Closers

[Tenoris4Jazz]

On 4/5/2023 at 4:33 PM, OldSnareDrummer said:

Crown's hide-a-corps closer in '15 was a pretty cool change. Just not enough to beat Clara. 

Had it been as clean as Friday's show, it would have been enough.

[Tenoris4Jazz]

On 4/8/2023 at 7:16 PM, KVG_DC said:

Clara tied the show together for me in a big way.  Ink obviously "had a reader" but making the audience the reader didn't quite work all season for me for some reason I couldn't quite place.

Then they had Clara come out of the book and walk around in wonder and I was, "OH!  That's is BRILLIANT"

Interesting, because I had the opposite reaction... "Oh man, what a cheesy gimmick!"  I liked BD's show okay, but I LOVED Crown's show so much better.  BD just did their thing and nailed the Finals performance and Crown didn't.

[Tenoris4Jazz]

I'm amazed no one has mentioned this yet... SCV in '82.  Even thought Bottle Dance turned into a nightmare, it was 100 times better than the closer they used all year.  I only saw the original show for the first time last year, and I was NOT impressed with the ending.

[MikeN]

On 4/8/2023 at 7:08 PM, Chief Guns said:

And just like 2015 where BD won drums and Crown was 5th...........PR won drums while BD was 5th in 08.

It's been said before on here, but BD was 4th in drums in the previous two shows.  If the drum judge had kept them there on Finals night, BD would have won the title.  That's how close it was.

Mike

[Lance]

yeah, i was thinking star 91 right away.  wasn't sure when cross to cross was added, but I remember it was pretty late in the season and I think i remember reading that Zingali wrote it on napkins?  

[jwillis35]

In 1990 The Cadets did not have their closer on the field for a good portion of the first half of the summer. When they added the z-pull, then rewound the z-pull, then opened to an S-pull that gave them a perfect show closer. Not sure how much that propelled them but it didn't hurt. The marching was so clean with that show and they played a difficult music book very well. They were likely going to be top 3 just on captions alone, but that ending definitely helped. 

The OP brings up a good question because more times than not the constant tweaking of a closer, or flat out rewrite, usually hurts the show. Sometimes you get more cheese, like we did with Cadets in 2014. Someone mentioned SCV 1982. I love the Bottle Dance closer and it did work and brought the crowd to its feet. The phasing that happened at the end was after the gun shot so the score was not affected. In the end no one was beating Blue Devils 1982. But SCV was darn entertaining. 

The Cadets in 2018 did a great job finding the right closer for a show that started very slowly. They were not in a position to challenge for top 5 by any stretch, but they did get the ending right. 

Someone also mentioned Cavaliers in 2004 and I agree about that too. What they ended up with was amazing! Saw them in Columbus that summer and did not seeing anyone beating them come finals. 

I had long heard the stories about Madison Scouts in 1976 basically re-writing a huge chunk of their show, maybe 2/3rd of it, maybe more, and then taking 2nd at Finals. 

In the case of Phantom 2008 and BD 2015 each corps did not have to change the music book too much but re-worked the visual to bring the show to a better close. Both fantastic shows. 

 

[Chief Guns]

1 hour ago, jwillis35 said:

In 1990 The Cadets did not have their closer on the field for a good portion of the first half of the summer. When they added the z-pull, then rewound the z-pull, then opened to an S-pull that gave them a perfect show closer. Not sure how much that propelled them but it didn't hurt. The marching was so clean with that show and they played a difficult music book very well. They were likely going to be top 3 just on captions alone, but that ending definitely helped. 

The OP brings up a good question because more times than not the constant tweaking of a closer, or flat out rewrite, usually hurts the show. Sometimes you get more cheese, like we did with Cadets in 2014. Someone mentioned SCV 1982. I love the Bottle Dance closer and it did work and brought the crowd to its feet. The phasing that happened at the end was after the gun shot so the score was not affected. In the end no one was beating Blue Devils 1982. But SCV was darn entertaining. 

The Cadets in 2018 did a great job finding the right closer for a show that started very slowly. They were not in a position to challenge for top 5 by any stretch, but they did get the ending right. 

Someone also mentioned Cavaliers in 2004 and I agree about that too. What they ended up with was amazing! Saw them in Columbus that summer and did not seeing anyone beating them come finals. 

I had long heard the stories about Madison Scouts in 1976 basically re-writing a huge chunk of their show, maybe 2/3rd of it, maybe more, and then taking 2nd at Finals. 

In the case of Phantom 2008 and BD 2015 each corps did not have to change the music book too much but re-worked the visual to bring the show to a better close. Both fantastic shows. 

 

Speaking of 2004, how about BD adding the train leaving the station effect when the corps just marched off the field finals night. 

[Tenoris4Jazz]

13 hours ago, Chief Guns said:

Speaking of 2004, how about BD adding the train leaving the station effect when the corps just marched off the field finals night. 

Then there's the mother of all late additions: 1987 Cadets.  As I recall, they ended the show all season with the collapsing company front back into a full front sideline park 'n blow... and then at Finals they quietly leave the field while the soprano solo gets drowned out by the crowd screaming.  The little extra bit of GE that got them ahead of SCV.

[MikeN]

19 hours ago, jwillis35 said:

In 1990 The Cadets did not have their closer on the field for a good portion of the first half of the summer. When they added the z-pull, then rewound the z-pull, then opened to an S-pull that gave them a perfect show closer. Not sure how much that propelled them but it didn't hurt. The marching was so clean with that show and they played a difficult music book very well. They were likely going to be top 3 just on captions alone, but that ending definitely helped. 

I'm glad you brought this show up - it gets short shrift in the pantheon of legendary Cadets programs, but man it delivered across the board.  

Mike

[Tenoris4Jazz]

20 hours ago, jwillis35 said:

In 1990 The Cadets did not have their closer on the field for a good portion of the first half of the summer. When they added the z-pull, then rewound the z-pull, then opened to an S-pull that gave them a perfect show closer. Not sure how much that propelled them but it didn't hurt. The marching was so clean with that show and they played a difficult music book very well. They were likely going to be top 3 just on captions alone, but that ending definitely helped. 

 

51 minutes ago, MikeN said:

I'm glad you brought this show up - it gets short shrift in the pantheon of legendary Cadets programs, but man it delivered across the board.  

Mike

I was there in Birmingham in 1990 when they finished behind SCV and Star.  I turned to my brother and said "If they can finish putting that together before Finals, that show can win."