Murray Review re-posted

[WoofInTheWoods]

One more time. Hopefully everyone will be nice and comment on the review and not get ugly.

I forgot to mention last time that I love The Cadets snares when they did their little jig in "Boogie Woogie". I want to see that over and over again. Also, The Cadets drum major stood right next to me when he came in the stands to conduct "America / O Canada" and "God Bless America". That was cool! I shook his hand afterward.

O.K. here's the original review...

First of all I must tell everyone what an excellent show site this turned out to be. The Murray / Calloway County Chamber of Commerce rolled out the red carpet for every corps. Local churches brought tons of home baked cookies and other sweet stuff for every corps.

The Murray State University Stadium is an excellent facility for drum corps with a high pressbox and an astroturf field. There are no stands in the backfield so the sound was very dry. The daytime temps were hot but it cooled down nicely in time for the show. I'm guessing there were about 4,000 at this show. The stadium holds 8,000 on concert side and it looked like it was half full.

Note that I spent the entire day with Spirit so my review for them may be a little more detailed than others.

7th place, Southwind, 69.60 -- Sorry, did not see them. No review to give.

6th place, Carolina Crown, 76.20 -- This show has some really good moments but there are some major problems in the drill. I don't know if they have made a lot of changes. If that is the case then I can understand. But in several points in the show there are major alignment problems especially in rotating block or wedge (solid) formations. The mellophone section feature in the beginning is outstanding and the overall hornline sound is very nice and rich however there were several problems with players either sticking out or releasing too late. The soprano soloist (I think there's only one in the show) sounded very raspy and choked. They should have one of those stud mellophone players do the solo instead. The guard uniforms are a little hard for me to take but I do enjoy their work. They crowd gave thyem a favorable response when a few members of the guard put on the Medusa wigs and used rubber snakes as props.

5th place, Colts, 76.55 -- Color guard is what is giving Colts the lift in score. They are doing a wonderful job. Great rifle work in the opener. Hornline isn't as refined as Crown but they didn't have anyone sticking out like a sore thumb either. Their show is a hard sell. There are many impact points that aren't getting a favorable response from the audience. They beat crown with a relatively clean visual package and that excellent guard.

(Let's see if the caption scores prove me wrong!)

4th place, Spirit of JSU, 77.20 -- Wow, where to begin. 60% of this corps is rookies and there are only 4 or 5 age-outs this year. If they can retain at least 50% of this corps for next year then watch out. The hornline has a very nice, mature sound. (Average age about 17 years old.) Their show titled "Darkness to Light" does just that. It begins with a dark mood then becomes lighter from moment to moment. They have been focusing a lot of rehersal time on visual as they have made many changes to the drill and added some fun body work to the hornline. The drumline is obviously their best asset (and the caption scores show it). There are a couple of percussion features that are very good. (I'm a brass guy, can't give you much more than that!) They are going to change a large chunk of the end of the show. I really like the music and so do the judges. There are some beautiful moments in it as well as others that will just pull you out of your seat. The ballad is especially nice as the horns are displyaing a great deal of control in the very soft passages. The mellohpones are struggling at times but they have potential. Some mello parts will be re-written. The trumpets can wail and the contras are very strong. The guard wasn't particularly spectacular in my opinion but they did some nice work and it is fairly clean. They do need to put more emotion and life into their performance.

3rd place, Glassmen, 84.05 -- This show is different and yes it is a typically esoteric Glassmen show. But I like different stuff. The flugel soloist is back this year and he has obviously worked very hard since last season. Not a single crack from him tonight and he got well deserved applause. I think this drill may be as difficult if not more difficult than The Cadets. They are running a lot and that is making things even worse for the hornline which had some muddy sounding moments tonight. I like this show better than last year.

2nd place, Phantom Regiment, 84.85 -- I thought this spread between Phantom and Glassmen was a little too close. Even though their drill isn't as difficult as Glassmen they do have a championship caliber hornline, drumline AND color guard. (Finally!) The immproved quality of the guard is very noticeable. Horns and percusion both are dead accurate. The shimmering white flags in the ballad are absolutely fabulous. What an amazing effect they create. I can't say enough about how beautiful the music is. I liked Cadets show a lot but Phantoms music was breathtaking. This show simply screams, "PHANTOM REGIMENT"!

1st place, The Cadets, 90.00 -- There's not much I can say about this show except that it's all good. I like esoteric stuff (ala Glassmen) but I also like toe tapping stuff like this years Cadets. Every section is so superb and clean you could feed a baby off of them. (ok, ok there may have been a few teensy weensy bits here and there) The crowd was so into this program. They gave The Cadets 4 standing ovations tonight. The first one was after the opener. The second one came after the Pledge of Allegiance. Nobody in the stands recited the pledge with them and nobody yelled "UNDER GOD". I think they were taken by surprise. The third ovation after "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" was a frenzy of excitement. The last standing "O" at the end of the show started right after the, "and the home of the brave" line and never stopped.

The great thing about The Cadets show is that it has real meaning. It's not some far-fetched idea in a designers brain. This is something that everyone can relate to because not only does it touch our greatest sense of pride but it also touches our fears. We are busy living and enjoying life then all of a sudden our sense of security is shattered. Then our loved ones are sent overseas to war. But in the end we still have a feeling of hope. That is what this show is about.

Overall I think this is turning out to be one of the most exciting and un-predictable drum corps seasons ever. Everyone enjoy to the fullest and don't forget to let the kids know you love 'em.

[Lynkin]

Great review. Now, I simply can't wait to see Phantom this year!

I'm anticipating my first show shortly and this review got me pumped again...

I guess it's quite a year for my first corps experience.

Thanks!