Riverside, CA - July 1, 2018

[Bluzes]

That's good SCV needed some competition in percussion.

[2muchcoffeeman]

32 minutes ago, DCIdad said:

Wasn't there last night but from all of the reviews I read, I wasn't expecting a full point difference between BK and Mandarins in GE. Thoughts from anyone in attendance?

I'm going to violate the terms of your question, since I wasn't in attendance. My impressions are via livestream, and the most recent stream was Pasadena, not Riverside. But I'll take a stab at it.

Everyone is going OMG! about Mandarins because of where Mandarins have been, not because their 2018 product is stronger than all the competition on the field this year. You saw the same thing with Academy two seasons ago. They were the it corps of 2016 because they finally pushed into contention for a finalist spot, and a lot of fans got super excited about it -- which was fine; we should be super excited about kids achieving new levels of excellence. Same is happening w/ Mandarins this year, imo. They are the it corps of 2018; doesn't mean they are out-achieving everyone else on the field. Note that Troopers narrowed the GE gap with Mandrains slightly between Pasadena and Riverside. So maybe it was just these judges.

BK put its final segment of the show on the field between Stanford and Oceanside. I don't know if they performed it at Oceanside, but they did at the Rose Bowl and at Riverside. So the BK product is more complete than it was in the earlier Calif. shows. Translation: BK has raised its own game. You saw BK open the gap from Mandarins just a tad on Sunday, and my guess is this is early evidence that BK is solidifying the additions of the past week and beginning to achieve them at a higher level. They snatched a visual subcap that Mandarins had won the night before. All of which figures into GE.

I can't judge how clean Mandarins' feets and beats are, and maybe they're really clean. But as far as design goes -- by which my own personal definition is "take me from one place to another place; give me a point-A-to-Point-B experience" -- Mandarins feel kinda one-dimensional. It starts dark, stays dark, and ends dark, even though they tossed in some voiceover to ram home the idea that "no, it's not really dark, see? she came back to life!" The fact that they had to add narration to make that point obvious is a clue, to me, that the performance design isn't communicating well enough. Maybe they'll fix this with something more ogranic than narration. But for now, Mandarins seem like a whole lot of mood and a whole lot of volume, but they don't seem like much of an idea.

Edited July 2, 2018 by 2muchcoffeeman

[3PoC]

3 minutes ago, brassboy said:

I also recall Bloo coming out extremely strong last year as well and then fizzling our by season’s end. Will that happen again? Who knows, but I’m sure they’re not taking anything for granted. I’ve only seen Bloo on Flo, but their show doesn’t feel quite as cohesive to me as SCV’s. And the fact that they just came in 3rd in percussion behind Crown and Boston should be a bit of a concern when every tenth is going to matter at the end. 

'17 Bloo had champ level design and talent but they started to suffer in score as they ran into difficulties cleaning the timing issues created by the extreme environmental demands (particularly the hocket section of the opening), and the struggle to get the general effect of the ballad to work as envisioned. Those issues drove some of us who loved the show a bit batty as some runs clicked and others didn't quite lock in.  I'm also not sure they quite sold the contrast between the silent movie/Fosse visual and the prog music. I'm not seeing any of those issues being a drag for this year's show. There are some front-to-back issues with perc on some of the highly technical passages and some other bits of dirt to attend to, but I think that should be much easier to address than what they were up against last year. Maybe it's my deep personal experience with the world of jazz clubs and the creative process of jazz musicians, but the vibe and theme of the show seems very comprehensible and cohesive to me. Anticipating the match-up of SCV and Bloo, I think it will come down to whether what I think is Bloo's edge in soulfulness and human connection can generate enough of a GE margin to offset the likely SCV edge in technical brilliance. It's almost kind of like a subject I've debated before with some of my friends: What would be the results If DCI judges were to have to score the world's top dancer vs the top gymnast?    

