DCI Orlando review

[SWEuph04]

WELL!!!!!!!!!!! Its like 2 in the morning and here i am reporting about drum corps. I must be nuts..... no just addicted!!! So please forgive any spelling or grammer mistakes, I am extremely tired!!

The first major competition of the year, and it almost was a disaster. It had been raining here in beautiful Orlando, FL since pretty much monday. the ground was soggy, the air was humid, and it had rained all day long! :( But Drum Corps fans from all over Florida, and the country arrive at the Florida Citrus Bowl to watch the spectacle we have come to know and love as drum corps. Dci estimates 6500 people showed up for the contest. Th rain was pretty nasty, but god looked down on our little corner of the world, and stopped the rain, so the show could go on!

First i would like to say that i am not a judge, nor do i pretend to be one, and im not going to make up some phony score, which i think the corps deserved, because honestly, i cant watch everything, nor can i hear everything, so i will tell you all in lamens terms what i can remember of the events of this evening. another thing, i was in row "B" so most of the forms were indecipherable from my altitude, so most of this review, will have to do with the music, but i was there as a fan, so i didnt pick apart the show to analyze it, i just enjoyed and will convey the overall theme.

Teal Sound

corps appears to be the same size as last year, they are doing the music of dave matthews band. The drums and soloists were the strongest part of the corps. the horns seemed underconfident, which hurt them.

Magic of Orlando

Better when i saw them at the night of magic one week ago, recieved the first standing "O" of the evening, the hometown really went nuts for them. i really like the arrangement the are doing, the brass is very dark, and rich, and theyy just sound better in a big stadium. the drums were tight, and the guard now have their real uniforms (grey pants, with a kind of pinkish purpleish iradescent (sp.) look to them.) they go well with the theme of the desert winds. for more info on them, read my previous review of "night of Magic"

K. Kavaliers

My first time seeing the kavaliers. The show has great possibilities. Probably the most memorable part, was when half the corps plays the theme from batman, while the other half plays the fanfare from superman, cool effect, and meshed nicely.

Spirit

Love those baby blue unis, every time i see them, they just look so good. I liked this corps show, kind of different, with cool visual stuff, its hard to explain, but they did a good job

Carolina Crown

I liked the show, but expected with the whole gods and heroes theme, to hear some of "the planets". Oh well, we dont always get what we want. the guard caught my attention more than the corps did, some of them were extremely talented, so i watched them for most of the show.

Cavaliers

WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW

They were the best all night long! The stuff they did was revolutionary, and entertaining all in one, i enjoyed it soo much! i can even begin to describe it, but the highlights for me, were the clicking in time of the valves on the bugles (VERY COOL effect) also the corps dance break was SOOOOOOOOO cool. I had a friend with me who dances, with a dance company and she was impressed by their moves! there isnt a whole lot i can say about this show other than it will be HARD to beat!!!! Definitely !st place corps.

Cadets (debut)

I had kind of made up my mind, that I wasnt gonna like this show, but i really did like it. It was very much full of showmanship, as i have been accustomed to seeing w/ the cadets. Things that stood out in my mind: the rifle work ROCKED!!! The in your face blow your face off section, at the side line. WOW!!!!!! I just liked it overall, They definitely deserved second.

Blue Devils

I am really not gonna dwell on them, because i am a BD fan, and tonight they disapointed me. The drill was clean the horns played superbly, but the show goes NOWHERE. it is choppy, and completly not of the BD caliber. I will just end this by saying, you know the ending is not effective, when no one claps until the DM turns around and acknowledges the crowd. The whole place kinda sat there, unsure .... :(

To end on a good note, Dan Acheson gave the official announcement, DCI finals 2003 will be in orlando.

[MDempsey]

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[Sluggo]

Great Review....Like I have said, I am now dying to see the corps in July!!!

