Anybody at the DATR?

[smiles7197]

How about a review from DATR? We would love to hear your view of the show.

[arrangerx]

Hey folks,

Well. . . my predictions came through. . . I paid for tickets, didn't listen to any judging tapes, had a beer, enjoyed myself, and didn't care about the scores. . .

;)^

So. . . here's my review. . . though it may not be what you're all looking for since I am such an "insider" in the activity.

My wife and I drove down to Denver from Fort Collins beneath threatening skies. The rain held off, but the humidity level was up. Showtime temps were just about perfect -- between 70 - 73 degrees F.

Got to the stadium (Invesco Field at Mile High!) at about 6:20 pm. Show was supposed to start at 7:00 pm, so we thought no problem. We didn't buy tickets in advance so we waiting in line at the ticket office for about 40 minutes. While it seemed a little slow, we met many nice folks from all over the place including many former members of the Troopers. Time passed quickly!

Got our tickets up on the Club Level -- in the 300's sections.

On our way up to our seats I ran into some folks I used to teach at the Colts (still marching -- good for you!!), many Loveland HS band kids who I teach during the fall, and more friends from so many years of doing this drum corps thing. . . I was afraid I might miss the show!

"Hi" to Art (Cavaliers driver), and Tom & Bev Ford (Now working DCI souvies), Jimbo (buddy who works with Pioneer), and everyone else I ran into. Felt like old home week!

Took the elevator up to the Club Level. OH MY GAWD!!! This is the first time I've been to Invesco Field. This place is unreal!! My words wouldn't do it justice. Imagine the nicest convention hall you've ever been in, soundproof it, decorate everything with the Broncos logo, have more TV screens, refreshment stands, clean bathrooms, and fill it will thousands of Drum Corps Fans. This is the nicest place I've ever viewed a drum corps show. EVER.

We walked off the councourse, went through the glass doors out to our seats and saw the most beautiful field, incredible views from every seat (I don't think there is a bad seat in the house!), and saw two state-of-the-art big plasma video screens (which would later show almost constant high camera angles of the drill, and some nice interviews given by various directors, judges, VIPS, etc. -- run by Casey Smith). It was almost mind-boggling.

The sound? This place was built to be loud -- home field advantage being a big deal here in Bronco country. As a result, I don't think they could have come any closer to designing the perfect place to host a DCI Finals if they had tried!

Here's hoping. . .

B)

Now. . . on to the show. . .

Pioneer kicked the show off very nicely. This was my first viewing and I enjoyed to energy and fun projected by the corps. "Oliver" works for them. Small hornline delivers some nice sound, and while they are sometimes overbalanced by the big drum line (relatively speaking), they are usually staged well. Field is condensed by posting the pit in the back (about the back hash I think) in an arc. Good role playing by pit members, and a reasonably good colorguard. Highlight for me was a very nice arrangement and performance of "As Long As He Needs Me". Very enjoyable performance and nice audience response.

Southwind was next up. They looked positively huge, and its nice to see yellow and black on the field for this old Bridgemen fan! Other than the Tocatta and Fugue that opened the show, I can't really recall any titles of the other pieces off the top of my head. Show explores traveling from Dark to Light. Opener was indeed dark. Probably the most dense brass scoring in their musical book, and they had a little trouble projecting that power up as a result. Pretty good drum line, featured throughtout, and the flag colors were a nice color enhancement to the corps proper. Show definitely got better as they went along. Some tough drill staging made some ensemble timing quite challenging, but they usually were quite good. Nice power at the end. All in all, a well-received program even if they were initially announced as being from Montgomery, Alabama!

Troopers. I have a soft spot in my heart for the Troopers. They are the first drum corps I ever saw other than the corps I marched with. Obviously the audience in Denver feels the same way. I do not remember what the music was, but I heard some nice sounds, especially from the low brass. Colorguard has some nice rifle moments, and the ladies were pretty good this night. Drum line has some dirt, but it's nice to see them taking some chances with exposure. Some fairly challenging drill at times, which tends to take its toll on the musical performance -- but I like where the Troopers are heading. Crowd was quite appreciative.

Next up were the home-town Blue Knights. As expected, they got a loud ovation just coming out of the tunnel an onto the field. Very cool backfield warmup (don't know what it was) which set a nice expectant mood for the show. My wife leaned over to me and said "I didn't know the Blue Devils were here!" She hadn't seen them since the new uni's came out a couple of seasons ago. Drum line was good, though a bit dirty in some exposed spots. Horn line dances. A lot. Sometimes this is nice, sometimes it is a distraction. Split focus and all that. Brass line plays fairly well. Colorguard is good, but sometimes hard to see in the dark gray uniform. Obvious visual demand and a good drum line are strengths. Some nice pit sounds as well. Lots of BK Alum in the stands made this a nice "Home Show" for BK.

