DCI Prelims - Big, Loud, and Live - August 10th, 2023

[MarimbaManiac]

3 minutes ago, ContraFart said:

I dont know. When I hear that, I just think nobody else consistently puts out well designed and great shows. I think Bluecoats and BAC put out magnificent shows. Crown also puts out great shows, but I can give you a point on the lack of consistently. 

I think Bluecoats have been on a tear since 2014 putting together amazing programs, with few misses. Kinetic Noise was HIGHLY underrated IMO.

Edited August 11, 2023 by MarimbaManiac

[ContraFart]

Just now, MarimbaManiac said:

I think Bluecoats have been on a tear since 2014 putting together amazing programs, with few misses. Kinetic Noise was HIGHLY overlooked IMO.

Kinetic Noise introduced me to Bon Iver and I have been a fan ever since. 

[saxfreq1128]

IDEK what we’re even arguing about anymore but 2 things can be true at once:

- BD has enough of an advantage for a win to seem more than plausible.

- It’s not over til it’s over. I’m a diehard BD fan but the idea that the remaining top 4 — specifically, this top 4 — has no chance is overstating it this year, even if BD winning is historically likely.

And not for nothing, most of the people I’ve seen saying over and over, since June, that BD is definitely going to win, have not been BD fans lol…………..

Edited August 11, 2023 by saxfreq1128

[RiverCityAndTroopersFan]

The announcer was really bad “Aphrodite is one of my favorite goddesses” 

on the cavaliers: “ a lot of energy… and testosterone”

[RiverCityAndTroopersFan]

8 minutes ago, RiverCityAndTroopersFan said:

The announcer was really bad “Aphrodite is one of my favorite goddesses” 

on the cavaliers: “ a lot of energy… and testosterone”

But wait, there’s more. To the Absenthia soloist: “it isn’t easy being green”

[Vuitton]

19 minutes ago, ContraFart said:

Kinetic Noise introduced me to Bon Iver and I have been a fan ever since. 

This was such a fantastic show. It's amazing how much Bluecoats have innovated since 2014. They took props, electronics and costuming to a whole new level, and the activity followed them on all three fronts. Really amazing. I love Bluecoats. 

[ftwdrummer]

A full review now that I've had sleep, complete with my notes from texting my folks. I was in theater, they were at home.

Spirit: delightful show, good to see them back in fine form

Crossmen: Crossmen who look vaguely like mid-90s Phantom from a headgear perspective is weird. Good music. Could've used a more straightforward presentation of Letter from Home. Overused Long and Winding Road. Still my favorite music book of this grouping

Pacific Crest: felt like a bit of a nothing show, truth be told.

BK: weird by BK standards even. Lots of voiceover that felt very sound and fury signifying nothing.

Colts: "You Should Really Call Your Mom" the drum corps show. (It worked; I called Mom on the drive home to discuss what we watched.) This year's winner of the "which corps made ftwdrummer cry" award. Dome Sweet Dome was hilarious. Not my favorite anniversary show titled "Where The Heart Is" from a Midwestern corps (love you Blue Stars 2014), but still wonderful.

Troopers: felt like a bad run from the prop. Don't think the concept coheres as much as last year's did, but that may be my affection for There Will Be Blood clouding my perspective. Appreciated the booth commentary explaining why the harmonica was a usable instrument (uses a pickup to get vibration).

I paid more attention to commentary and interviews after INT.

Blue Stars: dramatically helped by Blair's crew's direction, and by the one question they had time for for Shapiro. Still not a fan conceptually, and it's not their best work, but improved here.

Cavies: dramatic improvement since San Antonio. Wish it didn't take after the weakest of the Saucedo championship books. Also if you're going to do the step-over have enough guys there that everyone has someone to step over. Good gosh that percussion. Also I appreciated the gears out for this show--was that in previously? And thought I might've seen at least one guy with multiple necklaces, which to me reads as bringing his dad's on the field with him, which is delightful.

Cadets: tried to stuff too many things between Cavies and Cadets, so Bilby's one interview question came as the show was starting which was ineffective. Guy next to me in the theater audibly said "what the hell is that" when he saw the uniforms. Not a fan of the narration but it helps with the scores, I guess. Enjoyed the ending drill. Vento pointed out that like the unis or not they were a good fit for this show specifically.

Phantom: GREAT interview with Tony Hall. Lots of discussion of how he sees exogenesis in this show as planting the seed for Regiment of the future, tarps as framing for the new planet they find themselves on, frames as the portals they travel through. I really enjoyed how Phantom they looked even though they have none of what we think of as the Phantom hallmarks. The Rachmaninoff was delightful. Good work getting the leg kick. Rondo noted that he wished less of the Phantom sound was coming from the amps, which I found interesting.