[NCWVUFAN]

It's difficult to compare due to styles between Bloo's hornline and SCV's, both are solid at what they do, Bloo's is more refined, has better inter-voice intonation. SCV has rough edgy sound that doesn't center within the intervoices creating that organ type sound everyone strives for.

[84BDsop]

2 hours ago, tedrick said:

When is the last time Vanguard won the Cali series?

The last time SCV beat BD head to head prior to this season was early in 2007.

[mfrontz]

If I would have told you in January that Vanguard would beat Devils by three quarters of a point at the Riverside show, but the Blue Devils would win percussion , how many of you would have believed it?

[NCWVUFAN]

21 minutes ago, mfrontz said:

If I would have told you in January that Vanguard would beat Devils by three quarters of a point at the Riverside show, but the Blue Devils would win percussion , how many of you would have believed it?

I could see it...maybe not the perc part....lol, I really felt SCV had the best show last year, and with a slightly better hornline they would have beat BD in the finals.

[flammaster]

If BD can clean the battery as much as the FE they will win percussion. The pit this year is insane. The battery can be but they better clean. Worked last night didn't it?

[Mulder]

Since I don't text very fast on my phone, here are some of my additional comments from last night. I should be working but it was more fun to relive last night and write out my thoughts. LOL  Spent the afternoon at BD’s rehearsal site then dealt with a SLOW server at the Mission Inn for an early dinner so we were later then we wanted to be to get to RCC.

Gold

Didn’t get to our seats in time to see Gold so only could get a glimpse of them from the entrance to the stands. Great to see a SoCal Open Class corps with such large numbers, specially when there seem to be so many in the region. Sorry I missed you! 

Impulse

Small group and they look young, but they have some members with real talent. My eye kept going to a guard member – he’ll probably be in a World Class corps someday as will some others. I remember BACK IN THE DAY my H.S. had a year with low numbers and you couldn’t hide if you didn’t know your stuff. Kudos to these kids for the work they are putting in and performing for the crowd size they had.

Pacific Crest

If you like a fun, happy, light hearted show, then this one was for you. Uniforms looks great in the evening sun, all glittery and Hollywood-esque. By contrast the guard attire seemed…blah? Like off the rack Gap. I wanted more sound (and by that, I mean not amplified sound) from them. More impact. But this show seemed like a great fit for them and follow-up to last year’s Golden State of Mind show; a good contrast to the “dark” shows we see. Maybe a SoCal vibe could be their identity as long as it doesn’t become too cliché or trap them into something they can’t evolve from over the years.

Troopers

I never get much of a chance to see Troopers live and I have to say, their uniforms in the first half of this show just make them look…professional. Not sure if that’s the word and I don’t want to beat a dead horse (uniform vs costume debate) but they just looked sharp. Some good sound coming from them, in my opinion. Americana-ish musicality but it didn’t beat you over the head or make you think “how many high schools have I seen do this show”. Thank you again for coming to California – wish I could watch you again.

Academy

Few of us said this last night on here, but this show is so much better live (like they all are, but I think especially this one). If they can tweak this show some more to help improve GE and just sell the music, they could push closer to that 12^th spot.

Mandarins

The visual effect I got from the stage, from where I was sitting (second row on the 50) was great. Wonder what it’s like higher up (I’ll have to wait until Indy). It just draws your attention to whatever section is on or around it. Visually I love this show. The stick people could give you nightmares! They’ll have to get the lit-up rifles perfect because any slight angle or rational difference sticks out big time. I’d hate for them to look sloppy for the sake of trying to get some GE points.

Blue Knights

I love them and their style! Musical arrangements are fresh, and the ballad when it builds is just heaven for my ears. Color color color…I was eating it all up. And the flags in the closer I could watch all night under the lights. I wish I had gotten a picture of them.

