Toledo, OH - DCI Show

[jwillis35]

I just got in from Toledo, an excellent first show for all the corps tonight. If tonight was any indication of the season, then it should be another great year for DCI. Crowd was large and seemed very much into each of the shows.

Here are some observations from my perspective.

Southwind - This is a great show for them, and I had them scored higher than the judges did (maybe a 62ish), but they are quite dirty. Wonderful drill, good brass book, although sometimes confusing, and I really like the second half of this show. They look to have a pretty full corps. There are a few holes to fill, but even with those they marched 53 brass tonight. From a visual perspective, the show will remind many of you of the 1987 Sky Ryders two-uniform deal with the white and black. Southwind does a nice job of highlighting this. The show is called Duality, and it features visual and musical ideas that are opposites of each other, yet they find ways to connect the whole thing. The intro of the show features snippets of music from Holsinger's "In The Spring: At A Time When Kings Go Off To War" and "Firebird Suite." It's a bit confusing at first, and probably needs a bit more kick to it at the onset of the show, but I still got into it. In fact, these themes keep recurring throughout the show. The “Claire de Lune” section is wonderful, with the mallets playing much of the moving lines, but doing so quite well for this time. Honestly, this show has so much upside that I believe it could contend for a top 12 spot if they can clean it and fix the few weak GE moments. This is a solid production by Southwind, and perhaps that is an understatement.

Glassmen - They performed last to the appreciation of their hometown fans, and what a nice job they did. This is an excellent show that takes the ideas of last year's show to the next level. The show is titled "Beethoven: Mastery and Madness." Is opens with the very famous 5th symphony intro, put together in a powerful and regal fanfare. The Glassmen will be crowd pleasers, and once clean, this show will be a solid contender for top 8. Excellent drill, but dirty, and I love the brass and percussion book. Guard is beautiful, but very dirty and somewhat unsure of themselves. Glassmen have a very musical percussion line. If they can get the brass to be as musical, this will be one heck of a musical show. The ending was abrupt, but I have this feeling that will be re-written. Very good show, and I really enjoyed it top to bottom.

Side note: All the corps tonight had complete shows, although I think most will re-work their endings.

Bluecoats - All my bias aside, this was perhaps the most complete vehicle on the field tonight in terms of its combination of demand, artistry, entertainment, and excellence. The crowd was taken by this production, and for good reason, the show keeps you glued to every little nuance, and to all the big GE moments. Of all the corps here tonight, Canton still has the most to clean, but they are also dealing with perhaps the most difficult of shows (perhaps even over Cavaliers, although I need to see the two again). There are no weaknesses in this production, other than the fact that they are dirty. Brass sounds great. They have a very refined and musical style about them, not too loud all the time. They show good control of dynamics and the intended artistry that this music calls for. This is probably a more sophisticated show at times, yet the entertainment factor is high, and the 2nd tune will have you whistling, hootin' 'n' hollerin', and just tapping your feet throughout. The ballad may be one of the best this year. In terms of demand, they have the goods to move up in standing. I really believe that. Now, whether it happens or not is another thing. Phantom was much cleaner than Blue, and so were the Cavaliers. While I am not sure Blue can catch the Cavaliers, I really believe they will catch Phantom this year. Unless the Regiment re-writes a good chuck of drill, they simply do not have the overall visual or GE to beat the 'Coats. They do have a wonderful drum line, and their brass is always great.

Thus we come to Phantom Regiment. This is a wonderful show from a musical standpoint. I usually love their brass, and this year is no different. Very powerful, and large, brass line, and the percussion is smokin'. Their brass book may be just a tad more demanding that Bluecoats (just a tad), and all that typical double-tongued passage work that we have come to expect of Phantom is evident once again in this quite dark, but wonderful musical presentation. The show is called “Faust,” and the music consists of Scythian Suite, Ave Maria (by Franz Biebl), Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (John Corigliano), and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 in C Minor. The highlight of the show for me was when the entire trumpet section puts down their horns and picks up baritones. When the corps plays the Ave Maria they use a mellophone, baritone, euphonium, and tuba instrumentation for the bulk of the tune, only adding trumpets at the end. Great stuff. Where Phantom is lacking, at least at this point, is in guard contribution to the show (which did not grab me, but also may not be done), the lack of demand in their visual book, and the lack of GE in the visual book. Their GE score tonight seemed too high for me, although I would have had them in 2nd overall tonight, but not by much--maybe .5 over Bluecoats. The Bluecoats had some issues at the beginning of the show tonight with the pit not having everything plugged in when the show started, and some of the brass players were not ready and had to run to their spots just seconds before the show started (Canton actually starts their show prior to the announcement, a la Cadets 2005). Back to Phantom, this show is great to watch, and entertaining (and their brass and drums will keep them in the thick of things for some time), but it is nowhere near what they had last year. It's early, and much can, and will, change. But as of now, I see Bluecoats pushing ahead of them in a week or so.

