Descriptive Reviews from Orlando

[Alphornboy]

The Citrus Bowl was packed down to the 5 yard lines--quite a feat considering the day's rain. BD's scheduled clinic was reduced to a noisy standstill under the stands. 75 degrees and clear at show time, dropping into the 60's for a wonderfully entertaining evening of drum corps.

Teal Sound - Music from Dave Matthews Band. Beautiful blue flags in ballad. Man in pit, flailing his long, curly hair was distracting and way "over the top." This show is not yet complete.

Magic - New staff, new marchers, basically a new corps--UNBELIEVABLE. Corps proper has beautiful purple jackets with small red sash which look stunningly vibrant and give a wonderful presence. Tight gray pants on guard guys looks tragic. The crowd was quite enthusiastic. Impact points are well conceived but need more volume to maximize their effectiveness. There were many very clean rifle and saber tosses and some very effective and large drill moves such as block forms that are twisting and floating. Some cool, well-written arrangements -- particularly beautiful during the ballad, with horns sounding so rich and nicely balanced. The horn's drill during drum solo was very effective -- with drifting vertical line to box, to line, to new box -- the crowd loved it! They have excellent field coverage. Then to cap off a great show, they have a stunning final 30 seconds of kaleidoscopic visual moves -- reminiscent of Star's "Pines" ending (stars to boxes to crosses). Magic ended in a block M to a standing ovation. Though they could have been louder, they were very impressive and exceeded my expectations. Welcome back!

Kiwanis Kavaliers - Beginning of Superheros show starts haunting and beautiful with many evolving geometric and block forms. They display beautiful gold capes for about 3 1/2 seconds. There must be a better way to utilize them -- such a waste. The music is quite recognizable and a real hit with the audience. Impact points were louder than Magic. The slow song needs something -- more visual intrigue. The musical book is fun and well-written. It is challenging but not over their heads -- bravo. The sextet in Johnny Quest with horn line doing a "monkey dance" had the crowd howling. Horn sound was quite ragged toward the end. When the guard work is complete and the show cleans up, this is going to be such a treat for the "newcomer" fan.

Carolina Crown - Mythology. I think the guard was aiming for a Toga look -- but the pastel, one-shoulder, "pretty little sun dresses" on the guys are a hoot (take your camera for this memorable Kodak moment)! You know what they say about the ancient Greeks? I'm sure there were many in the audience who loved it. Anyway....Crown has a cool show with well-written drill -- though intervals are still a mess. The guard displayed some excellent tosses and utilized lightning bolts and bows and arrows (sabers). Though incomplete, they are going to have an excellent saber line -- and fun to watch. They have a gloriously emotional and regal ballad. Unfortunately, the last 5 seconds of the show have no real feeling of finality and left the crowd saying, "Is it over?". With cleaning, more guard work, better horn endurance, and a "beefed-up" ending, this will be a very pleasant show.

Spirit - The Baby Blue looked great under the lights, with the guard in pretty burgundy velvet. They wailed to "Georgia" -- Just kidding (wishing)! "Darkness to Light" opens with such mean, violently aggressive sounds building to a powerful climax in a cross formation (no -- not a religious show). Excellently in-tune high soprano "stabs" were so accurate and strong. Spirit's hornline has many impact points with fine balance and blend -- very mature for this time of year. There is a lot of difficult backwards marching, but not enough field coverage. Also, there are several short spots that are too slow with small step sizes. However, they have some amazing extended visual moves. There is a wonderful inverted chevron that rotates, collapses, then reverses direction and unwinds (similar to some classic SCV moves). The audience ate it up! Extremely clean for June - with nice intervals throughout. The closing drill evolutions were super. Great job Spirit!

Blue Devils - Guard has multicolored, paneled costumes in purple, red, orange, and black, with red derbies (attractive, but different for Devs). The show starts with excellent solos and very sassy, but cute ragtime with adorably fitting Bob Fosse choreography (did I really use "cute" and "adorable" to describe BD?). The crowd was instantly into this show. The running spiral in the horns got quite a cheer. Even my Mom would love this! -- (not your typical Devils opener). 2nd number had some very sultry parts, skilled soloists, fun walking bass in "I got Rhythm." This tune "cooks" and shows off great trumpet technique -- another happy tune, occasionally with an "edge" -- certainly not straight ahead. Trumpet soloist squealed higher than a dog whistle -- to the crowds delight. In the 3rd (production) number, the hats came off the guard revealing 8 featured dancer babes with the most long, beautiful hair in Drum Corps. This entire guard can really dance! "House of the Rising Sun" has an ensemble trumpet feature that actually shows off pedal tones -- and effectively, I might add! Tight "stabs" provide a very exciting and cool transition into Channel 1 suite, which instantly provided chills to the old-timers. The challenging and fast horn licks are so clean and exciting and the drum line "rocks." The guard work (so fun to watch) is not yet complete. The crowd remained thrilled and electrified until the final minute in which the music seemed to lose its fun, jazzy, hip feel and was too overwritten. It sounded as if they slammed in every Channel One lick in every possible key with such "sophistication" that it lost the crowd. I hope they'll rewrite the end - If so....they may actually win over my Mom as a BD fan - MIRACLE!

