Brief Philly / DCI East Impressions

[Guest GeorgeD]

Crowd - BIG, real big

Seats - Upper Deck on 50 yard line. Thanks Ron from Inside the 40!

Weather - HOT - so hot some of the corps seemed a little heat-fatigued

Kiwanis Kavaliers:

Kiwanis has improved drill clarity and definition of musical highs and lows since my last viewing. BUT - still a great deal of dirt both musically and visually, with interval and shape problems throughout the program.

Madison:

First viewing this year. IMO score and placement was correct. Drill had some very nice moments, brass had very good power and some nice expression but was overall too top-heavy, and throughout program individuals poked out of the ensemble. Guard was working hard but simply NOT clean, despite a very easy guard book. Crowd enjoyed the performance and a portion (about 1/5) booed score/placement and then cheered. I had just watched Scouts '95/'96 Videos last week and the decline in all aspects (esp. marching) of the program was evident and upsetting. Members and history of the corps deserve better than what the staff is giving them. Will not make finals, IMO, nor is the program design/execution level deserving. Even classic toe roll of Scouts is missing during the show (only during the intro to the warm-up was it well defined - even then not consistent foot technique down the line) sigh.

Crown:

Crown has improved most on the musical front in the past month, with a lot of brass revisions and work with dynamic shaping. Guard is better staged and had some real nice silk work. Drum line very nice throughout. Show lacks a bit in the department of highs and lows, with overall a flat performance. Staging / theme needs better defined, with Greek/mythological references very unclear to (I would imagine) much of the audience. Madison was more entertaining, Crown out executed them in the visual department esp. On the bubble regarding finals, expect them to sit come Saturday night, IMO. Working on program highs and lows could change that.

Seattle Cascades:

Wow - what growth on all fronts for this program. Very nice balanced corps with very nice visual execution and design, good guard/brass & drums. Again, show lacked a bit in highs and lows, but overall I expect this corps to finish well ahead (2-4 points) of Crown and Scouts come finals. Cleaner than Crown, better basics programs evident in comparison to Scouts. Bravo. Seems a lock as a finalists, IMO.

Spirit:

Spirit is clearly ahead of the prior corps on all fronts. Drill is getting fairly clean. Guard is MUCH improved in staging and overall effectiveness of program since my last viewing a month ago. (also in number, around 8 more guard members, now plenty - which I am sure is helping the visual / GE numbers). Brass has great balanced sound. Production has done a great job of shaping the program's highs and lows and now sells well. Pit is VERY good, with effectively written parts, nice projection, great set-up, good playing and many features throughout the show. Spirit - enjoy your performance next Saturday.

Bluecoats:

Best corps they've ever had. Clearly will fall in nice spot come finals night next week. Cleanest drill of any corps up to this point. VERY nice horn ensemble sound, bright but well supported with rich and warm lower end. Excellent staging of guard. Show really sells great, with rich and varied dynamic / color palette in the books. IMO percussion is the weakest caption with a good deal of mud still in the snare line. Crowd LOVED them. I did too. Thanks BLOOOO! Deserved the placement they got tonight.

Crossmen:

Corps still struggles a bit with the opener, even though the brass book has seen a little of the garden hose. Guard very nice throughout with great book, silks and pretty clean. Weapon lines did a nice job. Ballad most improved. What started the season as a too long and weakly resolved tune has now become one of the strongest in the program. Crowd LOVED Bones (who made an appearance backfield prior to the performance) tonight. Best Crossmen corps ever, other than '92. Could top '92 (IMO) with good cleaning this week. Thanks Crossmen, really enjoyed your performance.

Boston:

Best Boston corps ever! Great drill, music book & effective show theme. Crowd loved banners / scrolls. I really enjoyed the music book much more than during my viewing a month ago / corps much more confident in their playing now. Drill fairly clean. Deserved third place, thought score should have been about a point higher with more gap between them and fourth. This corps was my date's favorite! She loved the entire program, top to bottom and was very impressed with the musical maturity on display.