[MDempsey]

edited

[Hops819]

Thanks for the review...made me feel that I was there. (I can wish can't it?!) :P

[ipecac]

woohoo! Orlando in '03! I hate the weather and the constant precip.. but I love FL:)

Sounds like BD is reverting to the early 90's? Did they lose any staff?

ok.. that's the second time I've heard "Cavies' hornline sounds great." What's next? "Madison wins GE Visual?" ^0^

[MDempsey]

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[Bobbie']

First i would like to say that i am not a judge, nor do i pretend to be one, and im not going to make up some phony score, which i think the corps deserved, because honestly, i cant watch everything, nor can i hear everything, so i will tell you all in lamens terms what i can remember of the events of this evening. .

Well Dear,

Just let me add that you do not have to be a judge to have an opinion. Being a paying customer/fan certainly qualifies you enough!

Bobbie'

[SWEuph04]

thanx bobbie, i appreciate the support! B)

[CVKate]

I saw the corps at Dothan and Orlando, so I'll add my 2 cents:

Disclaimer: I am a guard person, so that's all I watch unless something else on the field pulls my attention away from the guard.

Teal Sound: I watched their guard warm up and saw that they have a decent guard book- I think it got muddied up on the field due to nerves and inexperience. If they clean it up and learn to enjoy themselves on the field, they should have a nice little show in Madision.

Kwanis: I thought the quality was pretty good for this early in the season. I think this Superheros show could be real entertaining if they had a lot of fun with it- thats not comming accross so far. The field is pretty dark right now with black unis and dark flags (not to mention the dark skies with all the rain at these 2 shows!), I hope they have some changes/surprises in store for us as this show develops.

Magic: Strong guard- sweet rifle line! They performed pretty well in Dothan considering the skies opened up and poured on them. This is one of those shows that I can appreciate the technical proficiency of the guard without actually getting into the show. Some of the performers were markedly stronger than others. I couldn't really get into the music, so I hope they pull out something GE-wise to pull the audience in by Madison- I would love to see this corps make it into Div I.

Crown: Saw this one from the front goal line in Orlando so all I could see was one side of the field. Great unis on the guard! Yellow and peach toga variations. Some real nice weapon work and nice dance moves. Really wish I could have seen it from the stands. They came on right after it poured rain, so there was some slipping around on the field.

Spirit: Even though its Holsinger, I really like the music and I get distracted into looking at the drumline sometimes- nice cymbal moves and good staging of the drumline during their features. The guard gets divided into 3 groups a lot in this show (rifle, sabre, body and rifle, flag, body). The opener is very agressive musically, but the guard looks tentative. The guard book is pretty meaty and except for performance, the girls handle it well. I wish for more confidence for this guard and some GE punches- if that happens this will no doubt be a top 12 show in Madison (assuming the rest of the corps comes along too re: clenliness and tone, etc).

Cadets: Sorry, I am not into this show. I hope its a work in progress and they wow me later in the season. It may be unfair of me, but if VK did this show, I would love it- they pander to the audience a lot- a lot of individual performance during Boogie Woogie- 5 male guard members come out in thier underwear and take up field space getting dressed, they end in an old time patriotic pose. Between the guard being in all different street-clothes unis and significant portions of the show being without a unison guard statement, I felt like GE was missing from the show.

BD: Loved most of it! The body movement of the guard is exquisitely fabulous. Loved the "quiet" start of ragtime- its nice to not have your face blasted off all the time. They seem to take some chances in this show, so I think it may take some time for the audience to get into it. I know Channel One and House of the Risisng Sun, but had a hard time picking it out- hope that clears up.

Cavies: I was skeptical, but that didn't last long. I think we will have a lot of fun with their "Tron" guard uniforms, but they really do fit in with the show. Of course my eyes were glued to the guard during the performance because (even with some early season dirt) they were fabu! Watched the victory concert at Dothan and realized that I love whatever it is the horns are playing! Loved the clicking of the valves in the rhythem section. The guard work really comes accross well with 4 ft pvc corners and 10 ft sticks that eventually form a big square that the boys get down and dance in. If someone comes up with something to beat these guys, I will be surprised.