Broken Arrow REVIEW (long and silly)

[Cardman]

Well, I just got back from the "Drums of Summer" competition in Broken Arrow Oklahoma, and man am I tired...Looking at the forecast before I left, it looked as if the show would surely be rained out. Luckily, I made the trip anyway, as I would rather get to at least HEAR the drumcorps if I can't hear AND see them...We lucked out as the rains held off (kind of....see below).

Right to it, then....

First up, was SOUTHWIND(7th place-75.30).

"GOOOOOOOO GIIIRRRRLLLLL!!!! RREEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!"..this was the insane battle-cry of the mother of a guard member who sat next to my wife and I. I didn't mind so much, as she's a parent, and that's a little more understandable. Besides, she quieted down quite a bit once they had started their show. I talked with her later, and she was actually quite pleasant to talk with. She asked me if I was a director. I told her, "No, just a fan..." and told her I was going to write a review here...MOVING ALONG...

Southwind's show, "A distorted Imagination" includes music from Ben Hur, Willy Wonka, Gladiator, The Planets, Spartacus, Samson and Delilah, Van Helsing, and The wind and the Lion. Wow, that's a LOT of music to be cramming into an 11 and a half minute show....but they do, and the result is a darn good show for them, probably their best since 2000. CONTRAS! (er...tubas..) Southwind has some (we'll call them) CONTRAS that can PLAY! Wow! Nice to hear that deep, dark sound. Tonight seemed to be a "night of contras". I'll explain more on this later...Anyway, some highlights include: In one part of the show, the hornline lays their horns onto the field. At this point I thought to myself, "Hey, that looks almost exactly how Star laid their horns down, with the same kind of 'motion'"...Then, they proceeded to do some body movements that WERE exactly like Star did in '93...(okay, maybe not all of them, but a couple..). This was still a cool part of the show, because hey, it's been twelve years since I saw that Star show live, and it brought back some good memories. ONWARDS!!...Speaking of borrowing ideas, (nothing wrong with that...?) :) they later gather into a solid form, and the horns do the same kind of horns down/horns up visual that the Cavies did in '03, right before the "washing machine" move (listen to Fiedler's commentary...). Anyway, it was cool too, so no bigee. In another part of their show, the corps forms a solid diamond with a "slice" (horizontal line) missing from the center of it. This "slice" is to the left of the form, and as the two move towards each other, the horns in the "diamond" crouch a lot as they sort of "crab" towards the "slice". The two finally mesh, and there's a big hit. Pretty cool (Yes, I use that word a lot...). Speaking of cool, the tenor feature where the (basses?) put down their drums and step in-between the tenors to help them play their drums was awesome! My wife thought it was the best percussion feature of the night... I did notice one soprano (er...trumpet) sticking out musically at the end of the show just a little bit. I saw only two guard drops, which isn't bad considering that it was lightly sprinkling all throughout their performance. As Southwind's show came to a close, we saw a flash of lightning off on the horizon, and my anxiety started to rise. I thought, "Great, they're gonna cancel the rest of the show..." but no, I was wrong...(not the first time...) Overall, I thought the show was very enjoyable, and I'm sure they'll make semi-finals this year.

Next up were the GLASSMEN (6th place-82.00).

We had a very scary moment (other than the ever-increasing lightning) during the Glassmen's opener where a guard member dropped her sabre, and she was having a lot of trouble picking it back up as a horn member was backing quickly into her. It could have been a disaster, but thankfully, she picked it up just in the nick of time...They have a part early in their show where the guard forms a large circle around a lone guard member who is doing some nice flagwork...I liked it...There was also this one CONTRA who hit this low, full note. It was awesome, and the crowd showed their appreciation. Their last piece is by far their best piece. They start with two horn groups. One is in a solid triangle-form on the left side of the field, the other on the right. As the left group plays the "Duuuhhh Duh.." from the "Jaws" portion of Dvorak's music, :P they kind of squat, then this awesome timpani player goes after it. Then, the other side answers, and a guy on some (toms?) does his stuff. It really set the mood for the piece. Near the end, they form their trademark "upside-down tri-force" (for you Zelda fans..), facing backfield, they play, then they turn towards the audience to smack us in the face with sound. All in all a good show from the Glassmen, but I'm not convinced that the Glassmen will be in Finals yet. I think they still have a lot of cleaning to do...

