Music City Masterpiece - Nashville Show Thread

[Cappybara]

Is that "on-the-nose" good or "on-the-nose" bad? (I'm thinking the former, but want to be sure.) I always understood the phrase to be a compliment, but in the past couple years I've seen it used as a criticism, as a shorthand for "too on-the-nose", i.e., over-emphatic.

That's interpretation is up to the reader's preference. I'm personally more of the type that prefers less explicit storylines (which is why I tend to listen rather than watch a lot of the 2000's PR shows) so Madison's show isn't my cup of tea. But it was mainly a neutral comment and I'm not trying to say those type of shows are bad, just that they're not something I enjoy as much.

[Slingerland]

In the creative community, describing something as "too on the nose" generally means too obvious, or not very creatively achieved, as opposed to something being "on the nose" in the general sense, which is a good thing.

[MikeRapp]

I was so excited to see these shows live in Nashville. What a crowd! The entire western stands were completely full, like EVERY SINGLE SEAT. There are limitations to having this show at Vandy. The practice area is a quarter mile away from the stadium and the corps have to walk the entire thing, along a street.

Weather threatened to cut the night short after Vanguard. Quite a few people left when BD was initially not allowed to take the field.

On to the shows...

MUSIC CITY

The good: Almost out of nowhere this has become a serious open class corps. They have what appears to be a full corps now, and the show designers definitely worked hard to take advantage of their numbers. They filled the entire field more than once. Middle brass was their strong point, trumpets were very hit and miss. They need to recruit harder, you can't fill up a stadium like Vandy without a unified high brass sound. They sounded better in warmup than in the stadium.

The Bad: There is like no buzz about this corps in Nashville, but this is Music City, where everyone knows music and is not easily impressed. The show was basic, and the theme was very limited. The dude who was being coronated...at some point, how about doing something else? It felt like a bad high school musical. Dude gets a robe, then a scarf, then a crown...sorry, that's not an 11 minute program.

But overall, this was a big win for Music City. With the awesome number of high school band kids in the audience, they should be able to grow their numbers next year. Note to DCI: it would have been nice if they had explained to the crowd what the differences are between Open and World Class. Just one Open Class corps left most in the crowd wondering what that meant.

CAROLINA CROWN

Not sure if following Music City was good or bad for them. But they had a sizable crowd at their warm ups, and their leaders did a great job of welcoming and accommodating us. Even told us where to stand for the playing portion of the warm ups, which was opposite the stands. I was blown away at the teaching and technicality of warm ups. You can tell these are INSTRUCTORS. Lots of physical and vocal warm ups that had nothing to do with playing instruments, like a full hour.

The Good: This is one, big, strong, cohesive presentation. At no point did you not have something to look at that had clearly received endless attention to detail. There is a lot more going on with this show that you can't see on tv.

Brass sound was classic Crown. And they had the tightest lines of the night. This looked like finals night in terms of how perfect the forms were on the field. I loved how they bunched together parts of their show in marching forms. And this was true of the entire corps. The staging of their performances were so tight and focused. They were the polar opposite of Cadets and Knights in that regard, and it worked. It's weird because in some ways Crown looked smaller than their numbers, but every single marcher mattered. Nowhere was that more apparent than the end of the opener, where the entire corps freezes. Wow, just wow. That is drum corps at its finest!

The hit of the night for Crown was Roxanne, the crowd was really into her performance and really got it.

Awesome guard work overall...almost too much. Some of their guard felt like they were cramming too many moves into too small a time space. But I'm being picky. The dresses they wear in the last act were amazing. I heard several people around me say "Wow" when that part of the show was unveiled.

The Bad: Hard to criticize this show. I do think no one probably understood what was happening with the story. It certainly reaffirmed what I felt when I first saw this on tv. They should have moved the story to the front of the field. Way way too far away from the crowd to get it. What I really hated the most about Crown was that they filled the field with guard and marching, but never played to anywhere but the 50. I'll get to more of that in other recaps. This was a big show, and I get that you can't design a program for one of the largest crowds of the year, but I really felt like my kids missed the impact of this show by sitting on the 35.

