craiga Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 5 minutes ago, Phantom56 said: Boston did put the message out--they are now the only contender to possibly knock off BD. And the big story of the year--Pacific Crest is in the running to make finals. It's rare for a newer corps to make finals--happens about once a decade. Blue Knights are their competition for 12th. Agreed. San Antonio may provide some interesting moments. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Guns Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 20 minutes ago, Phantom56 said: Boston did put the message out--they are now the only contender to possibly knock off BD. And the big story of the year--Pacific Crest is in the running to make finals. It's rare for a newer corps to make finals--happens about once a decade. Blue Knights are their competition for 12th. You may not have heard or believe it yet, but there is this tiny little corps from Sacramento gunning for a top 5-6 finish this year. Sleep on them if you want to. But yes PC is for real and I am so happy for them. Representing SoCal to the fullest in 2023. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewill Posted July 21, 2023 Author Share Posted July 21, 2023 6 hours ago, Vidal28Rdg said: Just getting my thoughts about the event together, had a great time at this show! Guardians: very fun show, some parts of the show really popped for me, the weird woodwind-electric kazoo player and part of their show was really cool, I felt that in a few moments, too many members of the corps were left out of the overall sound which made it really thin at times, but the corps recovered nicely each time, as a local Texas corps, I definitely hope for them to grow further in the future! Pacific Crest: All the folks out west had the delight of getting them first, their hype isn’t overstated, they produced a really strong, authentic sound(really gonna hear that a lot here, I have much to say in regards to culprits of overamplification👀👀👀) I loved the layout of the field, the pillars looked really cool, and the guard and corps proper uniforms looked great. They have that background, being in Cali where their guard and pit balance with their corps is going to be top notch. Everything they did was tasteful and elegant, definitely a contender for top 12. iirc they’re currently right there now. Crossmen: Whew boy!! Do I have quite a bit of a complaint when it comes to them. They are the main culprit of tonight’s show when it comes to over-amplification and bad balance from field level, the main culprits from last year’s show being Academy and Blue Knights!! Their pit was from my vantage point TOO LOUD!! I am sitting on the 40, 5 rows up, so I guess I’m asking for it, but I’m not complaining about every corps in that regard. The mics they placed on the field where also making their hornline sound TOO LOUD too often, it just didn’t feel natural at all. I didn’t wanna be only negative with them, so I will say I did like their drumline, it shows why they placed well in their caption, but yeah, comparing the sound palette from PC and Scouts to them was like night and day. Scouts: This was a show that my friend next to me really enjoyed, he liked the rep, he liked the quirkiness of the music choices in the performance and the flavor of a more “Scouts” sound. I don’t have much to say myself about the show, but I do have my friend to thank to help and share with me what he enjoyed about the show, and I definitely enjoyed it myself. The complaints some people may have with the show design, theme, aren’t really ones I can speak to or feel really strongly myself. It was an enjoyable show! Phantom: For what I was expecting in a less contained, more out there Phantom from the music department, I honestly did feel a bit underwhelmed compared to last year. And even then, they were still probably the most electric corps of the night. Phantom lately never fails to deliver for the folks in the audience and that is still the case here! My friend also had a very positive reaction to the show voicing those same things. Some of my gripes have to do with the Baritone soloist, they really made them sound more like an echoey drone a-la “thunderous goo” with their mic work of them, which just felt off compared to the trumpet soloists. Maybe it’s intentional, idk. To continue the balance discussion, they definitely didn’t offend, although if mic’d tubas bother you, that’s going to remain a part of the sound profile for them along with their pit balance. Crown: For all the people saying Crown is playing it too safe still, their ceiling is 4th place, blah, blah blah. Even if that is the case, the show was still very very enjoyable for me, and thought it was a show that translated from video to live performance really well. HOWEVER, from the ground, one could hear where the brass was a bit chippy and even hesitant at times, some entrances were chipped, including the opening main entrance, which surprised me. The balance between the amplified elements also got a bit wonky at times, where some parts of the hornline became too trumpet dominant and the pit became a bit too loud at times. The “thunderous goo” complaint some people have is valid as well, but I also don’t think it was as egregious as people say, and definitely not compared to what I heard earlier in the night. The nods to corps of Crown past were so fun to hear in the show, definitely enjoyed hearing some of those call-backs! BLOO: Bump is cool and enthralling, ‘nuff said….. Ok I’ll say more. This is a show that if you’re willing to buy in to the vibe, it commands your attention, mostly because what Bluecoats does is only really offered by them currently in the activity, the super extended phrases and tension-inducing moments like the Bump section above really are a different experience live compared to the other corps currently and it’s very interesting to see how far this corps goes into the realm of *weird*. While they aren’t explosive to the degree of Phantom, or