Next were the BOSTON CRUSADERS (4th place-85.60)

The first thing that came out of my wife's mouth was, "Those guard uniforms are ugly." Okay, miss negative Nancy... :P Yes, the very pink guard uniforms are off-putting at first, but I think they work okay within the program...plus they have some nice colors in the actual flags they spin...Highlights: Nice sabre toss in the opening! Also, lots of good, solid rifle work (remember, it is still sprinkling at this time..). I really liked their arrangement of Candide. I had heard some negative comments about it on here, so I was a bit apprehensive, but for no reason, as it rocked the house (okay, maybe not 'rocked', but it was good!). Again, in this show, we got to hear some CONTRAS that could play with a nice, deep, dark tone...I love it! Sing Sang Sung was the highlight of the program (though Candide was a close second..) with the percussion switching out instruments and all....THIS rocked the house! (Yeah, that expression sounds lame...) Also, if you see Boston this year (the corps, not the city...), you should watch for their recurring upper-body tilt. They do it at the end of the first piece, I believe, and a few times later, to good effect. You CAN over-do something like this, but they don't...very nice! I enjoyed Boston's show quite a bit, but I don't expect them to stay ahead of SCV....just a hunch...

Next up we had the MADISON SCOUTS(2nd place-88.65)

First of all, I didn't understand WHY the Scouts were going on so early in the program, and SCV was going on next-to-last. Then again, I'm not sure how they decided to schedule these corps...oh well....Ladies and gentlemen....we have drill!! Yeah!! This show, to me, doesn't seem to really take off until after the appearance of "Carmen". The first piece is good, but nothing too spectacular, IMO...I had purchased their APD the night before (along with SCV's and Phantom's), so I knew what to expect. That being said, I was still hoping for a little bit "more"... They seem more "loose" than the previous two years, but not quite "loose" enough, if you know what I mean (no, I'm not referring to "Carmen"...heathens.. :P ) I just expected the sopranos (trumpets) to open-up a bit more. But, they are just playing it the way it's been arranged, and it is an exciting show, but it still doesn't hold a candle to '95 when it comes to excitement or energy. (well....maybe energy, but not excitement..) The appearance of "Carmen" was VERY well done. I did not see her. My wife did not see her. We were both looking. I am a magician, and am knowledgeable of such things, and I still did not see it. Good! I'm glad I couldn't see her till they wanted me to! Very cool. "Carmen" is a little on the "sleazy" side, if you ask me...(yes, I know it's how she is in the musical..) I could sit here and re-itterate what others have said about "Carmen" needing to work with some equipment, and not just prance around the field, but I won't....woops, I just DID.. ^0^ Wow, the scouts have a guard this year! Those guys are some great performers...They are seperated into two groups, one with green jackets, the other with blue jackets. The guys with the green jackets have a fleur-de-lis on the back of them, and the guys with the blue jackets have an "M" on the back (or maybe that's backwards?) Anyways...I think the corps uniforms look MUCH better without the red in them, and with the added citation cords....very sharp! I could make a Cesario joke right now, but I won't.....Oops, I just DID... MOVING ALONG...When Carmen first appeared, there were two guys in the audience behind us that were talking kind of loudly, saying, "Well, that's a first, it's gotta be a first for them...huh??" I was going to enlighten them, but I decided it didn't really matter...Musically, the Scouts are very good this year. The only snafu I heard was a baritone who held out a note a little too long...D'oh!! In the next-to-last piece, there's a cool moment where the corps is in a sort-of company front, sitting stationary, and the upper-brass is holding this note out, playing loudly. As they hold this note, the lower-brass drop their horns to their sides, as if to say, "Yeah, we're about to blast ya..." then they raise their horns up, and.....blast us! Cool. Nice low sound here, too (again, CONTRAS!...and baris...). Okay, so they play till the original ending, just as before, then, they start marching quickly, while playing kind-of mezzo-forte-ish, and they wind up hitting the fleur-de-lis (quickly, for just an instant...)then, they meander to their original drill set, and close on a soft note. The audience sat there........crickets "chirped"...finally, the drum major turned around for his salute, and it's as if people in the audience said, "Oh, they ARE done...." and THEN they clapped, but it was somewhat subdued. Personally, I don't really see the need for this "new" ending. Maybe a re-write is in order? As it is, I don't see the Scouts beating Phantom in the end. I just think Phantom has the better package. (more on that later...) Don't get me wrong. This is a GREAT show to watch, but Phantom is also having a great year...tough competition.

Next up we had....the intermission....yawn.

Okay, then we had BLUECOATS(3rd-87.45)

Weather update:

[by the time intermission had ended and the Bluecoats had set-up on the field, it was lightning quite a bit to the south and east of the stadium. I was really worried about the show being cancelled, and worried about the poor kids on the field. Our worries were relieved later when the announcer stated that they were keeping a very close eye on the weather, and that the storm was heading away from us, and was too far away to hit us with lightning.]