The ending was the same as previous, but the crowd was none the wiser. But of all the shows, this one feels like it needs a much bigger ending than anyone else to challenge for a higher level of GE. I don't see Crown overtaking BD or Bluecoats, but this is a win of a program.

BLUE KNIGHTS

The Good: percussion. Holy sh*8. Could not believe how ballsy and in your face their line was. Their sound, man, it sounded like they had a mic on every snare. Even when their line was at the back of the field it overpowered the sound. Amazing, shocking, and they really sold it. Almost over sold it...almost!

They have a "big drum corps" brass sound. As much as anyone, they felt like they filled the field with sound.

You can tell that, with a little more time, the big marching moment at the beginning of the last act is going to be big and powerful. Obviously very similar to last year, but not quite as cool. Still, big thumbs up for taking this on, because it was very obvious to the crowd that they had really tried to swallow the elephant with that part of the show, and I think even at this stage the crowd appreciated the effort and effect.

The backward moonlight sonata was amazing, but still ragged. I don't think anyone really got it when it happened, and even if you did get it....what was there to get? There is a difference between esoteric and weird. This show was just weird.

The bad: overall, this show felt ragged and unfinished. Everything felt too spread out, there were not enough moments like Crown, BD and Coats where you watched an ensemble perform together.

The small easel props...what was the point of these? Some had faces (Picasso? What did that have to do with the theme?) some were mirrors, some were nature scenes (that were poorly coordinated from an art direction standpoint). Too many easels, too small, and too random. In the ending, a corps member knocked down one of the easels. Really unfortunate, it didn't appear to be his fault, and it sort of ruined the ending. But the ending left everyone sort of going, Is that the ending?

Would have been more effective if the narration had been used throughout the show. First third was like, ok, what is going on here?

Overall, honestly, this felt like a miss of a show. They have got real talent, but to challenge the top tier they are going to have to evolve show concepts so you get a more compact series of visual and musical moments. They just needed a better show design from standing of allowing the musicians to play as a group more. It felt like we never really got to hear them play much and it was unfortunately a lot more obvious following Crown.

And as an aside, it REALLY pisses me off when the corps CLEARLY sticks someone at the top of the audience to clap and cheer loudly to urge the crowd on. Bush league. Dude had a field pass and was standing behind the crowd at the top. It was so obvious that a lot of people turned around and stared, and I was savvy enough (having been in the music business) to know what he was doing. In the words of ESPN, C'mon man!

CADETS

I was really hoping that I would see Cadets in a totally different light. Unfortunately, last night affirmed most of what I had felt watching it on tv.

The good: Musically, they have the "one band one sound" power that you can only get from an elite corps. When they hit that first big power chord, it was a wow moment for the whole crowd. From a "tightness" standpoint, it was immediately clear that this was a mature corps that knows how to hit notes dead on.

Marching moments were there, especially in tighter formations in the first half of the show. There were times where this looked like a world champion level corps. The opening drew some giggles from the crowd, but then the drama settled in. Unfortunately, I bet no one had a single clue what was happening. I'm glad I did because the guard work in the first third was amazing.

The dissonant all corps section near the end of the first act was mind blowing both from an audio and visual perspective. The crowd was getting it, too. Even if you didn't understand what was going on, the complexity of that part of the musical book and the execution of it was off the charts. I was like, Heck yes this is The Cadets! It was dissonant, but also very precise, and all of the detail came through.

Pines is powerful, and the opening guard stuff, while weird, sort of worked.

I will say, this was a huge crowd and stadium, and the French horns feature was on the opposite side of the field, and everyone on my side totally missed it. I chose to be on the left rather than the right because I knew some of the best moments of other shows were left, but I also knew I would probably miss the French horn feature, and my fears were confirmed. If that was mic'ed, it wasn't done very well. Bummer.

