gas pedal through Saturday. This is one of my favorite events of the season and this year kept that up. You think THIS is a year where no one around Hop is telling him no? Have you WATCHED 2014 Cadets?! Lol. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superOOk Posted August 4, 2015 Share Posted August 4, 2015 SCV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvu80 Posted August 4, 2015 Share Posted August 4, 2015 So who won? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superOOk Posted August 4, 2015 Share Posted August 4, 2015 PR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Screamer Posted August 4, 2015 Share Posted August 4, 2015 Crown 1 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.