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DCI Finals Week Review


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Ok, it's finished now!

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Phantom Regiment . . . Musically, "Clair de Lune" really developed into a stellar highlight by Saturday night--just beautiful in every regard.

Yes, I was very impressed by how much I liked that section by the last week. Earlier in the season, it had seemed busy and pedestrian.

Blue Devils . . . Is it just me or did every single letter of the alphabet sneak into that drill in some creative way?

I saw AbC, XYZ, INK, and a mysterious J. Were there others?

A great review, as always.

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Did you notice, live but in your very high seats, what several others have mentioned based on the webcast or from being in lower seats:

--That one of Bluecoats speakers wasn't working?

--That Crown's ballad soloist's microphone wasn't working?

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TexasPRfan, Awesome review as usual. I have been following your reviews for several years now. Look forward to next years.

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Ok, it's finished now!

I only saw the theater broadcast on Thursday night, which began with Academy, who I have never seen live or on video. What a show!

Anyway, during the broadcast, they did a comparison of the two uniforms of the Cadets going into the set where they spelled out "TEN." First they showed them in the black uniforms, then in their traditional uniforms. To me, the black came out better. Before they went on, one of staff people was interviewed and said part of the uniform change was to be used as a back drop to the guard's neon uniforms, going so far as saying the guard's uniforms were neon because neon is the 10th element on the periodic table.

About the Troopers----ok, going toward the end of the show when the troops were chasing after the "horses" with lassos, I noticed that a number of "horses" had rifles, which made me wonder why the "horses" didn't fight back! They would have won! (kidding of course)

The was the most immeresed in drum corps in the last 11 years. Sure, I've been catching corps on YouTube and all that. It's just amazing how the taent level of the members have risen! None of the shows were easy, sure, some were less difficult than others, but they all were very impressive. Excellent review!

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Great review as always!! Thanks.

I agree with almost everything you said. I felt bad for the Cavaliers who were crippled due to sickness, but you're right about the guard integration. I otherwise liked that show. Phantom Regiment can still play really well. They have better talent than SCV, which is apparent to me when I hear the two live. This is why the SCV stuff isn't sounding as good. That first 3 minutes of SCV's show was stunning, but after that I lost interest with the exception of an exquisite baritone solo. By contrast, Phantom's brass can keep me interested for an entire show just on pure talent, sound, articulation, and technique. And I think it's fair to say Phantom's show was no where near as good as SCV's in terms of design. If Phantom can get the design thing worked out they will rise once again, much like they did in 2012.

Madison is on the way back I believe. I loved their show, too. It took me until mid-season, but once they got the kinks worked out I fell in love with it except for the guard uniforms and the props.

The Cadets were a joy no matter where they placed. If you're a music person, then you loved Cadets. One of the best brass and percussion lines all summer, and in my opinion should have won both the Ott and the Sanford. Just a monster of a music ensemble, especially when you consider what they marched. But sadly, they also missed the boat on a few things. I agree with you that the dark uniforms hurt them. The guard integration hurt (not the kids fault). the neon green was useless and all the word play, number play, and other meaningless effects they used to show the number 10 were, IMO, elementary. They would have been better off with no show theme. Still, it's easy to criticize in hindsight. I give them mad props for taking the risks and for the mostly old-school drum corps in your face show. No shortage of talent or skill with Cadets.

With the comments you made about Carolina, and I wasn't there for Finals, I'm not surprised that Bluecoats almost beat them. In many ways Blooo had no big weaknesses, much like BD. Their percussion was smoking on finals night from what I can tell, their guard was solid, their brass is always solid to amazing, and from day one I thought they had a cohesive and well thought-out theme. Their GE scores were excellent too. They just weren't quite as good at performing and cleaning the feet the way BD can, but it would not have surprised me to see Blooo take 2nd.

Again, thanks for the terrific review.

Edited by jwillis35
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Did you notice, live but in your very high seats, what several others have mentioned based on the webcast or from being in lower seats:

--That one of Bluecoats speakers wasn't working?

--That Crown's ballad soloist's microphone wasn't working?

No, I didn't notice either!

Edited by TexasPRfan
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Man - that is one great review - and love your guard comments - bang on!

Later,

Mike

Thanks, Mike!

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