For me another good was basically ditching the stage performances with one exception, and that exception also needs to go. It felt so forced and awkward. If you are going to do an esoteric show concept, be esoteric. The performances on the stage, what is left of them, were way too over the top. It felt like they were screaming, DO YOU GET IT? DO YOU GET IT?!

The bad: I won't beat this dead horse much because it has already been beaten to death, but this show concept was clearly a big whiff with the crowd. People can be miffed that a crowd just doesn't get how hard some of this stuff is, but when the show concept is fundamentally flawed, it ain't the crowds fault.

They are trying to do too much marching in too small a space, and it just becomes a total mashup of bodies. It may well be that the kids were on their dots, but it didn't come off that way because there is just to darned much going on too fast in too small a space. Have a purpose to every form. Sell it. And trust that we will get it.

I heard people around me laughing at the statue fight scene. And in the words of Spinal Tap, it wasn't supposed to be a comedy scene.

When the show ended, everyone sort of sat there and went, uh, okay, I guess that's it then. But I did like the new ending better than the old one. It worked for me.

Okay, here it comes. The mannequins were just flat out stupid. Sorry to be so harsh. What the heck are they out there for? They we stuck all the way stage right, which in and of itself is stupid, no one left of the 50 could even see what the intent was. Guard uniforms blended into them, but the guard totally ignored them, so you literally couldn't figure out what they were on the field for. I mean, most of this show happens in the middle thirty yards of the field. The entire second half of the show, you had these bizarre mannequins standing over there staring at the show!

They literally looked like a collection of left overs from K Mart. They don't even match in their finishes. Hard to imagine any world class corps making this move visually. It looked like a high school musical short on cash.

And here is a note to the design staff: WHEN YOU ARE DONE, CLEAR THE ENTIRE FIELD. They left three of them sitting off the field on the south end zone side of the field during the next two shows! It was freaky weird to see three mannequins standing there staring at the other shows. Very very poor form, no pun intended.

When the final scores were announced and the Cadets number came up, you could hear what was left of the crowd gasp. It felt like everyone knew the significance of that number. Felt really bad for their drum major to hear that. People want to like Cadets, and you felt like you had just watched the beginning of the end.

BLUECOATS

All I can say is, HOLY SH**! I have never seen a crowd that electric! It was so cool to have that many people in the stands seeing this show for the very first time, and boy did they ever get it! That was the shortest 11 minute show in history! It never stops, it just grabs you by the throat and chases you to the finish.

There were several times where half the crowd broke out in applause in the middle of the program.

The good: This is a gold medal show. Period. I mean, really, you can pick apart things you don't like, but when this corps played as a whole corps, it was a rush of power. The way they fill the field for big corps moments was only matched by Vanguard and BD.

And their lines were dead on. Everywhere. And I knew where to look. All of their company fronts were almost dead on perfect. And the audio hits were a blast to your face.

The solo moments were mostly dead on, but I think there was a small miss in the ballad.

The first big company front formation at the end of the opener was amazing. It was like the whole crowd just moved to the edge of their seats in total awe and blew up in excitement. The best three minutes of show design I've seen in a long time.

What surprised me was how electric the section was where the guard traded turns going up and down the small ramps. The crowd started laughing with glee, and then it just built to a crescendo of applause! Surprised me. I heard people yelling in approval during that segment, something I only heard during the opening part of BD. They mashed a ton of stuff into that segment of the show and the crowd got all of it.

The new ending really worked in Nashville, fwiw. The crowd cheered during the entire thing. And at the end, 20,000 people jumped to their feet and cheered. And I mean, cheered! It was truly electric. I cannot imagine this show not getting gold after watching this live. I only wish I could see it live in Indy, because it will bring the house down in a dome.

I should add, I have never seen a larger pit. Holy moly, it stretched from one 20 to the other! It made the entire presentation even more impressive and overwhelming.

The bad: there were three ramp slide timing misses that I saw, where someone was a little late. But the crowd didn't see any of that, they were just mesmerized by how much was happening at once. Not sure the ballad solo was immediately identifiable. They may need to have him be more identified somehow, even though I knew where he was I couldn't find him.