Crown, they know how to entertain regardless! Guard was pretty on point too tonight and it showed in their scores Boston: Honestly, I felt a decent bit underwhelmed by Boston, don’t want to believe it was confirmation bias with me believing that what I heard online wasn’t really hitting with me and that I didn’t think it would hit live with me, but it came to pass. My friends I was watching with also both had tepid reactions to the show as well. POSITIVES!! The percussion and guard were very ON tonight, the effect of the uniform when the corps faces the crowd head on really shows the light shining off the blue of the uniform where the “wave shimmering” effect they were going for actually looks good! I wasn’t in love with their brass performance, mainly because I got a bunch of low-mid sound whereas the trumpets were usually on the other side of the field and it didn’t round out the sound for me, although I’d rather it be that than overbalanced and mic’d into the amp! Maybe after the long night and all the corps having already gone, I may have been tapped out once I got to Boston, but those were my honest thoughts… And my honest thoughts on all the corps too! My personal favs of the night were Crown and Phantom, with BLOO and PC right behind them! Best of luck to all corps for the rest of their season! Great insight! For those who watch on Flo and think loud over Flo makes for a more mature brass and etc, I will tell you some corps are amping it to a point of not enjoyable. Crossmen were loud, Loud, loud! They were the loudest corp all night and it was because of their mics and it was just painful. I think if they amped less, worried less about volume, and balanced the sound they would be scoring higher. I normally get impressed with loud corps when loud comes at a major hit. The crossmen playing MF was louder than the top 4 playing all out! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boss Anova Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 1 hour ago, IllianaLancerContra said: Even though merged, isn’t one GE judge supposed to have a visual background & the other music background? Or did they get away from that too? Yes, you have it right. One has a Musical background, the other a Visual/ Guard background. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IllianaLancerContra Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 5 minutes ago, spacewill said: Great insight! For those who watch on Flo and think loud over Flo makes for a more mature brass and etc, I will tell you some corps are amping it to a point of not enjoyable. Crossmen were loud, Loud, loud! They were the loudest corp all night and it was because of their mics and it was just painful. I think if they amped less, worried less about volume, and balanced the sound they would be scoring higher. I normally get impressed with loud corps when loud comes at a major hit. The crossmen playing MF was louder than the top 4 playing all out! Perhaps my dinosaur is showing, but when I marched we members would have thought that the idea of us needing amplification was an insult. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ediker Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 11 minutes ago, IllianaLancerContra said: Perhaps my dinosaur is showing, but when I marched we members would have thought that the idea of us needing amplification was an insult. Agree and get it. Also miss the added challenge of sound balance coming from the ensemble instead of a sound board. I tell myself it’s today’s instruments and more correct technique that requires the amping, mixing, etc. That satisfies me for a Jurassic minute. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vuitton Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 9 hours ago, Den8uml said: Boston beat crown in brass two times in three days with a different judge. I’m not sure we can sit at home on flo and question that and say it was wrong. I agree with this, 100%. Listening to something over the internet is a lot different than being there in person. I said this in the Crown thread yesterday, but I think Boston has been outdesigning Crown. I believe their show designs each year from 2017 to today have been better than Crown's. Crown's talent kept them above Boston 2017 to 2019. Boston has caught up to Crown talent wise. They are talented across the board. Equal talent + better design = higher placement. That equal talent is also there in the brass line. The judges are splitting hairs with these three. Boston is capable of beating Crown in brass today, tomorrow and at Indy. BD is capable of beating Crown in brass. Crown is capable of winning brass, too. It's going to be a fun race to watch, much like the race for guard. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ediker Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 29 minutes ago, Vuitton said: Boston is capable of beating Crown in brass today, tomorrow and at Indy. BD is capable of beating Crown in brass. Crown is capable of winning brass, too. It's going to be a fun race to watch, much like the race for guard. These are three great brass lines, and Bluecoats makes four. In Indy last season, it truly seemed like an “on any given night” situation. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drumcorpsfever Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 Phantom Regiment GE score being 2.1 points behind the leader in last night’s show? I don’t agree with that. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cop Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 13 hours ago, fighterkit said: The designer is not from the Academy. The designer is Jason Robb. Sierra is the visual caption head. Not design. Talking to the kids and from my own personal experience with her. She is an asset to the corps. Outstanding info. I'm happy to hear Sierra is an asset. I'll not forget the name "Jason Robb" either! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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