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Saturday, July 30th .. 4:55 PM “DCI Southeastern Championship” …Center Parc Credit Union Stadium … Atlanta, GEORGIA


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5 hours ago, MikeRapp said:

I see where you are going, I really do. But the show comes off as cheesy to me. Forced and awkward—not unlike many of the moments CC has done since Inferno, which to me is one of the iconic show designs in drum corps history. Up there with Phantom of the Opera, Down Side Up, Drum Corps Bride, and Felliniesque.

A show about everything is a show about nothing, it’s not a concept as much as a box with a bunch of mismatched toys in it. To me the challenge is to have a concept that does what you are saying, but holds together as a theme. End to end. 

Hey everyone, stick your head through this huge tarp and sway back and forth—that’s the epitome of jumping the shark. 
 

I love Crown so don’t call me a hater. My goodness their brass arrangements and execution are second to none. When they hit a show design, like Inferno and E=mc2…magic!

Yet the ballad tarp fits exactly into the design intent stated a few months ago. *shrug*

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17 hours ago, 27Socal said:

Our emotional selves want to think that.  But our logical selves should realize that a corps performance factors in, but the judging panel is a bigger factor. If a judge already has an opinion about a corps,  they tend to keep that opinion unless there is a huge performance difference,  which isn't very likely at this level.

Once the finals panel is announced,  go back and look at  the history of those judges for BD compared with BAC at the same show,  and see what you come up with for a prediction.

I think it’s more likely the emotional self that comes up with these theories, honestly. The reason this exercise isn’t meaningful to me is because BD has won most competitions, across entire seasons — not just at finals — for well over a decade. So most every judge is a “BD judge,” if all it takes to be labeled one is scoring them well relative to other corps, at some point. If that’s true, it’s a wonder BD ever loses a caption… which they do. 

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On 7/31/2022 at 3:47 PM, Cappybara said:

 

Okay I promised a review from both myself and my partner (her first drum corps show!), so here it is. I wanted to get her genuine first reactions to every show and corps so I made sure to not bias her with my own biases; I gave her small synopses on each show concept and the general structure of shows (opener, ballad, closer, etc). I think my favorite question of the night from her was “how do you know when to clap?” 

 

First, apologies to all the corps that performed prior to Phantom Regiment as we mistimed our plans prior to the show and got there late due to how absurdly difficult it was to get an Uber yesterday (Luke Combs, Kendrick Lamar, and one other artist all had concerts in Atlanta yesterday)

 

First, a small review of the venue, it was fantastic. Apart from some long concessions lines, it was a very well run stadium with quick lines to get inside and very comfortable seating. We were in section 319 right around the 40-45 yard line. We had a canopy above us which seemed to trap and enhance the sound of the corps really well

 

Phantom Regiment: This show has been one of my favorites based on what I’ve been hearing on Flo. The hornline did not disappoint with a huge sound and beautiful music. My partner liked the show as well, her main criticism was that the tables were distracting and not well used (I thought it was astute of her to notice that). She would’ve liked to see them painted a bit differently on all sides so that they looked cleaned and wished they weren’t squiggly. We both loved the closer with what I’m hoping will eventually turn into a moment for a wedge or chevron 

 

Cavies: To me, this show translates better live than on Flo. I was surprised by the power from the hornline (though I did feel like they were a step down from phantom). My partner loved the energy from the guard in this show as well as all the colors and thought the prop in the back was cool. She liked this show a bit better than Phantom 

 

Mandarins: We both really liked the first half of this show. Hornline has some fantastic power. Both of us agreed the singing was just not balanced well at all with the rest of the corps and she overall wasn’t a fan of the singing, something we both had in common. It was her least favorite of the night 

 

Blue Stars: Props galore! The show looks a bit messy on Flo but it doesn’t seem that way live. My partner loved the guard uniforms and the copious use of color throughout the show. They sounded quieter but more refined than the Mandarins. They have an extremely ambitious colorguard book as usual and I unfortunately saw quite a few drops last night, not the best night for them. Neither of us necessarily understood how the concept translates to the field but we both liked the show a lot overall! 

 

SCV: First show of the night where my partner audibly gasped when she heard the hornline. She was a big fan of the front ensembles in general all night, especially the marimbas and thought SCV’s marimba section was particularly good. She has good taste. We both thought the tag ending was brilliant. This is another show that translates significantly better in person than on Flo, but I will say they had one of the dullest visual programs of the night unfortunately. One other major negative to note, when SCV moves their props to the center in the tag ending, those props are LOUD. We could hear them rattling and it really ruined the final moments of the show. Hope they find a way to fix it, either by having the hornline play to cover it up or have the pit play a bit louder, or just solidify the props a bit. 