VANGUARD

The good: The tree was amazing and the ending really made you understand its significance. I can go on and on about this show, but the ending was absolutely mesmerizing, and at the very end where the cymbals pop in with the sound effect, the entire crowd reacted with delight! My goodness what a brilliant ending, the entire section was PERFECT. It brought your eye all the way through the entire field, all the way to the tree. Bam! Freaking awesome! I said to the guy next to me, That is drum corps right there!

Big, bold, uniform brass sound. Their upper and middle brass are really uniform in their tonality. And I mean, all of them. This felt like a complete corps, and the crowd totally appreciated their commitment to tradition.

White pants, really popped. It made them look like a really big corps on the field. When SCV marched in large forms, the crowd exclaimed. You could tell they knew exactly what they wanted to do and they just stuck to their intent and nailed it.

It was hard to get everything they were doing at times. But, they were one of three corps that specifically staged full corps full blast playing segments on both the left and right sides of the 50, and that REALLY mattered last night. Kudos to SCV for not forgetting that two thirds of the crowd can't sit on the 50. Big time thumbs up!

Guard uniforms were spectacular. Surprisingly so.

Didn't think I would like the front of field props but at Vandy, where the stands sit up about 10 feet from the field, they weren't a distraction.

Almost forgot, but the thunderstorm section was amazing, with the rifles being tossed in a twirl to make it look like lightening. Wasn't sure the crowd would get that but they absolutely did, there were some audible reactions throughout that entire section. The marching complexity and precision in this segment was one of the highlights of the night. When they completed that section the crowd broke out in applause. Cool moment, was neat to see something that difficult not only get executed that well, but appreciated from the crowd.

That was a great example of what is missing from Cadets. SCV took their time with a very detailed idea that involved every single member of the corps, and nailed it.

They got a big, noticeable and obviously funny assist from Mother Nature because during this segment there was lightening filling the sky behind them! It felt like God was saying, I am right there with you! A really really cool moment.

The bad: the show theme seemed to get lost in the middle. The open was, as I had expected, mesmerizing and perfect, and the end tied it up...but the middle seemed to wander a little. I wasn't entirely sure I was getting what they were selling, which I never felt watching BD, Coats or Crown.

Overall, though, this is a medal level show on every level. While the pace of this show is intentionally more pensive than Cadets, it is a far better show design from beginning to end. The members executed every aspect of the show. Their on the dot precision was there from beginning to end, and especially in the ending.

I felt proud to be a fan of drum corps watching this show. When this show was done, I felt like I had been rewarded for my patience. It was a dead on great show that I would love to see again.

BLUE DEVILS

Well, they almost didn't get to perform, with the weather threatening, and the crowd reacted when they were allowed to take the field. So excited that they did, because I get a totally different and better read of this show after seeing it live.

The good: Classic blue devils design and execution. It seemed as if this was a professional level troupe, not so much a marching corps. Guard costumes were at another level, or perhaps just a different level. I loved the big face of Shakespeare on the back, yes it is s little on the nose but it worked surprisingly well. Liked the splash of aqua blue in the corps uniforms.

After seeing this live, I really don't get the hand wringing over the tarp. Not only did it totally work, it blew the crowd away. The ripple effect, demonstrating waves, and the corps magically appearing underneath it, was amazingly creative. Maybe they stole that from winter guard, maybe not, but the sheer scale of the tarp and effect deserves to be commended.

The opening wave effect brought an immediate reaction from the crowd, too. It really worked. Not crazy about the little boat.

The whirlpool section, freaking awesome. It was the only moment of the entire night where I felt emotional. The twirling around using the entire guard, holding up the two people, almost touching hands and then plunging to the depths...absolutely stunning. The single best dramatic moment of the season, not even close. The crowd really reacted, too, like they felt the gravity of the moment.

