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Most Technically Excellent Show You Have Seen (Live)


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5 hours ago, N.E. Brigand said:

Yeah, there was a lot of discussion here of that bit of drill the day after Finals '13 and how and why it wasn't perfect.

(There was a much bigger problem with the drill in Crown's ballad at Finals, too.)

Even so, that clip may still show the single greatest marching maneuver ever.

Nobody but Crown has even tried a 3-D move, much less executed it successfully enough to work, right?

The technical demand was there across the board for Crown 2013. The brass book alone blows my mind.  They didn't quite get my vote because the achievement for visuals and percussion isn't the best performance ever. 

I was also contemplating  giving the nod to to a Cavies show from 00-06 but the brass demand wasn't there.

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Blue Devils 2014 and I would be shocked if I ever see anyone beat it

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It really is tough to pick one. In the 1970s I felt it was Blue Devils 1979.  In the 1980s I feel it was Blue Devils 1982, 1988 or Garfield 1983. BD 1988 is killer clean and technically excellent in all areas (and still took 3rd place).  In the 1990s my pick would be Star of Indiana 1991, Blue Devils 1994, or Cadets 1998.  In the 2000s it would be Cavaliers 2002 or Cadets 2005 & 2007,and BD 2009. In the 2010s it would be Blue Devils 2010 or Blue Devils 2014.  Lots of BD over the decades, but that is their hallmark. They play, spin, and march at a very high level of proficiency. 

My top 5 narrowed down to (in no order):

  • Blue Devils 1988
  • Star of Indiana 1991 (semis - I might have put Cadets 1998 over this, but considering the demand in Star's show I gave them the nod. It remains one of the hardest shows I've ever seen performed at such a high level.)
  • Cavaliers 2002
  • Cadets 2005
  • Blue Devils 2014

My Winner: Blue Devils 2014, with Cadets 2005 runner-up

 

Some Other Thoughts: Saw some love for Cavaliers 1995, but to me that show was stunning visually but musically that brass line was like 4th place and cracked and fracked all over that show on Finals night. Star of Indiana and Cadets in 1993 were impressive as all get-out. Two of the most difficult shows you will ever see, but it was too hot and muggy in Jackson, MS that year and it rained on Finals night. Nobody was close to being clean. In many ways I wanted to pick Blue Devils 1988 as the cleanest and most polished performance I have seen. Brass and percussion were fantastic. Marching technique was stellar. Maybe not the hardest visual book, and in the end I decided to pick slightly harder visual books that were still mostly clean with great performance in music.  

I saw some love for Carolina Crown 2013. A great show for sure, with amazing general effect and brass. But this is not about GE. On the merit of technical excellence performed by the marching members, Crown came up short in percussion and marching. That show is certainly one of my favorites, but it does not belong on this list in my opinion. 

 

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Is anyone surprised that a good number of responses are picking one of the four shows (02 Cavaliers, 05 Cadets, 09 BD, 14 BD) that have scored a 99 or higher? Not all people are but a good majority are anyways.

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