Cadets:

Cadets seemed tired. I do NOT like many of the changes to the program since the beginning of the season, esp. in terms of musical arrangement. Opener and ballad now very choppy & lack flow and resolution. Get the feeling changes are being put in for the judges - i.e.: to increase difficulty. Cadets have added more marching to BWBB and ballad, now much less free form drill overall. Opener part two features new "windows" segment / large block form of entire corps in which segment "open up" to feature small ensemble features. Neat idea, but IMO too close in - should be spread out 20 yards bigger. Entire show too cramped between the 30's. Music end of things VERY good, with awesome drum line, very powerful and mature brass ensemble (still individuals in Baris and Sops sticking out in closer) and great guard. Guard silk work not as clean as I expected for this point in season. Closer tempo bumped up from last viewing. End of show falls / fell flat (is another change in the works?). Crowd loved them, but overall program more effective (IMO) a month ago. Score about right, could have gone either way between BD / Cadets. Drums probably the difference. Look for 3rd at finals, IMO.

BD:

Guard excellent and very clean - but lacked silk ensemble work, imo. Dancing in guard excellent and very well staged, but perhaps too much of it. Brass was very good, drill looked nice with wide-open design and good flow. Not clear what some of the drill "meant" musically though. Drum line dirty for this time of the year. Musical ensemble timing VERY good tonight / the only music area where they clearly topped Cadets IMO. Closer needs more Channel One Suite and much less reprise/wrap up. See them finishing ahead of Cadets - much better field coverage. GE aspect ahead of Cadets. My favorite last night.

Glassmen:

Glassmen got to follow the top two corps due to draw order, crowd was restless. Drill demand / design very good. Nice visual execution and intervals were pretty clean. Musical end had some nice moments and good program shaping of highs/lows (but not great). Mature brass sound and some nice aggressive drumming. Corps needs to inject emotion into the performance, really feels like they are "going through the motions" imo. Staff should speed up opener and closer and slow ballad to accomplish some of this. Thought their score / placement was right. Surprised Boston not further ahead though.

Finale-

Sounded great (best I've ever heard). I love the Bb's - (there, I said it). Great hearing that many horns in tune.

Encore-

Cadets played Rocky Point, REALLY loud. That's all I needed to bring a smile to my face one last time last night. One of the loudest brass moments I've ever heard. Go to a horn rehearsal / or warm up just to hear this chop-building tune. Unbelievable. Think Star / SCV '87 or Phantom '96 LOUD. Loud is good! (very good) Didn't think crowd would let Cadets leave, as they cheered for more and got it!

Great night of drum corps. Unfortunately, family responsibilities will keep me from attending finals (only the second finals I've missed since '84). Sigh.

Best year in drum corps in a long, long time. IMO.

George.

[Lynkin]

Good comments and review, George. It's a wild year isn't it?

Ah well, it's unfortunate that you won't be there, but I'll write an amazing in-your-face review and it'll be like your sitting right next to me!

[Bill D]

Nice review George,

I got to see DATR last night and I was shocked that we both liked Cavies more than SCV, who is normally our favorite.

I would absolutely love to see Cadets play Rocky Point in their show one more time. Thats my personal choice for best Cadet song.

Bill D

[sochman]

nice review george.we just got back from philly ourselfs. just landed in boston and the temps were in the upper 80s and it felt like a cold wave compared to philly.it was that hot! missed two corps just trying to get some water down stairs. the corps we did see were great and the sound was ###### from that stadiam. we agree best boston show ever even better than red. the blue devils and cadets were both real close two super shows. would not want to have to make the call on that.could we be headed for another tie? <_< have not seen the cavs yet. must be something really good!!! congrats to all the corps for a truely great show and good luck in madison...

[BennyASU]

great review George! and i agree that this is the best season weve had in awhile! hopefully there are many more to come!

[starting line]

Thanks also for the review. I agree that there is an overall improvement in the entertainment value of this years Corps collectively than in some very recent years. I like that !

[Sean1]

great review George. Thanks

[Orpheus]

I agree that there is an overall improvement in the entertainment value of this years Corps collectively than in some very recent years. I like that !

That's for sure. I think almost every corps has finally caught on to the fact that even in this era of drum & bugle corps, you can be both entertaining and competitive at the same time. It's an awesome year for drum corps. Performance levels are up almost across the board. I know none of them will see this, but I'd just like to say "thanks" to every performer who was out on that field (in that heat) Saturday night. It was one of the best competitions I've ever had the pleasure to witness.

[MikeD]

Great review, George/ We have similar thoughts over two nights it seems.

Mike