The playing of the ballad was terrific, but I wanted more full corps moments from BD, from a playing standpoint. There is just too much flying, crawling, rolling and lunging from marching members. I know this is a common criticism of BD, but for a corps this musically talented, I really felt a little cheated that I didn't get to hear more full corps big bad moments from them.

The section in the last act where there are flags flown through the stage pictures was really effective and the crowd loved it.

As expected, BD is dead on their dots. Lines were sharp and moving together from beginning to end. It just seemed like this is a corps that knows how to execute every single aspect of a show. The polish and confidence of their group is so obviously at another level.

More than anyone else last night, BD projects a completely even sound as a corps. It's almost like one trumpet playing through 30 speakers. No one can out execute BD in terms of playing as a unified corps. Crown comes close and at company front moments so does Bluecoats, but BD does it when the corps is spread out. How, I don't know, but they do it.

The bad: Don't know if this is good or bad or even true, but honestly, they looked so uniform in their physical members that it looked like everyone was at age out age. There is a uniformity to BD that is cool to watch, but as has been said so many times, a bit impersonal in a weird way. You just get this weird feeling like you are watching a "performance." Not in a good way. Hard to explain.

The only really obvious dud of the show is the death metal dance section. Not only did it have nothing whatsoever to do with the show design, it felt very obvious in terms of, hey we are going to do something so outside of the norm that you will be "impressed" with our obtuse-ness. And it came off as stupid, at least last night. The dancing on the front right side was, well, laughable. It was awkward and a few people snickered at how silly they looked. If you are going to do dance moves, do dance moves the way Bluecoats did them. Trying to do that stuff in traditional corps uniforms comes off as silly. Stop trying so hard to not be a drum corps.

I think they have totally nixed the Bieber music, thankfully.

The middle dance part of this show may well keep them from the gold. It misses the mark thematically. And it comes off as arrogant. In the shadow of what we saw from Bluecoats, it was the one moment where you felt BD was trying waaaay too hard.

The only other thing that I didn't like, and this is just me, but it seemed like the percussion was purposefully over performing the show. They just always seemed to be drowning out the rest of the corps and making physical movements that were overdone. At some point, too much is just too much. Stop with the look at us and how awesome we are. Never got that feeling from the guard, which sometimes is a criticism of BD.

In general, I wish I had been on the 50 to watch BD. They play to the middle of the field exclusively, and that makes their dance sections outside of the 50 seem unimportant. I really did not appreciate the stuff the corps did in the middle section of the show because they were doing unit sections on the 25. Was not effective at all. Had no idea what or why they were doing it.

I think that, as drum corps evolves, BD will have to consider a uniform change, because the marching member movements that involve rolling around look very unprofessional in the context of what Bluecoats is doing. Until this year, BD was sort of doing the best of this in their current uniform style, but now it just didn't look very cool.

Overall, let's face it, all things considered, BD is recruiting and training at a professional level. They are going to medal because they start every season half way to the finish line. Their design concepts are smart and elegant, and more than anything BD knows how to pace a show, which is not only crucial to succeeding at drum corps, but sorely missing from so many of the shows. They get that a great show is really a series of smaller shows.

They got a good reaction at the end, the crowd seemed to appreciate the fact that they were getting to see what is now the gold standard of the idiom, but it was nowhere near the reaction to Bluecoats. Bluecoats was like a rock concert, and if you have any GE measure that looks at connection with the crowd, BD really is not close to Bluecoats this year...and no one really is. BD gave us the best show that BD can give, but for the first time it felt like they were a solid second.

PHANTOM REGIMENT

The good: was very obvious they were marching at least twice as many contras as anyone else. That big low end was amazing at the end of the first act. Was neat to see the big reaction when they were introduced, surprised me how many people knew about them historically.

The bad: some very off lines, which were obvious to me because of where I was sitting. Even their ending had bad lines, like at times a full step off of straight by more than one member.

They sort of promised a musical experience that they never delivered. This show feels sort of, I don't know, unemotional. Hard to explain. At times it just felt like you were witnessing a series of "things," not really one performance. There is no there there. When they were done, people appreciated that it was done really well, but not really memorable.