Cavaliers - WOW. They are so polished, even when they are dirty and still have tons to clean. This is a great show that has a freshness to it that will leave many in awe, yet will have the crowd laughing, clapping, and dropping their jaws in amazement. The show is called Machine, and it is very evident from the onset that this show is driven by sound effects (obviously, those of machines). Each of these effects were so well used and staged, that the crowd got it without any explanation of the show. They interpret each effect musically, but even more so visually. The musical book is quite demanding, and already very well played. Big horn line for Cavaliers. I counted 71 brass. Very powerful. There are some excellent trumpet solos in this production, and I love the new sound of the drumline. I love the slanted snares, and Casella's writing is obvious and artistically appropriate for this show. The guard is amazing, and really stand out in their Tron-like unis (similar to 2003), only they are various shades of blue this year. The flags are a powder blue, or Carolina blue, in the opener, and this provides a real contrast to the Green uniforms of the corps proper. The closer is somewhat anti-climatic, but I am sure they are going to redo the end. This is definitely a show that will contend for the title. Is anyone surprised?

Great night for all corps.

Jonathan

[FlamInvert122]

Thanks for the review! Great stuff!

[George]

thanks for the review!! Great one as always Jonathan!

[Bari-Player]

I just wanted to comment my perspective on the top three corps, even though I'm incredibly biased.

Phantom - I've never really been a big fan of Phantom beacuse of their horn sounds, but my dad has always loved them. With that said, even he couldn't get into their show. The plot was not evident, and the second half of the show had some of the important members of the guard just standing around. /boggle I really couldn't get into this show which is a shame with all the hype that it has recieved. An explanation of this could be they are extremely young. I went to see the hornline warming up and they all looked really young. They also looked very unconfident and scared. Hopefully a few more weeks of shows will give them the boost they need to get them to perform their show.

Bluecoats - I have never really been a fan of bluecoats, never been able to get into the shows. With that said, I loved this year. Everything seemed so well put together that I was amazed. The brass seemed especially good, they're just a shade softer than phantom but they have a quality of sound that Phantom doesn't have (which I appreciated). The colorguard was on FIRE tonight, and the instructors which happened to watch the show from nearby in the stands thought the same ;P.

The bluecoats were definately the cleanest corps, but this makes me wonder if they will be able to keep it up and continue to add enough to the show...

Cavaliers - They really look great, already looking confident too. They are incredibly dirty but that'll clean up soon. They just put the last 16 pages of their closer on the field before the show yesterday so that explains why the closer was so dirty. The hornline sounded amazing, louder than Phantom IMO and also the quality of sound and matching of tone was very well done for this early in the season. Drums were hot too! I loved the tilt and the new drums were shiny and really pretty. The colorguard was very great tonight too, I kept missing awesome drill moves because I was watching the colorguard. There's just too much to see in this show.

Well that's my short review. This was my first show in 6 years, and as an alumni it was sad to see my corps go out there without me.

This will be an excellent year for DCI, I'll have to wait to see BD, and Cadets to make a final prediction, but for now the Cavaliers are going to run away with everything (including your girlfriend ;) ) this summer.

[GSNewell]

Phantom - ... An explanation of this could be they are extremely young. I went to see the hornline warming up and they all looked really young. They also looked very unconfident and scared. Hopefully a few more weeks of shows will give them the boost they need to get them to perform their show.

They must just look young because this is probably the oldest corps PR has ever had. Average age is about 20-20.5 and about 75 of the members are vets.

G

[MiamiSun76]

Glassmen - The ending was abrupt, but I have this feeling that will be re-written.

Jonathan

Personally, I hope they don't touch the ending. I had the pleasure of being at the camp where Robert Smith crafted that, on the fly, as the saying goes and the logic behind it is awesome. I think it just needs better understanding.

What they're depicting is Beethoven gradually losing his hearing (and his mind). Starting with the disonance, you hear upper and lower voices dropping out leaving only the midrange, which is how one would be expected to have their hearing diminish. Finally, the midrange also disappears, but the visual action, fingering and all, continues in silence.

I'm sure I've not done proper justice to what Robert and Frank are trying to achieve, but IMO, it's mastery of another kind. (I think it came across better in the clinic).

[notabando45]

I disagree with you on some things. Southwind's drill was not very good at all. It was very easy and yet it was still very dirty. Visually, the duality of the uniforms were not highlighted enough. There could have been more wow moments with this idea but the only thing they could think of was a corny little dance at the beginning and end of the show. I would also say that the mallet lines in the ballad are not where they should be at this point either. I found myself on the brink of laughing out loud last night as they fudged their way through them. They will not contend for a finals spot.

The Bluecoats were the cleanest at Toledo, especially visually. For those of you who are interested, yes, the soprano soloist who frequently messes up has returned. Also, there is a lot of hand holding in this show. Musically, it is the same old Bluecoats. I liked the steel drums too.

Phantom's show is a beast musically and visually, and it is far more difficult than the Bluecoats' show. Phantom will have no trouble staying ahead of the Bluecoats this season.

Cavies will contend at the top. Very cool show.

[notabando45]

Oh and Glassmen. They're back baby! Well, sort of. I'm guessing top 10. The representation of Beethoven going deaf toward the end of the show is a very good idea.

[Matt_S]

I'm sure I've not done proper justice to what Robert and Frank are trying to achieve, but IMO, it's mastery of another kind. (I think it came across better in the clinic).

That's an awesome idea. I hope they can keep improving on it, and max it out by the end of the season. Very creative!

[MiamiSun76]

That's an awesome idea. I hope they can keep improving on it, and max it out by the end of the season. Very creative!

What I found so neat was that there is actually a score underneath the silence. It was incredible to watch Smith and Frank Williams start playing with the concept and trying different durations for the silence. The brass players are actually fingering what were their parts when the closer was played normally. It makes it all the more real.