I was very excited when I heard at the beginning of the season that the Bluecoats were once again going to be playing "Caravan". Sounds and memories of 1990 hit me, and I thought, "I can't wait to see how they jam with Caravan now..." Alas, Caravan isn't really in the show, except for the very beginning intro (as far as I heard..) BUT, the music they play is very good, so it's all good...Highlights: During Incantation, they do a cool horn ripple visual that looks just about exactly like '89 or '00 Cavies...it was cool, though. They also do the same horn visual at the very end of the program. The other thing you've heard a lot about this year is the Coat's great guard. I don't think they were "on" tonight, frankly. I only saw one drop, during the ballad, but my wife counted three. Also, they (the guard) just didn't seem to be "on" (like I said before..) Anyway, still a great guard...There's this great drill move they do where the corps is in a solid form in the upper-right corner of the field, and they start to "peel" a long line from the form, stretching it all the way to the lower-left corner of the field. (This reminded me of '03 Blue Devils opener) People, you were not joking when you reported that the Bluecoats have the most field coverage...wow. Later, as I was watching the show, I thought I heard someone talking loudly somewhere, and I thought, "huh?"....then I realized it was the "drumspeak" guy doing his thing. I could barely hear him, really. I was actually glad I could barely hear him, because what I heard was just like...eh? Yeah, not really distracting or detracting from the show, but it doesn't add anything, either, IMO. I had read on here that the entire corps later joins in the "drumspeak" or "tabla" or whatever, un-amped, but I never heard it. I heard the corps say something like, "Ohhhhhh YEAH!" like they did in 2002 near the end of that show. Bottom line: Amped human voice=not necessary (this, of course, is my opinion..) The crowd really didn't react to it at all. Everyone was just like...."Eh..." On a more positive note, there is some great drill in the end of their show. At one point, the corps forms a solid triangle and is floating this form from right to left, and as they hit another part of the corps that is in a vertical line, the line "folds" onto the triangle, becoming a part of it. There was more than that, but my notes are sort of cryptic... Overall, the (second) best Bluecoats show ever! (I would rank 1990 slightly above this one.) I hope to see great success from the Bluecoats. Of the 3, (Coats,Scouts,Phantom) the Coats have the most to clean, and therefore the most room to improve and move up, so...who knows?

Next up was the SANTA CLARA VANGUARD(5th place-83.60)

As mentioned earlier, I was a little perplexed as to why Vanguard was going on so late in the show, but in the end, it doesn't really matter...From most of the reviews I have read on here, I was expecting a train-wreck of a drill with visions of 2001 Scouts going through my head (no offense meant there...). Well, their drill is not THAT bad... The biggest problem, as others have mentioned, is in the execution of that drill. If they could clean this drill up enough, they could pass Boston (and I think they just might...). I had purchased the APD the night before the show, so I knew what to expect musically. The first thing out of my wife's mouth was, "Momma!" (That, my friends, was a lame joke...you see, when I said the "first" thing out of my wife's mouth, then I made it literal, then I made the joke even worse by attaching this stupid explanation of my lame humor...I will blame the night. Yes, the night is old, and so am I...) Seriously, the first thing she said was, "I like the colorguard's uniforms.." , and I agreed that they were nice-looking uniforms. The black and gold really go together well...(Ah, Black Gold....now THAT brings back memories...I miss them...) ONWARDS!!! Highlights: During their ballad, the hornline is in a large arc, if memory serves correct, and the horns start to drop one hand down to the side, a-la 1989's "Wishing you were somehow here again" from the left side of the arc, to the right, in a domino-fashion....nice effect. At the same time, the guard is in front of the arc, and they have a ripple rifle toss from left to right as well, timing the last catch with the last hand drop. Saw the "1917/CCCP/USSR"-changing drill. They also make a "1991" near the end of the program, which was pretty cool. During the show, I was on the look-out for the "cool star" form that everyone had mentioned on here, and I thought it was the first star that SCV made, but this first star was a linear form on the right side of the field, and frankly, it looked less than stellar, pardon the pun...The second star form, the solid form, came later, and looked much nicer. However, I was hardly blown away by this. This is unfortunate. I really wish that Vanguard would kick some serious but with their visual. I would like to see them at the top. But, I think that the best they can hope for this year (other than all the great memories they'll have) is to beat Boston at finals. If they clean enough of their show, it could happen...

