NightBEAT 34 - July 30th, 2023

[jwillis35]

3 minutes ago, arabica said:

This sentiment is always so disappointing to hear when most folks literally have access to the entire world in the palm of their hands at any given moment.

But I agree with you that a show should be able to be enjoyed at surface level just as much as when wanting/needing to dig deeper into meaning.

I agree with this as well. I usually don't feel a need to research a show unless I want to look into some of the deeper themes or concepts in the show. I did that a little with BD and Cadets this year. But most of the time I first just want to hear the brass and percussion books. Often this lets me know if I will enjoy the show or not. 

With Blue Devils they play enough great music and percussion is really fantastic that I can just enjoy that. They play so well. Their guard is also highly entertaining and extremely good. So even if I had no understanding of Matisse and the Cut Outs I think I would still love BD this year. 

Same with Cadets. If I didn't know who Atlas was or the concept behind the show I might question the uniforms, but I would have no problem enjoying that brass line, the percussion, and the musical book they play is wonderful. The drill in the closer is pretty cool too. 

With Bluecoats this year I am mostly just enjoying their music ensemble and the complex rhythms that get layered. Not a bad visual program either. Their narration this year is not my cup of tea but I typically just try to find the things I do like. 

This may just be me, but I think just about every corps has something in their show you can grab onto and enjoy. But in those rare cases if a person cannot find that then that's OK too. That corps simply becomes your HOT DOT corps. 🙂

[keystone3ply]

5 hours ago, gjramsey said:

Blue Devils - The first percussion break was hard to hear with the stupid foreign language narration.    

 

 

[NewToPosting]

The members of the Blue Stars deserve a HUGE kudos!!!!!

Their prop last night in Winston-Salem had a major blowout at the top of the show. As the show was starting, 2 members were carrying flags out from behind the busted prop to a different prop.

Magically, somehow ALL the corps members made it happen! They must rehearse for those kinds of scenarios. Coulda been catastrophic, but those members were consummate professionals!

[Rylan]

42 minutes ago, keystone3ply said:

 

RIP, Paul Reubens. ❤️ Just passed away last night I believe.  

[keystone3ply]

9 minutes ago, Rylan said:

RIP, Paul Reubens. ❤️ Just passed away last night I believe.  

Wow, I didn't know!  RIP ❤️

[ContraFart]

1 minute ago, keystone3ply said:

Wow, I didn't know!  RIP ❤️

I dont know whats harder to believe. that he passed away or that he was 70 years old. 

[BlueStainGlass]

40 minutes ago, Rylan said:

RIP, Paul Reubens. ❤️ Just passed away last night I believe.  

Ill always associate him to drum corps now because of Glassmen 08 opener. 

[dci76]

3 hours ago, denverjohn said:

Disdain for religion, perhaps? (Not the only corps with this messaging IMO)

Okay, not sure I agree with that take, but how is that exclusive to the decade of the 60’s? 

[wvu80]

2 hours ago, jwillis35 said:

Same with Cadets. If I didn't know who Atlas was or the concept behind the show I might question the uniforms, but I would have no problem enjoying that brass line, the percussion, and the musical book

My problem is I know who Atlas was.  He was a Titan who was being punished by his dad Zeus and was condemned to bear the weight of the world on his shoulders. 

I kind of see what Cadets are trying to do but it's an esoteric idea that just doesn't come across to me in the Cadet's show.  The finale shows a guard dressed like everybody else climbing some rifles/stairs.  I just don't get it.

[drumcorpsfever]

5 hours ago, Rylan said:

At first this part annoyed me too until I looked into it some more. That was the speech Charles de Gaulle gave when surrendering the French army during WWII. This part of the show is supposed to be chaotic with sounds of sirens, bombs, and with the battery playing sounds of artillery. This was a moment in Matisse’s life where he had a lot of internal conflict, not only with France’s surrender, as he was very patriotic, but also his decreasing ability to create art the way he always had due to his illness. This segues into the ballad “Both Sides Now” which is staged so that there are two sides to his life at this point - his old life of being a famous painter in peaceful France versus his new life of being a bed-ridden artist in wartime France. 

With all those things considered, I think BD does an absolutely beautiful job of representing this through both of those movements. After doing the research, the Charles de Gaulle speech/battery feature has now become one of my favorite parts of the show! 

I love this type of info. Wish there was more set-by-set things to look for from the creators. It would help the casual fan to appreciate more what corps are conveying on the field.