About now I was expecting an intermission. There wasn't one. . . which was nice! Fresh beer, a plate of chili fries, and we were ready for some more drum corps!!!

Colts came out onto the field and immediatly grabbed everyones attention visually. They were the first corps of the night not to be wearing black pants. Quite striking uniforms. After the "Amen" chord progression for a backfield warmup, the Champagne brothers set about getting this show moving. And move they do. In contrast to the Blue Knights, the Colts drill is quite wide open, and the placement of the colorguard is absolutely pleasant to watch. The color choices for the guard (unis and flags) are my favorite of the year from any corps. Backfield sound is well utilized and creates a nice musical effect at the beginning of the show. Brass line overall is well-balanced, though could use a little more punch in a couple of spots. Performance problems in percussion and marching are holding the corps back just a bit at this point. Guard is wonderful -- best I've ever seen from Colts since 1995. Many around me thought BK was going to be in trouble after this very good performance.

Santa Clara Vanguard. Drill and percussion are the highlights for me. This effort is so much better than when I saw them two weeks ago in San Antonio. Percussion executing at a high level, and the drill is seamless. It is a joy to watch their marching execution and their visual ensemble control. Colorguard seemed a little off tonight with the weapons. Drumline had a great moment at the end of their opener -- in-your-face unison snare "goks" that were just so aggressive that you knew they came to play! From this high, it was much more obvious what the visual intent was, using the triangles, circles, and diamonds for the various shapes highlighted through the drill. Guard was a little awkward in the "Diamond" portion. Great power out of the solid forms at the end. Was this a new ending? Look for great performances from them in Madison.

Cavaliers. Well. . . what is left to be said? These guys do everything very well. Best brass sound they've ever had in my opinion. Controlled, centered, GREAT intonation, balance. . . they are wonderful. Might be the best brass quality I've heard on a football field since Star of Indiana in the early 90's. Drums are musical, and they MOVE! Colorguard was "ON". The "Tron" uniforms are unique, and they outline effect they have on the performers really gives a unique look to what could be a risky dark gray uniform. Let's talk about the drill. . . George Zingali and Steve Brubaker would be proud. There's a new force to be reckoned with and it's been coming for some time. I don't think I've ever seen such a completely coordinated visual package. There are no wasted moves. . . heck, no wasted steps. Everything is done for a reason, and the reason is "effect". The audience was spellbound. My wife leaned over and said "they are so smooth -- they make it look effortless -- like they're floating". True enough. Do they have things to do yet? Most certainly. Some fuzz in the visual ensemble, and some minor disagreement in ensemble musical interpretation between the percussion and brass, couple of minor tone quality issues in the trumpets. . . but I can't wait to see this show again. Cavaliers earned a SCREAMING standing ovation from a crowd that still had its eyes spinning!

Phantom Regiment had the unenviable task of following this stunning performance. Good visual performance, and the opening statement may be the loudest thing on the field this summer. The brass line is right up front in a company front and lets loose immediately. Following the Cavaliers was tough -- because this effect mostly relies on volume, and the quality and projection of the hornline was noticeably off in comparison. I will not harp on the brass line, because they do many things well -- but they play VERY loud and VERY sharp much of the time, and sometimes for so long (end of the opener, end of the show) that there is little in the way of musical contrast that demands your attention. Contrabasses have that classic PR sound, and the baritones have some wonderful exposed lines that simply sound great! Middle voices are a bit muddy, especially on articulated passages. Sopranos fare better with their exposed sections, especially in the opener. Percussion was well intergrated into the musical program, though not particularly memorable at the end of the night. Colorguard performed well, especially on flags. Nice color choices, and very classy uniforms. I noticed the scores in Colorguard from the night before, and kept my eyes open in anticipation of anything unusual in their performance. Apparently they were "ON", and definitely earned their colorguard placement this night. Some things standing in their way right now appear to be the second-to-last production that seems to wander, and general musical balance issues that are quite within their grasp as we close the season. If they do their homework I think they'll be quite exciting in Madison, and definitely in that 5-6-7 mix. I'm sure they were frustrated at not being able to crack that 90 barrier, but a good performance nonetheless.

Final scores you already know.

This was the first time I have heard the new Grand Finale tunes. "America" is nice, but I like "God Bless America" even better. I was quite amazed at how good this sounded, and it's obvious that every brass section out there was playing the "music" and not just blowing their brains out. That was especially nice to hear.

It started to rain during the announcements of the scores. Not a downpour, but good motivation for the corps to leave the field quickly.

Cavaliers stayed and played their encore, much to the delight of the audience! Percussion warmup, then the brass line played "Jupiter" from "The Planets". Next up was a standstill of their opener. Then, "Stars and Stripes Forever" which I must assume is their parade tune? Finally, they closed with "Somewhere Over The Rainbow". I love this tune and they played it beautifully.

