Opening Night!

[FTNK]

Finals prediction: BD by 2

[Tenoris4Jazz]

8 minutes ago, Stu said:

I agree in feeling bad for 'That Poor Guy"!!!   The thing is that if it had been any other corps except BD there might be some forget/forgive over the years; but good-golly it was BD, at the time they were the Brass that was the Brass of all Brass.

What made it the worst was that he nailed it every other show all year.  You gakk once all season, and it has to be Finals???  Horrible luck and timing.

On a side note, that was the first time a lot of people found out that DCI spliced the recordings.  I have two copies of the '89 BD show... one that's 100% Finals night, and the other one where they spliced in parts of Friday night's show.

[Poppycock]

Bloo - Great visual guard is amazing music is wonderful 

Crown - Second half rewrites needed 

Cavies - Guard got hosed program solid

Cadets - Fallen and can't get up

Blue Stars - Better than scored 

 Crossmen - Few moments 

Edited June 23, 2017 by Poppycock

[dcsnare93]

Quick impression from tonight...

Cadets - Musically, diggin' it. Interested to see how the show develops

Crown - I don't think layering will save the second half of this show; rewrites

Stars - Impressed!

Bones - Love the ballad

Cavies - High energy and fun -- this has bronze potential

Bloo - More of the same, but still enjoyable

[Cleveland1]

11 minutes ago, jwillis35 said:

I think that's my point. I guess I will be the pro-vocal guy this summer and try to provide some positives to the overwhelming majority of anti-vocal folks.  It's all good. I despise poorly used or performed vocals too, but I think Crown and Cadets are doing a good job of it.  I'll be interested to see what people think of Boston and a few others. 

Vocals are such a tough thing to do well. I actually enjoyed the Colts use of voice over during their dark side of the rainbow show, maybe because they committed to it more (it was a presence throughout the show)? Maybe because it was so campy that i felt it was fun? Probably both. 

I just feel like crown did a lot of vocals in a small segment of their show, and it just feels weird. Ballad is great, then it kinda takes off. It leaves a weird taste in peoples mouths, and that's bad. Boston this year isnt as over the top from what i can recall. 

In the end, i dont hate vocals. I just rarely see shows where i feel it adds considerable value. Usually its value neutral or negative. More often than not i laugh at how lame vocals or narration are. It also takes time, i didnt like blue knights vocals last year at the start, but grew to like it. If the show is good enough as a whole, ill get along with vocals. Thats probably what crown will do for me this year. 

[Stu]

2 minutes ago, Tenoris4Jazz said:

What made it the worst was that he nailed it every other show all year.  You gakk once all season, and it has to be Finals???  Horrible luck and timing.

Yep sometimes life come down to one solitary moment!!!  FYI: the most stressful trumpet solo gig ever in the history of the world had to be....................... The military brass player who played Taps at the funeral of JFK.  That moment was broadcast to people around the 'entire globe'; and he nailed it!

[CrownBariDad]

There was a question way back in the thread about the flat poles Crown used on the field.  I didn't see an answer, so here's my $0.02:

i think they are using them to "deconstruct" the field.  From what I saw in the theater, there are two parts to the pole -- white on top and darker (green?) underneath. They lay them on the yard lines so when they move the white portion, it appears the yard line has gone screwy.  Similar to the Cadets making all the yard numbers "10".

Or, not.

[MidWAmericanArts]

From my vantage point at Lucas Oil....

 

Crossmen- They're talented enough to make finals, but they could be pulled out by strong competition. Nothing really stood out to me.

Blue Stars- My favorite show of the night. I thought their arrangements were fantastic. I usually find that Sullivan's writing is more entertaining, but doesn't score as well as Saucedo's. I see this group as one that is going to quickly climb in score as the season goes on.

Cavaliers- I was super excited for this show and was let down. It was still good, but I expected more after last year. While I thought it was a quality product, it almost felt closer to 2015 than 2016.

Cadets- Say what you want, but I actually like the uniform choice. They had a super demanding show and really surprised me. They weren't my favorite, but they'll score much higher than I had previously thought.

Crown- After watching them online, I really only liked the closer. Tonight, I really only liked everything up to the ballad. I think this closer has potential, but the energy just wasn't there tonight. Now, I think the show is flawed, but there is more to enjoy than I had previously thought.

Bluecoats- Man, I love watching the visual demand of this show. I don't think it will ever be clean, but I love how much they've got going on. Other than that though, I was extremely dissapointed. They were talented, but I didn't find much that was enjoyable. Am I the only one feeling a little bit of Carmel guard influence on the show?

[Lead]

1 hour ago, mfrontz said:

Just one last comment before I hit the hay.

 

No one whines when a trumpet soloist is a little off on the high note or hits the higher partial. But a vocalist misses a few and she is 'pitchy.'

For my money she was 1000% better during the encore. Stunning, even.

Could be for a variety of reasons. Even just first show nerves.

There were nights the vocalists in e=mc2 were off as well. Give her a chance. 

As for the Judy Jetson comment... Did anyone notice her dress is one of the MM hats, just upside down? Maybe a subtle clue at the not-so-subtle change in design for the 2nd act...

And I'm not even a Crown mark. I think you all are being way too harsh on that young performer.

[phd-student-TTU]

Crossmen: Nice! I liked it a lot. 

Blue Stars: reminds me a lot of last year's show. Just kinda ok for me. 

Cadets: Holy hell that's a hot mess. 

Cavies: giving me some XtraordinarY vibes with a touch of last year. A little too much "man cheese" in spots. 

Crown: h. o. r. n. l. i. n. e. Can a show be so open to interpretation that it's obtuse? Kinda had the same thought about PR last year. For some reason they didn't look and feel like Crown other than the brass. You can tell Potter and May are gone.  #ShutHerUp

Bloo: I agree it's very 2016 2.0 but in a good way. I see it doing well. 

Overall comments: stop over-writing and micro-designing. BS and Cadets need an editing eye. Way too much going on. If you have to sell your show by literally placing a tact for it in every single place available, you may be overcompensating. I can't read something written in iambic pentameter from 10 ft away let alone 100. 

Sacktig shade was along the lines of how refreshing it was to be with a group that communicates well and works as a team. Lol. 

Unleash the Devils. #18.