Mandarins: appreciated the discussion with their program coordinator, noting that she thought of the color dichotomy as less good vs evil, more who you are underneath vs who society wants you to be. Never thought that Mandarins would be the hot jazz corps on a show, but it's impressive. Video from inside with spinnerman was mind boggling.

Crown: at one point this year I worried I was tired of Crown brass. I'm not, it's just that this year's technical section just isn't as well woven in as years past. Enjoyed Rick Subel straight up saying that he started with the crown set and worked back from there in terms of figuring out the show concept. Appreciated Vento talking about how she only watched her son during Crown's show (shouts to him on his age out).

Bloo: was good getting our annual State of the Activity with Dean Westman. Lots of jokes about "you mean no one else's design room started with poems from 1789?" Noted that this was part and parcel of their 'experiential' design philosophy that kinda started with Downside Up. Shouted out Lagola's color palette. Show itself: much improved over previous. Bump rocks. Visuals are still way too busy and don't read well against the turf. Wouldn't mind another shift in color philosophy. Voice work worked better now than earlier in the year.

Boston: decent interview with Keith Potter. Noted that it was definitely designed to be a metaphor for the drum corps season and chasing the unattainable. Noted that the revelry was intended to be an evening stuck on the boat while waiting to find a whale. Show itself: rough run from the piccolo soloist. The guitar riff from Shipping Up to Boston doesn't translate well to brass--needs more of a hard rhythmic feature at the start of the note, which I don't think wind instruments can really do. Maybe a bit too literal at the end. I want to like the show, same as I want to like most Boston shows...but it doesn't quite work for me still. Also the last quote is in the Skyfall zone for me--in that, much like I wanted Albert Finney's character in Skyfall to be played by Sean Connery but that would've also taken you right out of the movie but you were kinda taken out of the movie anyway because you immediately thought 'that should be Sean Connery,' using the Montalban presentation of that quote would take you out of the show but you're taken out anyway thinking 'I wish this voice were Montalban.'

Devils: really appreciated Dave Glyde's explanation of the WWII influence in the first drum feature. Discussion afterwards about how the Devils complete an idea in that there's very little else to say about it afterwards. Everything just worked. They execute better than anyone else, and they have more depth in what all they've thought about with the concept. Both Sides Now is delightful, though I wish they were doing more of the original Joni Mitchell version than the Herbie Hancock interpretation.

Scores: I appreciate that they left space between Boston and Cadets for where Vanguard's fifth place island (a la 2015) would have been

Predictions: I would probably put BD tops because they continue to have the deepest layering of concept and because they clearly execute more cleanly than everyone. But I don't think someone else scraping things up is out of the question.

The wild card, bluntly, is Cavies (assisted by the ability to go back and readjust numbers after everyone, and a lesser impact from Cadets as well). Percussion scoring wasn't particularly close in 2010 (not were the overall placements--Devils were typically ~a point up during Finals week), but the percussion scores at the top were depressed relative to other captions because the percussion judges, being conservative, generally gave Phantom scores that left space for 3-5 corps over them, just in case--the top percussion score at Finals was a 19.6, compared to 19.8 and above elsewhere. I don't know what effect that has on the competitive dynamics in the top four--does percussion have less impact because there's another corps likely over top of them, so everything else matters more? Does it have more impact because the percussion rankings tend to have more discrepancy from the rest of the rankings and suggest that there's more potential to drop? I'm not sure.

[MikeRapp]

1 hour ago, Vuitton said:

Yes, you are correct and this is a fair statement.

I think a lot of corps put out magificant shows. BD is never one of my favorite shows. I like Crown, Bluecoats, Boston, Cadets, Regiment, Mandarins, Colts and Blue Stars best this year.

I'm not saying none of these corps put out great shows. They do. I am saying it is extremely difficult to beat BD because not only they are consistant and really don't have any weaknesses, but their staff designs shows that the judges reward more than any other corps does. If this weren't true they wouldn't have been in the top 2 for the past 16 years.

Something BD does better than anyone else — and it’s so easily ignored — is the scale of their shows are designed for big shows. So many corps have props that are too small, in the wrong places on the field, have ugly details seen from the stands, or just don’t read well.

Their marching forms and guard movements are always sized for a big stage, which is literally how stage shows are supposed to be designed. Bluecoats now do this really well (Tilt was the first and then DSU pretty much nailed it), as do Crown and now Boston. So many other corps use props that are too small, and are therefore visually noisy. Pet peeve for me are signs with words—a huge huge distraction. Screams bad design.

[NewArpege]

1 hour ago, MarimbaManiac said:

I think Bluecoats have been on a tear since 2014 putting together amazing programs, with few misses. Kinetic Noise was HIGHLY underrated IMO.

BC has put out some of the most memorable shows over the past decade, for sure. They’ve snatched the cool jazz corp title from BD on many occasions.

Wonder if they’ll give us a good jagged line type show again. I love to see that with their current talent levels. 

[NewArpege]

Why is the Semi-Finals thread locked?