Cadets - Their 1st show of the year -- and what a crowd pleaser! This is a fun, patriotic, "pull the heart strings" production that had the audience eating out of their hand from the "get go!" The guard, each in individually designed 40's swing dance attire, is so skilled with character acting, dance and equipment work. They are a blast to watch, yet do not overpower this beautifully designed show, which starts with them in the role of busy, bustling New Yorkers, but quickly breaking into a happy swing feel. Notice the inverted American flag form with guard in its bottom right corner (many subtle but effective variations to follow). First real impact point has great power. They have such a mature, well-ballanced sound. The 2nd number is filled with many fine soloists producing sexy, sultry feels followed by a visual and musical accellerando that got the crowd buzzing. Then as the horns play a gorgeous ballad, the drums produce an extremely effective military rumble way backfield. The ladies in the guard are checking the newspaper in angst. This is a cool effect. However, the guard guys are on the front sidelines changing into soldier costumes (while stripping down to their white boxers and T-shirts). The audience let out an appropriately funny wolf whistle and lots of laughter. This really didn't distract from such a fun-loving show. The ballad builds to a glorious crescendo. Wow! 6 drum sets on risers and 10 boxes for dancers fill the stage for the best production number seen in a while during Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy! Done in Cadets fashion with swing dancing, partnering, fun flag and rifle exchanges on boxes (from guys, caught by girls), waillin' trumpet feature, waillin' mellophone feature and "jam out" ensemble feature! Unbelievable energy and so much to watch. There is a wonderful extended snare line feature -- so cool. Builds to expected huge crashes on 2 and 4 with extremely high-velocity guard work. The crowd went wild! - Standing O! The final number has an amazing fast-moving, blurring block formation that morphs and drifts and changes direction with pass-thru's and rotations while getting louder and louder -- so well done. There is another huge Am. flag form with guard in upper left corner spinning solid blue flags. Company front freezes except for front line rifles who excellently execute silent spins and toss while barking out "One, Two,.....Ready, Fire, Release!". So effective. The show ended powerfully and emotionally with rifles flying, an Iwo Jima pose, patriotic musical quotes, and a thrilled, screaming audience!

Cavies - Frameworks was spellbinding, brilliant, smooth yet powerful, artistically mind-boggling -- yet accessible! Guard was in fluorescent trimmed gray body suits that looked like TRON but provided clearly defined lines and made them look so tall. The show's opening impact was not loud enough, but very controlled and beautiful. The marimba sounds are so lush and rich. There is almost a new age or hypnotic feel in the music. There is a huge rifle toss into a hushed company front that is so effective and brought big "OOOH's" from the audience. A large block form unwinds, then rewinds into a triangle which stretches and includes some spooky body work in the horns -- again, the crowd cries out, "WOO!" There was such control, balance, and blend in this gorgeous musical section which brought the crowd to its feet. Notice the many ingenious frames filling this extremely creative show. Everything is so tasteful and artsy, mysteriously awe-inspiring, yet shockingly stunning. I found myself holding my breath through much of the show. Watch for the crab-walking block pass-thru's that morph and rotate at varying velocities. The crowd went WILD during the chant section as the guard forms a very tight block form that is double-framed by the horns who are moving in opposing directions while pounding fists, stomping feet, chanting ever faster, changing speed and direction while the guard performs fast and frantic convulsions of choreographed cacophony! You gotta see it to believe it. Brilliance. Did I mention the drums are going wild?! Did I have to?! And what an amazingly clean percussion section. The snare and tenor features are electric. This show has so many frames and boxes wrapping wildly around and fighting against each other. This show has ripples, company fronts, high speed - I was blown away. Artistry at its finest! Visually enthralling.

[1tealguard3]

Teal Sound- No comment on the guard's work, eh? The guy in pit w/ the curly hair...! G'old Beck! :D

[SWEuph04]

yeah that guy was distracting DMB, not Metallica like last year! :P