SCV

I am a BD homer but I loooooove Vanguard this year (and past years too). I cannot stop listening to “My Body Is A Cage”. Something about it just MOVES me. I read a bit of the backstory about the Tower of Babel and it helped me get this show. Plus, its fun learning something new. Dare I say, they have some of that BD swagger? A casual observer that went with me mentioned without me ever saying anything about the shows, that she liked SCV, but didn’t like that they felt on top of her and in her face the whole time. Her words. I could watch and listen to this show repeatedly. It felt so complete and hopefully it doesn’t plateau. Knowing the team behind this creation I don’t think they’ll let that happen.

BD

I will always love them, even if they do something that makes me think what the heck! I’ll still love them.  Their guard work this year is off the charts and I can’t wait to see if once all the layers are in and its cleaned to perfection. I sat in on their afternoon rehearsal and the guard seemed so dialed in and focused. Visually they use the entire field like nobody’s business again this year and freakin’ book it in spots. I know they layer as the summer goes on, but something seemed missing – the segments of the show are all GREAT (great musically, visually, etc) but I felt there needed to be some flow. Somebody who I have taken to BD rehearsals, family days, etc. for 11 years now but never marched anywhere, said the same thing. Maybe I am being too harsh because the standards they set over the decades? I’ll still scream my head off at finals for them and that ballad will get Lucas Oil on its feet again. I’ll trust their process to grow this show and make it another masterpiece. With the talent in this corps they will medal, we'll just see where they end up.

To the rest of the country, some great shows are coming your way....ENJOY. 

[DCIdad]

1 hour ago, 2muchcoffeeman said:

I'm going to violate the terms of your question, since I wasn't in attendance. My impressions are via livestream, and the most recent stream was Pasadena, not Riverside. But I'll take a stab at it.

Everyone is going OMG! about Mandarins because of where Mandarins have been, not because their 2018 product is stronger than all the competition on the field this year. You saw the same thing with Academy two seasons ago. They were the it corps of 2016 because they finally pushed into contention for a finalist spot, and a lot of fans got super excited about it -- which was fine; we should be super excited about kids achieving new levels of excellence. Same is happening w/ Mandarins this year, imo. They are the it corps of 2018; doesn't mean they are out-achieving everyone else on the field. Note that Troopers narrowed the GE gap with Mandrains slightly between Pasadena and Riverside. So maybe it was just these judges.

BK put its final segment of the show on the field between Stanford and Oceanside. I don't know if they performed it at Oceanside, but they did at the Rose Bowl and at Riverside. So the BK product is more complete than it was in the earlier Calif. shows. Translation: BK has raised its own game. You saw BK open the gap from Mandarins just a tad on Sunday, and my guess is this is early evidence that BK is solidifying the additions of the past week and beginning to achieve them at a higher level. They snatched a visual subcap that Mandarins had won the night before. All of which figures into GE.

I can't judge how clean Mandarins' feets and beats are, and maybe they're really clean. But as far as design goes -- by which my own personal definition is "take me from one place to another place; give me a point-A-to-Point-B experience" -- Mandarins feel kinda one-dimensional. It starts dark, stays dark, and ends dark, even though they tossed in some voiceover to ram home the idea that "no, it's not really dark, see? she came back to life!" The fact that they had to add narration to make that point obvious is a clue, to me, that the performance design isn't communicating well enough. Maybe they'll fix this with something more ogranic than narration. But for now, Mandarins seem like a whole lot of mood and a whole lot of volume, but they don't seem like much of an idea.

Thanks for the insight.  I have only really seen the Mandarins performance. We've had flomarching issues and haven't really seen the BK show yet.  I know that a show being a crowd pleaser doesn't directly translate to GE but I'm told the two are often analogous and I've heard similar praise for the two shows so I was surprised by the GE gap. However, your theory sounds plausible. 

I'm told this show is a huge step up for the Mandarins in terms of complexity. We'll have to see if they can grow into that difficulty level, clean the show up, and continue to keep pace with the improvements of the other corps.  Like all (or at least most) corps, they have additional elements to add and how well they do so will also be a key to their ultimate success. As a Mandarins dad, I'm definitely pulling for a top 10 finish. Fingers crossed that they stay in that position.