 

Bluecoats: My partner’s second favorite show of the night. I let my own bias get in the way a little bit as I warned her in advance that there will be a voice telling the story. What I found out was that when watching the show live, I had the opposite issue of what I’ve been having on Flo. Instead of being too prominent, the narration wasn’t prominent enough. I could barely understand the narrator due to the poor sound balance and it was quite distracting because I could still hear the voice but couldn’t hear what he was saying. The use of electronics otherwise was by far the best of the night, the enhanced bass was well balanced and well used. The keytar section was AWESOME and both of our favorite moment of the night. She especially loved the things they did with the wheels. Overall, I loved this show a lot more than I did on Flo

 

Blue Devils: I did my very best to not give away my excitement to see BD live😂 they were as good as advertised, they look so professional and everything was SEAMLESS. One of the three corps (other two were Crown and Bloo) who received standing ovations! Their electronics balance was not as good as Bloo’s but much better than they are on Flo. Everyone in my section was audibly gasping when they saw BD’s CLEAN rotating line. My partner said she was mesmerized from start to finish and astutely noted that she did not notice BD move their props around at all compared to all the other corps. Was very proud of her for noticing that! This was her favorite show of the night. I noticed some intonation issues with the mellos in the higher registers last night which is why I was not surprised to see them not take 1st in brass. The moon River soloists were fantastic and it sounds like they are really gelling now. Side note, while BD often gets criticized for some of their obscure musical choices, this was the only show of the night where my partner recognized multiple musical pieces in the show. The crowd in general was very engaged throughout

 

 

Carolina Crown: I think most people know I haven’t been a huge fan of the show design. Did seeing it live change my mind? In some ways yes, in other ways no. First let’s start with the app. I chose to try the app for just the pre-show as I wanted to just focus on drum corps after. It was.. fine? It didn’t really enhance the experience but didn’t detract. Is it gimmicky? Yes. Did I see a lot of young teens and children enjoying it? Absolutely. I will say, I had a few crown families sitting in front of me and it was very distracting seeing their bright screens flashing throughout the show (they were holding their phones up to their ears to hear something). Most people didnt seem to bother with it, atleast from what I saw in the 300 level that I was in during the pre show. The hornline was fantastic, they sounded exactly like Crown. While my partner really loved all the colorful  fabrics being used, I did still find it messy even on a live read. I will say, the big tarp during Benedictus is GORGEOUS live. Everyone was gave an “oooh” when they saw it. It’s eye candy, but the fabric work happening on the other side of the field felt quite pointless. They got a standing ovation a couple times through the show, well deserved, theyre performing the crap out of the show. My partner had this show as her 3rd favorite of the night. I found myself really enjoying everything from benedictus and beyond, but still really am not a fan of the first half of the show

 

Boston:  I personally have been a huge fan of this show on Flo but I felt like the show was a bit flat live. They seemed to have a hot run based off of the scores so maybe it was just me. Their hornline is AMAZING. This is my first time seeing them live since they acquired crown’s staff and wow, I was very impressed by the hornline. The colorguard book is mind blowing, just toss after toss, it was ridiculously good. This was probably the only show of the night where I was like “they’re still going?” And I haven’t been able to pinpoint why I felt that way. My partner liked the show but personally enjoyed BD, Bloo, and Crown a lot more. When I asked her why, she felt like those shows had more color and more “wow” moments. This Boston corps is extremely talented and very deserving of their scores, both of us just didn’t entirely enjoy this run. 

 

It was an overall great night of drum corps and I mostly just happy that I got to introduce someone who I love to drum corps for the first time. Congrats to all of the corps and I’m hoping I can see them again in Indy

I am much more of a 100’s kind of viewer than a 300’s kind, but at least the nearby canopy helped to preserve the sound and power and thankfully not be an echo chamber for y’all! I did notice for the venue that the stands were HORRENDOUSLY far from the field, and even more so for side two. That arrangement for the stands left me flabbergasted honestly😂. There’s some things I’m neutral towards, mainly the prop movement issues as it hasn’t really bothered me close up as there’s so much to look at, but I’m sure further away, the more the eye is able to scan and cover, from the 300’s the whole field is in view and the more plain noticeable it is that it is the case of clunky prop movement. I definitely agree that Bloo’s narration even from very close doesn’t have as much impact as it does on a stream, one of the reasons why I feel it’s a show that translates better on stream as opposed to the other way around, along with being close up the electronics can be pretty distracting, even the Keytar didn’t *HIT* like I thought it would, even though it’s definitely cool!! The pit is very enjoyable for Bloo, and the wheel is a very cool showstopper too!
 