I hate to point this out but at the big moment of the show, on the back main stage of the scaffold, the guard member missed the rifle and it hit the stage and fell all the way to the ground. Right on the big brass hit. The crowd groaned, it was really bad. But kudos to the guard member, because I watched her and she picked right back up and never made another mistake! Great job, kiddo!

I will also say, I do not like these uniforms. The way the white is cut makes them all look fat. Vanguard looked tall and lean in white, while regiment looked pudgy and slow. I don't mean to sound so negative about phantom, but I would say they had the least memorable show of the night. Frankly thought they finished behind Scouts.

MADISON SCOUTS

My kids sort of dug them. My high schooler said, is this a scout group? And he asked it in a good way. When I explained their history he was surprised.

Scouts was the big surprise of the night, way way better show than I had anticipated. They fill the field, and despite their so called traditional direction, the show was surprisingly similar to BD and Crown. They don't have the polish of those groups, but they didn't back down last night. They played their butts off and the guard REALLY worked hard from beginning to end.

The good: Was very surprised at how much design Scouts took on this year. This was sort of the polar opposite of Phantom and the crowd really appreciated the effort. In fact I would say this show got the third biggest crowd reaction of the night and they went last after a very long night.

The 40 pieces of silver segment...wow! Was shocked at how into that the crowd was! The hanging part was amazing. Should not have been stuck in the back left of the field, though. I do not get why both Crown and Scouts staged their key story ideas as far away from the fans as physically possible. Making a massive scaffold doesn't fix this, guys. The people have to be viewable.

The bad: It is hard to look good doing so much big formation stuff, and I think that is where their design falls apart a little. They rely too much on 40 yard formations. Their show lacks focus visually; huge marching formations juxtaposed with a brown scaffold just doesn't work. They need to take a page out of the BD design book and stage appropriately to the front of the field.

The stage sits so far away in the right corner that it was, honestly, almost impossible to see what was happening. They tried to fix that by at times turning the entire corps toward the scaffold, but the whole thing is just a big blob of brown.

Judas needed to be a dramatically different color uniform wise. At times you couldn't tell where the heck he was.

BUT, I have to say, Scouts were absolutely the surprise of the night. I doubt many if any kids knew the story of Jesus Christ superstar, but that show definitely came off as a very serious design effort.

Edited July 30, 2016 by MikeRapp

[MikeRapp]

Btw is it me or is Vanguard the only corps marching cymbals?!

[shofmon88]

Btw is it me or is Vanguard the only corps marching cymbals?!

They're the only top 6 corps, but many corps have them. Madison, Academy, Pacific Crest, and a few more I'm missing at the moment.

Fantastic review, BTW.

edit: Also Jersey Surf, Spirit of Atlanta, Cascades, quite a few Open Class corps...

Edited July 30, 2016 by shofmon88

[Madcityscout]

Btw is it me or is Vanguard the only corps marching cymbals?!

[Madcityscout]

Mike thank you for your honest, knowledgeable opinions on the shows last night. Scouts do march a cymbal line.

[MikeRapp]

Mike thank you for your honest, knowledgeable opinions on the shows last night. Scouts do march a cymbal line.

I thought so, they were the only other corps last night to do so. In fact if I remember right, they did a neat little cymbal idea about halfway through the show, right?

Edited July 30, 2016 by MikeRapp

[1956OPR]

Mike thank you for your honest, knowledgeable opinions on the shows last night. Scouts do march a cymbal line.

Mike, what a wonderful synopses of each corps' performance. This is what DCP should be all about.

By the way, I hope the Gertrude Stein reference in the Regiment comments does not result in Mr. Crocker's introduction on finals night in Indianapolis as

"On the starting line, from Oakland, California, DCI is proud to present the Phantom Regiment"

[MikeRapp]

Kudos to my friend Kurt Heinecke, who shot the Nashville show for Marching.com.

https://www.facebook.com/MarchingDotCom/