Finally, we had PHANTOM REGIMENT(1st place-88.80)

I have to tell you...When I heard Phantom was playing Gershwin music, I thought to myself, "Crap, I hate Gershwin...", "Guess it'll be a 'down' year for phantom..." Boy was I wrong!! Yeah, I know there's been a lot of people who've said this, but until you see the show yourself, it's difficult to believe (or it was for me) that Phantom could have a "winning" show with Gershwin music. I had purchased the APD the night before the show, so I knew going in that I would probably like the visual part of the show, if the audio was anything to go on. Man, Phantom REALLY has a good drill this year!! I was so happy to see this. Why? Because, that means they have a shot at the title. Yeah, I said it. I really do think Phantom has the potential to win it all with this show. But, it would take a LOT of cleaning, and they'd have to perform the heck out of it. MOVING ALONG...The guest performer in this show is pretty great. He really does a great job of putting out a certain "vibe". You can just see it in his performance. There is one part during the percussion feature, when he is "tap dancing" with sound effects provided by the pit, and then he stops and points to the quads, and they play like an "answer" to his tap dancing (kind of...it's more like a feature..memory is blurring...) it's very cool, though. He does this a couple of times, and it is very intriguing to watch. Another great visual moment comes when the CONTRAS!! are in a block (I think with the baris, too...) on the right side of the field, and they are playing "American in Paris", and as they hit the "oom-pah...loom-pah...oompah,oompah,oompah,oompah" parts, they are "tip-toeing" along as the play, sort of sliding to the left, and it is really a cool thing that made myself and the whole crowd smile. I like the guard uniforms, and so did my wife....They change into what looks like a slip, later in the program, and this is the only uniform I wasn't sure of, as it seemed a little on the "revealing" side to me...The orange-sparkly umbrella that was opened late in the show was very nice. They had another umbrella that a guard member had stolen from the guest performer. It was blue-sparkly. It seemed as though this guard person had trouble with the wind, as it blew the umbrella inside-out...My wife speculated whether this was "planned", but I doubted it...Late in the show, there is a cool drill move where the hornline is in a solid block form at the lower-right side of the field, near the sideline. Above and to the right/left of this block, there are several vertical lines. As the corps plays, they move these lines in-alignment with the lines of the block, becoming part of the block...it was very neat to see this..CONTRAS!!! Phantom's contras were awesome! They really get after it during this show. This seemed to be a recurring theme tonight...oh well..Overall, a GREAT show, and my favorite of the night. I thought they had beaten Madison before the scores were even announced, and I knew it had to be close. The only real issue I saw (and I think it was a fluke..) was a little bit of upper-body bouncing by a bari in the opener, but it was only for the first few counts of the show. Phantom really has the show to win it all this year. They just have that certain "something" with this show, and this is destined to become a drumcorps classic. Let me go on the record right now and say this....Phantom will wind up beating the Blue Devils on finals night. No offense to the Devils, or anything...it's just that this show is so great, others are bound to fall to it (as did the Scouts tonight...) Phantom definitely deserved the win tonight. They actually have a lot of cleaning that could be done, and they would rise even higher in the ranks. Here's hoping they give it their all...

ENCORE: Only Phantom and SCV came back on the field and played America/O Canada. The announcer said to stick around for Phantom to do an encore performance!! My wife and I moved down real close to get our faces blasted off. Phantom was all lined up, ready to go, when suddenly, the heavens opened up, and niagara falls started to pour onto us. I'm talking Forrest Gump Big Ol' Fat rain...These raindrops were about the size of a small shot glass...and it was coming down HARD. Luckily, my wife and I had the foresight to bring our ponchos and jackets. We quickly put them on as the people scattered. We stayed mostly nice and dry while others ran around screaming as if they had been forced to watch "Son of the Mask" or something....You would think that people would check into the forecast, as we did, before going to an event such as this...oh well...

That's it....I hope you enjoyed my insane ramblings... B)

Edited July 28, 2005 by Cardman

[ccat]

Well, I just got back from the "Drums of Summer" competition in Broken Arrow Oklahoma, and man am I tired...Looking at the forecast before I left, it looked as if the show would surely be rained out.  Luckily, I made the trip anyway, as I would rather get to at least HEAR the drumcorps if I can't hear AND see them...We lucked out as the rains held off (kind of....see below).

Right to it, then....

First up, was SOUTHWIND(7th place-75.30).

  "GOOOOOOOO  GIIIRRRRLLLLL!!!!  RREEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!"..this was the insane battle-cry of the mother of a guard member who sat next to my wife and I. I didn't mind so much, as she's a parent, and that's a little more understandable.  Besides, she quieted down quite a bit once they had started their show.  I talked with her later, and she was actually quite pleasant to talk with.  She asked me if I was a director.  I told her, "No, just a fan..." and told her I was going to write a review here...MOVING ALONG...