In my viewing experience, SCV was by far the loudest of corps that I got to see back in the Texas tour they gave me this “😳😬” look throughout a lot of their show from my vantage point, in the best way that I think only they pull off currently, and not be offensive😂 I don’t doubt that BD would contend to be one of the loudest corps as well I unfortunately didn’t see them in the show I went to, and I know my positioning in the second row of the Side Two 40 would’ve put me in unbelievable 🎶Mooooon Riverrrr!!🎶 territory where I believe that’s the loudest part of their show right in front of me, and they would’ve been a top 3 musical moment of the night for me easily had I’d seen them, it was clear to see from their show announcement that they would have not only a recognizable music program, but a very popular one amongst the fans this year as well! Not a fan of the dance break after their ballad, but it’s something I can easily overlook with their very cool pit, and again very nice musical program.

I disagree that Boston has an “are they done yet?” length and feel to their show, but that can also be attributed somewhat to the different vantage points you and I chose, they have great moments throughout(ensemble swell into “wonderful world”, the harshness of the baritone soloist, the tango section) and I also really like their “Lacrimosa” big final statement so it was something I could look forward to at the end and I’ve heard they’ve only improved on it since I’ve seen them which is great!! The corps that gave me a bit of “are they done yet?” vibes were only really Blue Knights(my apologies to them) and Cadets from the shows I saw. It wasn’t because i was over Cadets at all, but it’s just that their show itself is quite lengthy!! Props to them in that regard, also, one of my favorite musical moments, a very brief but beautiful sounding backfield horn solo, could hear the sound of that particular kind of horn ALL DAY…

Phantom was simply a wonderful show and captivating from beginning to end. Left a great impression on me and my friend I went where we both felt that from then on after that #### got real…emotional impact, power, the “selling” of the performance essentially and it was like that from all the corps that performed after them, a benchmark if you will. Booming Mellos a la themselves, as well as SCV, you can of course hear how that sound carries over with a familiar face arranging for them again😮 I hope they only grow from here in the years to come🙏
Cavies and Blue Stars I’ll sum up very shortly with a simple opinion of mine since I sadly didn’t see either in person, Blue Stars I like a lot!! Cavies…not so much😮

Mandarins were great! From some of the earlier corps I watched before them, they were a bit more restrained and much less amplified of a sound where you could feel that more natural soundscape on ground level, that was very refreshing. Not overwhelmed with synth at all, the acoustics again were great, the vocalist mic cut out nearly the whole ballad, left it a bit bare😂 only at the final “take me to the OTHERSIDE!!!” Moment did it finally come back, do better late than never? I liked it overall, not more than Phantom but anyways… haha

And finally…CROWN…they were great!! Not exceptional, but I was at least thankful that I was at their first show that they finally switched up the AUDIENCE Song test thing, I was honestly praying for it at this point for their sake, and then “Deep in the heart of Texas” played and I was content😌 Many people have issues with their first half compared to the second half of their show, and yeahhh, it probably could’ve been a bit more imaginative and impactful for sure, many would say the show grinds to a HALT when the corps get those few pieces of fabric and then standstill with the few “POP” statements as they come out. While the Benedictus ballad is of course great, I think it suffers from the context and nature of the show to where the impact isn’t nearly as felt as it could be with perhaps an entirely different show and design around it, but that’s merely my own experience and speculation, it just didn’t impact me that much really. Moving forward to the streamers, it was cool!! Not much more I can really say towards it😂 and now the closer, I really do like that after the standstill horn flex moment, the show goes on an entirely different gear and doesn’t STOP until the end, at least we got a near universal crowd pleasing closer that everyone can like, lots of marching, fantastic brass, a battery and pit-assisted drive to the finish, which Crown pulls off really well, nearly overwhelming haha

that ends all of my thoughts I’d like to add, only really for corps that I got to see in person at another point of the season *DISCLAIMER* there haha

 

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8 hours ago, Vidal28Rdg said:

In my viewing experience, SCV was by far the loudest of corps that I got to see back in the Texas tour they gave me this “😳😬” look throughout a lot of their show from my vantage point

I know loud doesn't always mean better...

But I love hearing this report back from numerous folks all season.

I think my ears may be broken because we were loud the in 04 thanks to Gino, but we weren't clean. It kind of set me up to tolerate and enjoy high volume brass 'n drums in my face. I really enjoy that it makes you go  😳😬

When I saw them in play loud in Ft Collins, I was all:

200w.webp?cid=ecf05e4700ck5op868hbhhhry1

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On 7/30/2022 at 8:06 PM, lawdn said:

BAC guard won finals night in 2019 but that was the first time BD didn’t win it since Paradise was Lost.

Well, I stand corrected.  Boston's guard is great again this year.  BD cannot seem to hold on to their rifles.

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