jjeffeory Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 Anyway, love you all! Kisses... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skevinp Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 8 minutes ago, BWise said: Might be ahead of yourself on half of that. Which half? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcsnare93 Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, BWise said: I think Metamorph maybe had the crowd but seriously they have not been the screaming crowd favorites for at least two decades. These are not just Crown fans traveling .. they are fans of all corps that Crown is their top tier favorite. I hear on these forums all the BD fans but in person it typically is a very muted response. If your only mission is to win .. you gotta take the fan heat. While I’m not a huge Bloo fan .. I think they do both best. Appealing shows that pull down the numbers. (Exception this year .. fans no like long narration) If you think their only mission is to win, then I'd say you don't know the BD organization very well. Also, most corps try to design shows that will do well competitively with the talent they have. That's nothing unique to BD. Edited July 22, 2022 by dcsnare93 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwillis35 Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 A FEW THOUGHTS ABOUT LAST NIGHT (after some sleep) From a fan perspective this is a pretty good, if not great, season. I was truly entertained by all the shows last night. From a competitive standpoint it seems we have a solid top 5, a solid 6-10 group of corps, and a real fight for 11-14 or so. From a design standpoint I don't see anything that can challenge the Blue Devils overall design, clarity of ideas, focus of each element, and execution across the board in all captions. As we always say, you don't have to win every caption to win a title, but if you are top 3 across the board with a superbly focused show and you have performers that sell every aspect of the show you definitely have the best shot. But even BD will need to develop the closer a bit more, but I love the show. As of now the other top 4 corps seems to have an issue or two that needs some work if they wish to challenge. I love each of those other 4 shows and love the energy their members are bringing to the field. It really just comes down to design and some cleaning. Boston could potentially be a strong challenger. Brass, Guard, and Percussion are crazy good. Props are working for me. The music book has a wonderful range of styles and moods. They will have to find some way to bring out the visual analysis and GE a bit more if they want to catch BD, but a 2nd place finish at Finals would not shock me. The music is beautiful and it's a fan friendly show. I enjoy their use of trombones this year. This should be a superbly clean and tightly integrated show come Finals, regardless of placement. They are truly impressive! Bluecoats are not very clean right now. That may not be a bad thing. Brass still needs work. They need to get healthy and fill the holes in the show. I think the KeyTar synth segment needs just a little more oomph at the end, more so form the brass and percussion. The synth player is doing a fantastic job and no re-write is needed there. It's a fabulous segment in the show but toward the end it seems to die a little and then picks up again. I Imagine they will adjust the closing of the show. This is a show that could peak around Finals week and if it does they can be dangerous. They have a lot of upward mobility in visual analysis and overall GE. That bodes well for Bloo. Otherwise I love this show. So cool. So uniquely Bluecoats. Very fan friendly show. Carolina Crown definitely has a very entertaining and well performed show. Brass is a strength and sound fabulous. They have a fantastic guard and solid percussion. The music is fun and engaging. Love it. They have one of the best soloists on the field this summer. I thought the drill forms were sloppy at times last night. The spacing was uneven, and the visual analysis to me ranges from awesome to cluttered to at times a lack of clarity. The GE is mostly outstanding. They bring big intensity in music that often is not met with intense visual moments with the exception of the closing drill. The big tarp over the trumpets is ok but not a wow moment, yet the music is WOW. I actually wish they would stay in the Crown form at the end of the show and not break. They certainly have top 3 ability and should be a fan favorite come Finals. Santa Clara is the definition of a fantastic performing ensemble. Caption strength is strong in brass, percussion, guard and visual execution. I would like to see the guard standout more. They need to look at visual across the board. I am hoping they have some big changes planned for the color and design or staging of some of the elements. There are times, as with Crown, where they display amazing musical clarity and performance but the visual elements don't seem to add up. Again, not exactly a fair take on my part since I have only watched from FLO. Clearly I am being a Monday morning Quarterback (though it is Friday). If nothing else SCV's show is a wonderful musical wash of great sound and theme. Fans will love it. But if they wish to push into the top 3 then visual elements need to be addressed. Love the ballad and the closer. They articulate as well as anyone in the brass caption. 