Southwind's show, "A distorted Imagination" includes music from Ben Hur, Willy Wonka, Gladiator, The Planets, Spartacus, Samson and Delilah, Van Helsing, and The wind and the Lion.  Wow, that's a LOT of music to be cramming into an 11 and a half minute show....but they do, and the result is a darn good show for them, probably their best since 2000.  CONTRAS! (er...tubas..)  Southwind has some (we'll call them) CONTRAS that can PLAY!  Wow!  Nice to hear that deep, dark sound.  Tonight seemed to be a "night of contras".  I'll explain more on this later...Anyway, some highlights include:  In one part of the show, the hornline lays their horns onto the field.  At this point I thought to myself, "Hey, that looks almost exactly how Star laid their horns down, with the same kind of 'motion'"...Then, they proceeded to do some body movements that WERE exactly like Star did in '93...(okay, maybe not all of them, but a couple..).  This was still a cool part of the show, because hey, it's been twelve years since I saw that Star show live, and it brought back some good memories.  ONWARDS!!...Speaking of borrowing ideas, (nothing wrong with that...?) :)  they later gather into a solid form, and the horns do the same kind of horns down/horns up visual that the Cavies did in '03, right before the "washing machine" move (listen to Fiedler's commentary...).  Anyway, it was cool too, so no bigee.  In another part of their show, the corps forms a solid diamond with a "slice" (horizontal line) missing from the center of it.  This "slice" is to the left of the form, and as the two move towards each other, the horns in the "diamond" crouch a lot as they sort of "crab" towards the "slice".  The two finally mesh, and there's a big hit.  Pretty cool (Yes, I use that word a lot...).  I did notice one soprano (er...trumpet) sticking out musically at the end just a little bit.  I saw only two guard drops, which isn't bad considering that it was lightly sprinkling all throughout their performance.  As Southwind's show came to a close, we saw a flash of lightning off on the horizon, and my anxiety started to rise.  I thought, "Great, they're gonna cancel the rest of the show..." but no, I was wrong...(not the first time...) Overall, I thought the show was very enjoyable, and I'm sure they'll make semi-finals this year.

Next up were the GLASSMEN (6th place-82.00). 

We had a very scary moment (other than the ever-increasing lightning) during the Glassmen's opener where a guard member dropped her sabre, and she was having a lot of trouble picking it back up as a horn member was backing quickly into her.  It could have been a disaster, but thankfully, she picked it up just in the nick of time...They have a part early in their show where the guard forms a large circle around a lone guard member who is doing some nice flagwork...I liked it...There was also this one CONTRA who hit this low, full note.  It was awesome, and the crowd showed their appreciation.  Their last piece is by far their best piece.  They start with two horn groups.  One is in a solid triangle-form on the left side of the field, the other on the right.  As the left group plays the "Duuuhhh  Duh.."  from the "Jaws" portion of Dvorak's music,  :P they kind of squat, then this awesome timpani player goes after it.  Then, the other side answers, and a guy on some (toms?) does his stuff.  It really set the mood for the piece.  Near the end, they form their trademark "upside-down tri-force" (for you Zelda fans..), facing backfield, they play, then they turn towards the audience to smack us in the face with sound.  All in all a good show from the Glassmen, but I'm not convinced that the Glassmen will be in Finals yet.  I think they still have a lot of cleaning to do...

Next were the BOSTON CRUSADERS (4th place-85.60)

The first thing that came out of my wife's mouth was, "Those guard uniforms are ugly."  Okay, miss negative Nancy...  :P Yes, the very pink guard uniforms are off-putting at first, but I think they work okay within the program...plus they have some nice colors in the actual flags they spin...Highlights:  Nice sabre toss in the opening!  Also, lots of good, solid rifle work (remember, it is still sprinkling at this time..).  I really liked their arrangement of Candide.  I had heard some negative comments about it on here, so I was a bit apprehensive, but for no reason, as it rocked the house (okay, maybe not 'rocked', but it was good!).  Again, in this show, we got to hear some CONTRAS that could play with a nice, deep, dark tone...I love it!  Sing Sang Sung was the highlight of the program (though Candide was a close second..) with the percussion switching out instruments and all....THIS rocked the house!  (Yeah, that expression sounds lame...) Also, if you see Boston this year (the corps, not the city...), you should watch for their recurring upper-body tilt.  They do it at the end of the first piece, I believe, and a few times later, to good effect.  You CAN over-do something like this, but they don't...very nice!  I enjoyed Boston's show quite a bit, but I don't expect them to stay ahead of SCV....just a hunch...

