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Blue Devils 2016


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Awesome post! Brilliantly shows why DCI is so great. Variety of excellence, and of opinion. This will be my first year attending Finals since I started following in 1982 (my first show was Precision West in Concord). BD grabbed me then (what a show!), at the age of 14 ... and I've been hooked ever since.

Ill take a stab at this

Crown has a traditional drum corps show this year but within that context, the left to right movement of the corps as lead by the stage coach across the field is fresh but even more so, their visual body work is cowboy style this year where as last year it was devil style. They adjusted their individual visual repertoire of the horn line to better support the show theme. Since the show theme is different from last year, it becomes original and creative. This is not the case for Blue Devils this year as a lot of their visuals and GE points are rehashed, BD stock moves, therefore they become less original and less creative (stale). Crowns show has a similar arc to last year but these 2 years are a departure for them, as were the 2 years prior. Crown in 2012 was stale; it was the end of their 2007-12 period which was played out, how many times do we want to see a bug squash?

Bluecoats have unique visuals that are built around the props, ones we havent seen before so its original and creative. They also have a new sense of staging with multiple points transitioning by visual movements and GE grabs built around the props. Its very show specific. Plus the color of the props are mixed into the overall color scheme, design palette so it looks fresh compared to BD typical white prop boat. BD did add color to the panels this year but so far its a negative. Bluecoats show follows a progression, the bleachers from 2013 combined with the ramps from 2014 but the combination is still fresh, new, original and creative.

Watching DCI for a number of years, you start to notice things; sometimes a corps has a big jump in the ranks then does a copycat show and drops, the staleness (lack of originality and creativity) catches up to them. Im inclined to think Bluecoats have the winning design in DCI this year. Personally, its not my favorite nor do I think its the best but I do think its the one that has the most reward potential within DCIs current system and directional push.

There are a lot of shows I enjoy that have massive flaws; BD is only under such scrutiny because they are in the top tier, as it should be when every .1 counts

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For their new closer, I'm hoping BD adds some of those long flags like the film rolls used at the end of Felliniesque, except that they should be blue flags that represent magic/water.

Edited by Cadevilina Crown
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Those darn major and minor chords...they can just ruin a show. I want more diminished chords! Diminished chords matter!!

I think what he may have meant is lots of diatonicism and triads, LOL

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I enjoyed BD a lot more tonight. Had closed off my mind to enjoying it and that was a mistake.

Take me back plz? I would sell my soul to go back and hear that ballad live!

Hey hey, I just wanted to say this is a super cool post and I am glad you did this! Respect for you up +10000000% :)

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According to MikeRapp, they took out the Bieber but the dance break remains?

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According to MikeRapp, they took out the Bieber but the dance break remains?

I was specifically listening for Bieber so I am almost positive it is gone, but the dance break...sorry, just me, but I hated it. And so did a lot of other people. When you are sitting on the opposite 35 yard line and you can hear people snickering around you, not good.

Again Jmho. It is a rock solid show other than that 60 seconds. But the death metal part was so obviously pandering to me.

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