Denver needs to host DCI Finals. Great crowd, great stadium, great sound, great weather, great evening of drum corps!!!!!!

Hope you like my first review of the season.

B)

Chuck Naffier

Drum Corps "Insider"

PS -- I ran into Steve Vickers after the show on the main concourse. It was nice to catch up with Steve, and we talked about his great efforts in putting out the History of Drum Corps book -- fun times!

[jlhiatt]

Great review, Chuck! Thanks!

B)

[smiles7197]

Thank you so much for your review. It's so nice to hear something positive about every corps.

[Sluggo]

Chuck, thank you for that great review!!!

[MikeN]

Thanks for the review, Chuck!

(it was funny to hear some of the same things I said about shows in your review. I'm getting better! :) )

Mike

[LAMystreaux]

BK's warmup might be something by Bjork that Andy Smart had arranged. I know it was something up on their site during camp season. Anyone know?

[Machine]

Every time I've seen them I heard the main melody line from Tritico in their warm-up. Maybe it was mixed in with other stuff as well, I don't know...

[Denversmolly]

[Now mind you, I haven't seen a DCI show in a LONG time, like ten years!

:( I know, I know, shame on me. Kind of got out of the loop quite a while ago, you know two marriages, two kids, going back to school, yada yada yada

I just had to check out DATR. Something was calling me, I think it was the Cavaliers. ;-)

I got an email from a friend telling me "you're a writer, you should write a review." Ok, Stefanie, I'm a romance writer, not a review writer, but here goes.

First of all I have to say that I totally agree about Invesco Field at Mile High. Still just Mile High Stadium to me! This place is out of this world! No way could there have been a bad seat in the house, unless you count the lady in front of me's big hair. <_< had to kind of lean around her to get good pics.

Weather was perfect, the stadium pristine, excitement in the air was sooo thick! Anticipation grew as the Pioneer stepped out onto the field. Like I said, it's been a while and I'd forgotten how much this stuff can MOVE YOU!

Pioneer were great, really enjoyed their show. A great all around effort!

Then Southwind. I really liked the yellow and black uniforms. Kind of made me think of bees though, which I'm deathly afraid of. :(

Other than that, another great performance. I was loving it!

Troopers kind of surprised me at how small in number they were but they made sure you knew they were there! Getting goose bumps by this point!

Blue Knights, ok, home team right? When do you think my son has to go to the bathroom? You guessed it. Looked great on the TV screens inside the club area though. Liked the visuals, just wish I could have heard it!

The Colts really had me going. I don't know what part of the show I liked the best. Serious memories were flooding back by this point and I was thinking to myself "why the h### did I get out of this gig? Look what I've been missing!"

Santa Clara was wonderful. I've always enjoyed them. Way to go guys! I was practically bouncing out of my seat by this point.

Then Cavaliers. I had to send a nasty email to my friend this morning telling her what a #^!@$ she was for not telling me about the Cavalier's show earlier. OH MY GOD! There was just too much to watch, too much to see, too much to hear, and every ounce of it was PHENOMINAL! I was so moved by their performance I was almost in tears by the end. Holy Cow, now that's a show! Everyone stood and cheered for what seemed like ten minutes. We wanted to see it all again right then and there!

Phantom Reg, having to follow that was tough but they did a super job too, really wonderful! I still didn't want to sit down!

Like I said, it's been YEARS since I've been to a show so I really couldn't give you more details because the whole experience was so overwhelming for me, I still can't think straight. But I will tell you that I'll be back next year and the year after and so on and so on and so on.

Every visual was spectacular and the sound....oh the sound! This place was MADE FOR DCI!

[ScribeToo]

Now mind you, I haven't seen a DCI show in a LONG time, like ten years! :( I know, I know, shame on me. Kind of got out of the loop quite a while ago, you know two marriages, two kids, going back to school, yada yada yada

I just had to check out DATR. Something was calling me, I think it was the Cavaliers. ;-)

< snip >

Like I said, it's been YEARS since I've been to a show so I really couldn't give you more details because the whole experience was so overwhelming for me, I still can't think straight. But I will tell you that I'll be back next year and the year after and so on and so on and so on.

Every visual was spectacular and the sound....oh the sound! This place was MADE FOR DCI!

Crickett -- err.. Christine :P :D

Sounds like you had a great time.. and welcome back to the "fold" --

I just knew you'd enjoy it.. ;)^

I also think it's interesting to hear the perspective of someone who's been only a fan and really out of the activity for the majority of changes over the past ten to 15 years..

Your enthusiasm is contagious! Thanks for the big push before finals!!

(I'll tell you all about it when I get home!!)