Next up we had the MADISON SCOUTS(2nd place-88.65)

First of all, I didn't understand WHY the Scouts were going on so early in the program, and SCV was going on next-to-last.  Then again, I'm not sure how they decided to schedule these corps...oh well....Ladies and gentlemen....we have drill!!  Yeah!!  This show, to me, doesn't seem to really take off until after the appearance of "Carmen".  The first piece is good, but nothing too spectacular, IMO...I had purchased their APD the night before (along with SCV's and Phantom's), so I knew what to expect.  That being said, I was still hoping for a little bit "more"...  They seem more "loose" than the previous two years, but not quite "loose" enough, if you know what I mean (no, I'm not referring to "Carmen"...heathens.. :P )  I just expected the sopranos (trumpets) to open-up a bit more.  But, they are just playing it the way it's been arranged, and it is an exciting show, but it still doesn't hold a candle to '95 when it comes to excitement or energy. (well....maybe energy, but not excitement..)  The appearance of "Carmen" was VERY well done.  I did not see her.  My wife did not see her.  We were both looking.  I am a magician, and am knowledgeable of such things, and I still did not see it.  Good!  I'm glad I couldn't see her till they wanted me to! Very cool.  "Carmen" is a little on the "sleazy" side, if you ask me...(yes, I know it's how she is in the musical..) I could sit here and re-itterate what others have said about "Carmen" needing to work with some equipment, and not just prance around the field, but I won't....woops, I just DID.. ^0^  Wow, the scouts have a guard this year!  Those guys are some great performers...They are seperated into two groups, one with green jackets, the other with blue jackets.  The guys with the green jackets have a fleur-de-lis on the back of them, and the guys with the blue jackets have an "M" on the back (or maybe that's backwards?)  Anyways...I think the corps uniforms look MUCH better without the red in them, and with the added citation cords....very sharp!  I could make a Cesario joke right now, but I won't.....Oops, I just DID... MOVING ALONG...When Carmen first appeared, there were two guys in the audience behind us that were talking kind of loudly, saying, "Well, that's a first, it's gotta be a first for them...huh??"  I was going to enlighten them, but I decided it didn't really matter...Musically, the Scouts are very good this year.  The only snafu I heard was a baritone who held out a note a little too long...D'oh!!  In the next-to-last piece, there's a cool moment where the corps is in a sort-of company front, sitting stationary, and the upper-brass is holding this note out, playing loudly.  As they hold this note, the lower-brass drop their horns to their sides, as if to say, "Yeah, we're about to blast ya..." then they raise their horns up, and.....blast us!  Cool.  Nice low sound here, too (again, CONTRAS!...and baris...).  Okay, so they play till the original ending, just as before, then, they start marching quickly, while playing kind-of mezzo-forte-ish, and they wind up hitting the fleur-de-lis (quickly, for just an instant...)then, they meander to their original drill set, and close on a soft note.  The audience sat there........crickets "chirped"...finally, the drum major turned around for his salute, and it's as if people in the audience said, "Oh, they ARE done...." and THEN they clapped, but it was somewhat subdued.  Personally, I don't really see the need for this "new" ending.  Maybe a re-write is in order?  As it is, I don't see the Scouts beating Phantom in the end.  I just think Phantom has the better package. (more on that later...)  Don't get me wrong.  This is a GREAT show to watch, but Phantom is also having a great year...tough competition.

Next up we had....the intermission....yawn.

Okay, then we had BLUECOATS(3rd-87.45)

Weather update:

[by the time intermission had ended and the Bluecoats had set-up on the field, it was lightning quite a bit to the south and east of the stadium.  I was really worried about the show being cancelled, and worried about the poor kids on the field.  Our worries were relieved later when the announcer stated that they were keeping a very close eye on the weather, and that the storm was heading away from us, and was too far away to hit us with lightning.]

