Enid Review

[soonerjeff]

I'll throw out a few of my thoughts real fast before I head out the door to go to the Broken Arrow show :D

1. Southwind-- I like their show each time I see it. I really wouldn't mind marching that show. It has some sections where it moves pretty well with some good drill, the music is really good (I LOVE how they keep working in the Willie Wonka "Pure Imagination" phrase!!! I just wish they would have used that whole piece as their ballad.)

2. Cap Reg-- I start to "get" their show a little more each time, but I still don't really like it. The featured dancing girl is good, and the guard has some good moments, but their drill is just 'there' and the music isn't very accessible.

3. Yeah, they went on last, but I think that helped them. They sounded bigger and looked a little more confident in their marching than I was expecting. I just have to wonder out loud if marching last had anything to do with that. I pleasantly enjoyed the show, even though I was a little disturbed by the purple planes killing the happy yellow plane :o . And wow, how about those guard uniforms!! And I thought Cap Reg's were a little risque? The low-cut zippered V-neck caught my eye. Yeah, I enjoyed seeing both of those unis

4. Glassmen-- I am loving this show too! GREAT musical arrangement (yes, the brass do still have some cleaning to do, but the writing is great), VERY GOOD color guard (the feature dancer-- Oh so hot! Oh wait, I'm friends with her at the Univ. of Oklahoma B)). Its been the one show that I can tap my foot to and really enjoy it.

5. SCV-- Much better than when I saw them in Dallas last week. A lot cleaner visually, but there were still some people sticking out (I think I saw the original post mention people being out of step.) Music is getting better, but I'm personally not that moved by it, and RCM is one of my all-time favorites!! They definitely do a great job with RCM, and it actually does work well as a closer, but I don't see them selling it very much.

6. Madison-- I really liked the show; Watched the guard through most of the opening b/c of how active those characters are. Very crisp hornline, and the music is well-arranged. The "guest performer" girl is utilized VERY well! I wasn't distracted by her at all, and she definitely added a much needed character to the story. She dances very well and they just did a good job of choreographing her moves. I kept looking for her on the sidelines at the beginning of the show until my sister asked if I thought she was being kept under the back-field podium. Nice entrance :) .

I thought Madison's new ending really killed the crowd's reaction. Everyone was on their feet cheering with the original big loud ending, but then everyone just sort of sat down and was "Oh, thats nice" with the new quiet ending. It definitely helps tell the story, and its effective when you understand how it fits in, but I would always rather sacrifice creativity and storylines that only 30% of the crowd will understand to get a loud crowd reaction at the end :D :

7. Bluecoats-- I definitely agree with you that it was a pro-Bluecoats crowd. (I did see a lot of Southwind shirts though...) I know that there are 4 guys from the University of Oklahoma marching baritone with Blue, but there may be a few more Oklahomans in the corps than I thought.

Blue just keeps trying to get better, and I know they're working their tails off, but they just can't seem to get that big jump again. Drums didn't seem as tight, and the guard had some bobbles. The drill keeps getting cleaner though and the horn visuals in the last half of the show (that were just added in the last week) are improving steadily. Still some issues when dressing down in a block, but that should be fixed in the next few weeks.

Score-wise I guess I agree with most of the decisions. I think the gap between Madison and Bluecoats should have been about .5 closer. Bluecoats should have taken Percussion and maybe Visual (Blue's drill seems to be more difficult than Madison). GE Music and Guard were close too.

In all I think this was the highest-quality show that Enid has hosted yet. Two years ago they hosted the first Cavies vs. Blue Devils show, and this year there was no one of poor quality. Maybe that speaks to the high quality that ALL the corps are showing this year (yes, all the way down to Southwind).

Can't wait for Broken Arrow tonight-- Bluecoats vs. Madison vs. Phantom!!! Plus Glassmen and SCV battling it out again, and Phantom doing encore= b**bs b**bs .

[kpirtle]

Cascades did not cut out the props--they hadn't even arrived by the time they performed--the amp did but they did not use it very much last night.

[TexasPRfan]

Cascades did not cut out the props--they hadn't even arrived by the time they performed--the amp did but they did not use it very much last night.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And there show was MUCH better with both of those differences last night...

Harvey