Huntington, WV 7/12/04

[Orpheus]

First of all, it was a good day for drum corps. T-storms were in the forecast all day, but I don’t think it rained a drop and the sky over the stadium was mostly clear, albeit quite hazy, all evening. Temps had gone down somewhat by showtime and there was a pleasant breeze blowing down the river. Thankfully, by 7:30, most of the concert-side seats are in the shade of the pressbox. Attendance was pretty good, too ... certainly much better than I’d feared it might be for a contest returning from a two-year hiatus. I may be biased, but Marshall Stadium (which is actually in the process of being re-named ... those at the show got to read “dwards Stadium” on the side of the pressbox) is a great venue for a drum corps show. Thanks a million to the Phantom Regiment for providing the impetus to return this show to the schedule! I’m sure it’ll be even bigger & better next summer.

One problem with the organization, though – wouldn’t it make sense to have the corps enter the field from the back and leave from the front instead of having to pass around, through, and across one another to get onto and off of the field?

Marion Cadets: The good news is that they now have five guard members. Two of them knew about half of the show and the other three knew about twenty percent. Things should shape up soon, I’m sure. I’m impressed by the progress that this corps has made over the years. I remember when they were taking the field with perhaps five brass. Musically, I think they’re doing okay. The hornline has some really nice moments, but they seemed to poop out by the end of the show. Visually, though, they have some real issues. They need to spend a lot of time concentrating on M&M fundamentals. No matter what division you’re in, having multiple individuals out-of-step for large portions of the show is simply unacceptable. Overall, their show was quite enjoyable, but I’m thinking that the audience might have appreciated a more straightforward approach to the familiar music of “The Planets.” D3 - 64.95

Kiwanis Kavaliers are solid. They’ve definitely improved over the past couple of seasons, but with the strength throughout D1 this season, I doubt their final placement will reflect it. Their musical arrangements are pretty interesting and the corps looks pretty sharp. Feet need some work, though – I think I saw almost as many styles of marching as there were kids in the corps. As for the trash-can segment, my opinion is that they either need to find something much more interesting to do with them, or ditch them entirely. Frankly, we’ve all seen other corps (not to mention blast! and Stomp) do similar things in the past. Generally a nice show. Horns will begin to score better if they can iron out some TQ&I issues. 6th - 66.40

Colts are, I think, not talked about enough. This is a fine show and a few years back, when the competition for 12th place wasn’t quite as intense, they would easily be contenders for a spot in Finals. “American Overture” is a great opener, fairly demanding from a technical standpoint, and a rather risky proposition, to boot. Their articulation sounded quite nice from near the top of the stands, and the hard parts were not watered down much (if at all) from the original. “Old Man River” was a hit with the crowd. 5th - 72.50

What can I say about Carolina Crown? They’re a superb corps and they’ve got a heck of a great show. Their color guard is especially outstanding. The corps has few real weaknesses and still has room to improve. That said, I think most of you know how I feel about the use of amplified voice. Not only did I find it jarring and distracting, but I don’t think it was really all that good. Like I wrote in another thread, “when we're listening to top-twelve caliber horns and percussion, we expect them to sound like the highly trained semi-professional musicians that they are. If a corps is going to employ solo singers, should we not also expect them to sound like highly trained semi-professional musicians?” In any case, I hated the amplified singing even more than I thought I would and I found the so-called “beat” poetry to be ridiculous and unnecessary. They essentially spoiled my ability to enjoy what I would otherwise have considered a top-notch show. Crown’s closer was the favorite chart of the night according to everyone I spoke to. 3rd - 81.60

Madison Scouts may have been having a “down” night, but since this was my first viewing of them this season, I can’t say that for sure. The show is great, but they seemed to be performing without much in the way of energy and excitement. I like the arrangements. Visually, I thought that their drill was outstanding. Color guard is solid, but not as good as last season’s version. The biggest surprise of the evening was that Carolina Crown’s brass (and maybe PR’s, too) were actually louder than the Scouts’. Now I’m not necessarily part of the “louder is always better” crowd, but there are certain things we come to expect out of Madison, and a heapin’ helpin’ of good old fashioned POWER is one of them. Needless to say, though, their soloists were absolutely incredible. Finally, and I’m sad to say it, but I’m not sure that Madison has much more room to improve this season. I could easily see Crown, and maybe even Bones, passing them up by August. I’ll tell you this though – when they went into the rotating company front, I was just sitting there with a big goofy grin on my face. This is drum corps! 2nd - 83.75

Crossmen were actually my favorite show of the night, from a purely entertainment standpoint. Sometimes a show just strikes you that way and you can’t really put your finger on it, you know? Musically, this corps is hot! And it’s a fairly complex program with room still yet to grow. (In retrospect, I think it’s odd that no other corps in my lifetime has used “Both Sides Now” as a ballad. It’s absolutely perfect.) Soloists were solid. I know nothing about percussion, but my buddy Jeff was really grooving to their drumline. Nice reference back to their historic ‘92 show, as well, with “Puma.” My only major complaint is the guard is definitely not achieving the level of excellence that we’ve come to expect from this corps. The guard's uniforms are great, by the way, but I'm not sold on the new corps uniforms ... not enough color or contrast. 4th - 79.40

Phantom Regiment – My God, but this is a beautiful show with tons of potential still yet to be achieved. I understand that there are a lot of rewrites going on, and that could explain some of the ensemble problems they were having in Huntington. The hornline has the lush, rich sound that we’ve come to expect. There are some absolutely killer moments in the drill, too, which isn’t always something that the Regiment is prone to give us. I love what their color guard is doing, although I was somewhat disappointed by their level of execution. I suspect that they were just having a bad performance and will get things pulled together soon. The CG judge had it right, IMO, placing them in second behind Crown’s. And even as an uneducated horn guy, I recognized that their drums were cookin’. (My percussionist friend was singing some of their drumline’s licks after the show ... I don’t know how drummers remember these things.) I knew it was gonna be under a point between Scouts & Regiment, and I think the judges got it right. I expect PR to pull away as the season progresses. 1st - 83.90

Edited July 14, 2004 by Orpheus

[PRPHAN]

Great job on the review. I have been in Huntington several times as a volunteer for the Regiment and it was always one of my favorite venues. It really is a great stadium for drum corps. I was a litttle concerned about the score and knew they were putting in changes. I just hope they get them in and concentrate on cleaning and performance issues.

Again, many thanks for the review.

Robert

[TexasPRfan]

Great review, Orpheus! I felt the same way about almost everyone. I think you are dead on with Scouts, too, by the way.

Harvey

[carolinacrownguardboi]

Thanks so much for an awesome review on our show this year (Carolina Crown)! I'm in the colorguard and we have grown so much in the level of performance and talent level. It amazes me even more that it's a mix of kids from high school up to age-outs! I think that this is my most fav. show since i've been marching with Crown..I can really get into this one, well i have to get going LUNCH TIME!!!! FOOD FOOD :):)

[Orpheus]

Thanks for the compliments. - - One more thing I forgot to mention, though: When there's a Canadian corps performing at the show, can we please get somebody to perform "O Canada."? I mean, it's certainly the respectful thing to do, isn't it?

[Sean1]

nice thanks

[DrumCorpsMom]

Thanks for the compliments. -  - One more thing I forgot to mention, though:  When there's a Canadian corps performing at the show, can we please get somebody to perform "O Canada."?  I mean, it's certainly the respectful thing to do, isn't it?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And for those Canadian kids marching in other corps :P