I was very excited when I heard at the beginning of the season that the Bluecoats were once again going to be playing "Caravan".  Sounds and memories of 1990 hit me, and I thought, "I can't wait to see how they jam with Caravan now..."  Alas, Caravan isn't really in the show, except for the very beginning intro (as far as I heard..)  BUT, the music they play is very good, so it's all good...Highlights:  During Incantation, they do a cool horn ripple visual that looks just about exactly like '89 or '00 Cavies...it was cool, though.  They also do the same horn visual at the very end of the program.  The other thing you've heard a lot about this year is the Coat's great guard.  I don't think they were "on" tonight, frankly.  I only saw one drop, during the ballad, but my wife counted three.  Also, they (the guard) just didn't seem to be "on" (like I said before..)  Anyway, still a great guard...There's this great drill move they do where the corps is in a solid form in the upper-right corner of the field, and they start to "peel" a long line from the form, stretching it all the way to the lower-left corner of the field. (This reminded me of '03 Blue Devils opener)  People, you were not joking when you reported that the Bluecoats have the most field coverage...wow.  Later, as I was watching the show, I thought I heard someone talking loudly somewhere, and I thought, "huh?"....then I realized it was the "drumspeak" guy doing his thing.  I could barely hear him, really.  I was actually glad I could barely hear him, because what I heard was just like...eh?  Yeah, not really distracting or detracting from the show, but it doesn't add anything, either, IMO.  I had read on here that the entire corps later joins in the "drumspeak" or "tabla" or whatever, un-amped, but I never heard it.  I heard the corps say something like, "Ohhhhhh YEAH!" like they did in 2002 near the end of that show.  Bottom line:  Amped human voice=not necessary (this, of course, is my opinion..)  The crowd really didn't react to it at all.  Everyone was just like...."Eh..."  On a more positive note, there is some great drill in the end of their show.  At one point, the corps forms a solid triangle and is floating this form from right to left, and as they hit another part of the corps that is in a vertical line, the line "folds" onto the triangle, becoming a part of it.  There was more than that, but my notes are sort of cryptic...  Overall, the (second) best Bluecoats show ever! (I would rank 1990 slightly above this one.)  I hope to see great success from the Bluecoats.  Of the 3, (Coats,Scouts,Phantom) the Coats have the most to clean, and therefore the most room to improve and move up, so...who knows?

Next up was the SANTA CLARA VANGUARD(5th place-83.60)

As mentioned earlier, I was a little perplexed as to why Vanguard was going on so late in the show, but in the end, it doesn't really matter...From most of the reviews I have read on here, I was expecting a train-wreck of a drill with visions of 2001 Scouts going through my head (no offense meant there...).  Well, their drill is not THAT bad...  The biggest problem, as others have mentioned, is in the execution of that drill.  If they could clean this drill up enough, they could pass Boston (and I think they just might...).  I had purchased the APD the night before the show, so I knew what to expect musically.  The first thing out of my wife's mouth was, "Momma!" (That, my friends, was a lame joke...you see, when I said the "first" thing out of my wife's mouth, then I made it literal, then I made the joke even worse by attaching this stupid explanation of my lame humor...I will blame the night.  Yes, the night is old, and so am I...)  Seriously, the first thing she said was, "I like the colorguard's uniforms.." , and I agreed that they were nice-looking uniforms.  The black and gold really go together well...(Ah, Black Gold....now THAT brings back memories...I miss them...)  ONWARDS!!!  Highlights:  During their ballad, the hornline is in a large arc, if memory serves correct, and the horns start to drop one hand down to the side, a-la 1989's "Wishing you were somehow here again" from the left side of the arc, to the right, in a domino-fashion....nice effect.  At the same time, the guard is in front of the arc, and they have a ripple rifle toss from left to right as well, timing the last catch with the last hand drop.  Saw the "1917/CCCP/USSR"-changing drill.  They also make a "1991" near the end of the program, which was pretty cool.  During the show, I was on the look-out for the "cool star" form that everyone had mentioned on here, and I thought it was the first star that SCV made, but this first star was a linear form on the right side of the field, and frankly, it looked less than stellar, pardon the pun...The second star form, the solid form, came later, and looked much nicer.  However, I was hardly blown away by this.  This is unfortunate.  I really wish that Vanguard would kick some serious but with their visual.  I would like to see them at the top.  But, I think that the best they can hope for this year (other than all the great memories they'll have) is to beat Boston at finals.  If they clean enough of their show, it could happen...

Finally, we had PHANTOM REGIMENT(1st place-88.80)

