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2004 Finals Review


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The weather ended up being perfect (looked a little scary before the show started, but it all blew away), the stadium was packed and ready, and the line up was fantastic.

Here are my short and sweet observations about tonight’s line-up.

Marines – Fantastic job with a varied and challenging program. It’s always a pleasure to see these men and women perform. Fantastic job on all three national anthems!

Glassmen – I thought they were a bit flat tonight. It seems they were just happy to have made finals and didn’t think they could move any higher. Nice show, but not their best performance of the week.

Blue Knights – Outstanding tonight. They really laid it all on the line and took it up a notch. The drum major sported their old uniform this evening (blue top with the white dots and grey pants).

Crossmen – The opener was a bit scary visually. There was an ugly rifle drop, the guard member went to retrieve it, and ended up almost taking out several members of the horn line in the process. The rest of the show was really solid. I didn’t think they were as good as they were yesterday, and I thought BK passed them without a doubt.

Madison Scouts – They had their best show of the week tonight. They were much more emotional and powerful in their performance.

Boston Crusaders – They had a solid show tonight. No major change from last night. I thought Madison passed them by and left them in their dust.

Bluecoats – Powerful show. The horn line lit it up, and the guard was on. The horn line sounded fantastic – great tone quality and balance. The show design just doesn’t do it for me.

Carolina Crown – They had a strong show tonight, but it was not really any better or worse than yesterday. They are neck and neck with Bluecoats.

Phantom Regiment – Holy Cow, what a show! It seemed to me they channelled some pent up frustration from last nights shafting into on phantastic performance. Absolutely awesome job (to both the performers and the designers).

Cadets – The opener had some minor phasing in the opening statements, but the rest of the musical program was “rock” solid. Visually, there were three noticeable missed direction changes and still plenty of visual dirt. The baton twirler went wild tonight with tons of leaps and such – pure bando cheese. Sorry Cadets, Jethro Dull just didn’t do it for this former fan of your shows. Please, keep the cheese in the refrigerator.

Santa Clara Vanguard – The fan favorite. The clapping, the cheering, the thundering foot stomping, the “SCV” chanting – and this was just their field entrance. They were on fire tonight! Standing ovation at the end of the opener, in the closer, and at the end of the show. Percussion smoked everyone. Guard was spectacular. Brass was gorgeous. Drill was incredible. The best? Not on the sheets. They deserved third place. But they were the clear fan favorite regardless of their placement. SCV, you are true champions in my book! Thanks for such an incredible performance!

Blue Devils – They had a much better show tonight. All captions were much better, and they performed incredibly well. They added a new twist to the ending tonight, which was very cool. Rather than march into the end zone and sort of mill about waiting for the pit to conclude, the horn line and battery just kept on chugging away right into the tunnel. MUCH better way to end the show.

Cavaliers – Much better tonight as well, and one simple word can describe their performance – CHAMPIONS!

One complaint – Why didn’t the Div II and Div III Champions perform in exhibition before the show began? The show began at 5 PM, but there was nothing but video clips and the Marines wonderful performance before Glassmen took the field at 7PM. I was looking forward to seeing both the Spartans and the Oregon Crusaders.

Why has Div II/III been scheduled on the many of the same days as Div I in a different location? Why was there no DIV II/III results reported in the update? Why was nothing mentioned by the announcer or in the video clips about Div II/III? Why has Div II/III been completely tucked away in their own little corner?

Overall, a great show and a great year.

Tim Kviz

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Nice review.... much appreciated!

Fran

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I enjoyed the review. . .thank you.

One question though, how is a baton twirler considered "bando cheese"?

Maybe 20 or so years ago, yes. . .but baton twirlers have not been an integral part of the band world in a long time, unless you are in east texas hehe.

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Great review! and I agree with the Div II and Div III snub. I really liked starting of Saturday night with the 2 champions (and why snub poor Beatrix who came all the way over here from Europe???), and would much prefer that to the Marine Corps D&BC. Also, to tell the fans the show started at 5 was a cruel joke.

Harvey

One complaint – Why didn’t the Div II and Div III Champions perform in exhibition before the show began? The show began at 5 PM, but there was nothing but video clips and the Marines wonderful performance before Glassmen took the field at 7PM. I was looking forward to seeing both the Spartans and the Oregon Crusaders.

Why has Div II/III been scheduled on the many of the same days as Div I in a different location? Why was there no DIV II/III results reported in the update? Why was nothing mentioned by the announcer or in the video clips about Div II/III? Why has Div II/III been completely tucked away in their own little corner?

Overall, a great show and a great year.

Tim Kviz

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