4. In the potential 6 to 10 range The Cadets have a fantastic show top to bottom. From a visual perspective they use the field so well. Visuals are very readable. The combination of music and visual is pretty impressive. Musically they are playing an outstanding brass book by Jay and it covers a wide range of styles, tempos, and moods. Percussion is a real strength. Superb writing all the way around. Narration does not bother me and, in fact, I think it's one of the neat things about this show. The guard is really good with a nice book and good integration in the show. If anything the Cadets just need to clean clean clean. I don't think they need drill re-writes or big music edits. I am sure they will make some, but the show is there for a nice run at 6th or 7th. 5. Mandarins are fantastic! I love the show. The music is very good but if you're going to integrate a live vocalist you need to make sure the mics are working. Not easy to do. Visually the show is somewhat stagnant at the onset and then picks up. Props a well used but do cut down on the field so staging and presentation need to be strong. Brass line is very strong but I thought they were a bit on the rough side last night. Still, this corps will easily be top 12 and should be in the thick of the 7-10 slots. Performers are excellent. 6. Phantom Regiment continues to be my musical show of the summer. I love the repertoire. Arrangements are first rate. Brass is cleaning up but when they get to the last quarter of the show you can tell they are tired, articulations are rough, and the sound begins to pinch with tuning issues. Playing a book like this is no easy feat. They are playing a LOT, and they are not holding back. They really let you have it and that means endurance is a key issue. I feel percussion has a nice musical book but cleanliness will be the key. They just need to clean. The visual program is good at the intro and the end. The middle portion of the show stagnates some with the ballad being more musically focused. The props are fine but I haven't really bought into them from day one. I do love when the tubas are on the props, which I think is in the 3rd movement of the show. All that said the show is a super high-charged musical journey that wraps you into the emotion and pageantry of exciting themes and long, lyrical development. It hits you over the head with passion. It is a reminder that the 1980s and 1990s were not so bad. In fact we know they were DARN GOOD from a musical perspective and Phantom this summer is serving as Exhibit A. Let's see if they can clean the visual and maintain endurance to the end of the summer. If so I like their chances of placing even higher in the 6-10 range; and in the end who cares where they place...the crowd is going to go APE #### for this show and we all know it. More later on some of the 11-15 corps. 6 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BWise Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 Just now, skevinp said: Which half? BAC half. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DWW11 Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 1 minute ago, jjeffeory said: Anyway, love you all! Kisses... Back at ya! Enjoy the shows this weekend! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Guns Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 6 minutes ago, CAtenhut said: I think Chief's point is no matter how great BD's show can be, a majority of the fans across the nation would still prefer to see someone else win no matter what. In the 80s and 90s, it was the Cadets. Now it's BD. ABBD fans are a real thing. Thank you. That's all I was trying to say. Here is an example........................ June 2014, Glendora CA. BD had just blown the doors off with Felliniesque. As SCV was setting up to perform after them, the crowd was still in shock and awe, and talking about what they just saw. A guy sitting behind me, couple seats to the right, told his buddy he didn't like it. Another person sitting nearby politely asked him why. The guy said he didn't like it because BD was performing it, and they are going to win it all with that show. He went on to say if any other corps in DCI performed Felliniesque, he would be throwing babies, kids, teenagers, grown adults onto the field. But because it's the Devils, he knew the season was over and that show was going to be unbeatable. He wanted to see another first time winner like Crown the previous year, and BD was (in his words) "robbing him of that experience with shows no one would come close to beating." Yes that's just one guy. But I am sure there are many others that feel that way. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BWise Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 (edited) 7 minutes ago, dcsnare93 said: If you think their only mission is to when, then I'd say you don't know the BD organization very well. Also, most corps try to design shows that will do well competitively with the talent they have. That's nothing unique to BD. I think winning is very very important for BDs. You are right this is not fair to the org and I apologize. Edited July 22, 2022 by BWise 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjeffeory Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 3 minutes ago, DWW11 said: Back at ya! Enjoy the shows this weekend! I am soooo trying to enjoy them! I'm heading to Atlanta next week, and then Indy... It'll be time to for my family to re-assess how many shows we go to for next year though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg_orangecounty Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 Maybe instead of complaining about Blue Devils and arguing about what the fans want someone should just beat them. 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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