I have to tell you...When I heard Phantom was playing Gershwin music, I thought to myself, "Crap, I hate Gershwin...", "Guess it'll be a 'down' year for phantom..."  Boy was I wrong!!  Yeah, I know there's been a lot of people who've said this, but until you see the show yourself, it's difficult to believe (or it was for me) that Phantom could have a "winning" show with Gershwin music.  I had purchased the APD the night before the show, so I knew going in that I would probably like the visual part of the show, if the audio was anything to go on.  Man, Phantom REALLY has a good drill this year!!  I was so happy to see this.  Why?  Because, that means they have a shot at the title.  Yeah, I said it.  I really do think Phantom has the potential to win it all with this show.  But, it would take a LOT of cleaning, and they'd have to perform the heck out of it.  MOVING ALONG...The guest performer in this show is pretty great.  He really does a great job of putting out a certain "vibe".  You can just see it in his performance.  There is one part during the percussion feature, when he is "tap dancing" with sound effects provided by the pit, and then he stops and points to the quads, and they play like an "answer" to his tap dancing (kind of...it's more like a feature..memory is blurring...) it's very cool, though.  He does this a couple of times, and it is very intriguing to watch.  Another great visual moment comes when the CONTRAS!!  are in a block (I think with the baris, too...) on the right side of the field, and they are playing "American in Paris", and as they hit the "oom-pah...loom-pah...oompah,oompah,oompah,oompah" parts, they are "tip-toeing" along as the play, sort of sliding to the left, and it is really a cool thing that made myself and the whole crowd smile.  I like the guard uniforms, and so did my wife....They change into what looks like a slip, later in the program, and this is the only uniform I wasn't sure of, as it seemed a little on the "revealing" side to me...The orange-sparkly umbrella that was opened late in the show was very nice.  They had another umbrella that a guard member had stolen from the guest performer.  It was blue-sparkly.  It seemed as though this guard person had trouble with the wind, as it blew the umbrella inside-out...My wife speculated whether this was "planned", but I doubted it...Late in the show, there is a cool drill move where the hornline is in a solid block form at the lower-right side of the field, near the sideline.  Above and to the right/left of this block, there are several vertical lines.  As the corps plays, they move these lines in-alignment with the lines of the block, becoming part of the block...it was very neat to see this..CONTRAS!!!  Phantom's contras were awesome!  They really get after it during this show.  This seemed to be a recurring theme tonight...oh well..Overall, a GREAT show, and my favorite of the night.  I thought they had beaten Madison before the scores were even announced, and I knew it had to be close.  The only real issue I saw (and I think it was a fluke..) was a little bit of upper-body bouncing by a bari in the opener, but it was only for the first few counts of the show.  Phantom really has the show to win it all this year.  They just have that certain "something" with this show, and this is destined to become a drumcorps classic.  Let me go on the record right now and say this....Phantom will wind up beating the Blue Devils on finals night.  No offense to the Devils, or anything...it's just that this show is so great, others are bound to fall to it (as did the Scouts tonight...)  Phantom definitely deserved the win tonight.  They actually have a lot of cleaning that could be done, and they would rise even higher in the ranks.  Here's hoping they give it their all...

ENCORE:  Only Phantom and SCV came back on the field and played America/O Canada.  The announcer said to stick around for Phantom to do an encore performance!!  My wife and I moved down real close to get our faces blasted off.  Phantom was all lined up, ready to go, when suddenly, the heavens opened up, and niagara falls started to pour onto us.  I'm talking Forrest Gump Big Ol' Fat rain...These raindrops were about the size of a small shot glass...and it was coming down HARD.  Luckily, my wife and I had the foresight to bring our ponchos and jackets.  We quickly put them on as the people scattered.  We stayed mostly nice and dry while others ran around screaming as if they had been forced to watch "Son of the Mask" or something....You would think that people would check into the forecast, as we did, before going to an event such as this...oh well...

That's it....I hope you enjoyed my insane ramblings... B)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

b**bs Boy did I!! Thank you for a very entertaining review Wish you had been at LA so I could hear your review from there. IF you head to any more shows, be sure and share with us again! :)

[festive]

Thanks for the review! :)

[zmalsom]

Man... No encore. What an awful time for bad weather.

[MikeN]

Thanks for the review - you cracked me up. :)

Mike

[Guizeppe]

Very nice. Enjoyed the read.

[Phan Doris]

Kudos to you (and Nancy too) for this great review!

It was very thoughtful of you to make so many historical (and hysterical) references; they helped frame the pictures you were creating for us. I felt I was sitting right next to you at the show. :P :P :P

This review was really special. Thanks. :)

[TexasPRfan]

This was an AWESOME review! It had so much fun humor in it. Thank you so much.

First, thank you for the shout out to BLACK GOLD. I miss them too! (Marched there in 90, and was on staff in 91).

Second, every review I've read lately is raving about Regiment's program. In looking at recaps, they continue to get killed by the rest of the top 6 in GE. I just don't understand that - not this season.

Harvey

[Ryan H. Turner]

DANG IT!!!!!!!!!!! Why can't IIIIIIIIIIIIII be the only funny guy in my reviews! You have ECLIPSED me!

VERY nice review my friend...great job! Come out to so Cal next year and we'll do a joint review together...and then we'll write about the show! GET IT??? I'm kidding....I don't smoke. Lame Turner...lame...

Great review though!! REALLY good!

[Phantombari1]

Great review! My vote for review of the year!