Jacksonville, AL

[SeanOwenSullivan]

Venue:

Love JSU Stadium/campus. Perfect locale for drum corps shows. Renovations were being made to the bldgs surrounding the stadium, so there was only one entrace/exit from the field, so there was some delay btwn corps and for finale, but still an awesome venue.

CorpsVets:

Missed (eating)

Court of Honor:

Missed (eating)

Colts:

I didn't find this show very accessible. There wasn't much development to any themes. The ballad ("Old Man River") seemed to work nicely and the blue colored double flags really added depth to the corps visually. Not much impact. Visually there was nothing too challenging. Color guard had some very nice additions to the show throughout. COuld have used soem more weapon work though.

Blue Knights:

I do not see how the are beating Spirit. Visually, a mess and the brassline is not putting out much of a sound. The guard is doing a lot of work, but it is not musical. I found the guard work to be a distraction at best. The show's concept was lost on most. THe one caption that is cooking with this corps is the percussion. They have a pretty long feature and is really hot. Durign the percussion feature, the guard is on "sticks" but they are a natural color, so it was really hard to see them on the field.

Madison:

WOW! The Scouts are back. A very good vehicle for them. There are so many cool musical moments - especially from the sop's. The guard is AWESOME! Didn't quiet understand why the guard was wearing black, rugged clothes. The threads didn't seem to reflect the show's feel. Still don't liek the "new" uni's from last yr, but oh well. It is a very cool show. Very good development. The shows just keeps gettign better and better. Some nice visual moments from guard and the corps. The corps had a very full sound from top to bottom. I really got into this show. They do a "suicide line" and of course end on a LOUD note.

BD:

Holy smokes. Musically and visually, this is one of the cleanest shows I have seen this early. This show is beast. One of the best opening productions ever. The opening lasts about 5 minutes and it is classic. A much more symphonic sound for them this yr. I couldn't remember what their show was, but immediately form the sounds they were putting out, I knew it was about trains. THis show develops awesomely and has some classic moments to it. Guard is perfect as usual. A lot of aerials from the guard and excellent work on all equpiment. "Summertime" is HOT - literally. The silks used by the guard really help to protray a hot feeling and the sound put out form the barssline is definitely hot. Bound to be a BD classic. The ending really shows off the visual capabilities of this corps. THis show is so clean already and it's a monster. Have a feeling this is the championship show this yr. Thank you BD!

SCV:

Musically, the tightest and loudest sound of the night. From a visual standpoint, there is a lot of cleaning that needs to happen. I was really looking forward to seeing/hearing this show and I was not let down. The guard really helps to protray the show's concept. The brass has some crazy visual moves. Think 99 kinda stuff. I think the one things this show is missing is some percussion stuff. Musically, they add a lot, but nothing really stood out. Also pacing needs to be adjusted. There is a 2 minute part following the ballad that just feels so weird. Oh yeah, the ballad. All I can say is wow. WHat an awesome sound. And the silks used by the guard. Th most beautfil I have seen - HUGE silks with all kinds of colors from yellow to orange to purple with a nice mid eastern motive. The guard is VERY musical and add a lot of impact and subtlties to the show. At one point the guard uses swords inplace of weapons and it is highly effective. The edning production is classical. Perfect in all aspect. Love the reapitulation at a lower volume. It's really effective. The two guard members meeting on the 50 at the end really tie the knot. I LOVE this show, but BD was better froma visual standpoint. Can't wait to see them at Murfreesboro in 2 weeks.

Spirit:

They are putting out a very full sound this yr. I was skpetical about the show's theme, but it comes across very nicely. All captions from them are cooking this yr. I think the opener is lacking some development and that kleaves the show feeling unfinished. They had some new silks for the opener wich really help to tie the guard to the corps much better. There is still a lot of visual cleaning that needs workl, but my friends told me that they had an off night and just added some body moves and chg's to the show. The ballad is awesome. I just wish the guard was more compact and not so spread out. The 3rd number is really taking off and the corps is making it their own. I still could use some more weapon work from the guard. Some nice stagging in the closer really help to take the show to a different place musically. The alst 2 mins of the show develop nicely and have siome nice visual moments, but they need cleaning.

Here's how I rank who I've seen:

BD

SCV

Cavies

MS

Boston

Bluecoats

Crown

Spirit

Crossmen

Seattle

BK

Magic

Colts

Troopers

Cheers,

Sean

w/Stp:

[decompressed]

Thanks Sean for that review....great job!

See...Gators and Bulldogs CAN get along!!!!

b**bs

Edited July 19, 2004 by decompressed

[hsreed]

Nice concise review. I appreciate your brevity. I enjoy hearing about SCV, and they're closing the gap. SCV's show just has more meat on the bone. I'm sure their drill is not super clean yet, but they're nipping at BD's heels. As the drill cleans and they spruce up a few musical items, they should pass BD. BD sounds and looks great, but I think the music and drill is pretty simplistic with fleeting moments of difficulty. Not to mention their soloist are AMAZING! If this was a solo competition, BD would win hands down.

[big phan]

Thanks, Sean. Nice review. I haven't seen a ton of competitions yet this year, but am planning on going to Allentown so its nice to have an idea of what to look at in each corps. I HAVE, however, seen and Boston and the Bluecoats recently and question wether you should have Boston placed so high. I LOVE the concept, but the execution is just too sloppy for me to put them over the Bluecoats. Just my opinion. Thanks, though.

[melomom]

Thank you Sean. It was a very informative review. I

grately apreciate your effort.

[scott414]

SEan

HAs BD made any changes to the ending of their show?? Reading lots of posts stating that the end will be/ or has been changed....

thanks