MESA

[EuphoniMom]

and was really surprised at how the bottom seemed to carry the top. BD bottom heavy? That's a new one for me.

I also didn't care for the vocal aspects of the show, I still don't know what they were saying and the way it sounded I'm not so sure the members know what they are saying either.

1) Where have you been?

They increased the Euphonium line this year, for this bottom heavy show.

2) They know what they are saying. Eleven different lines from the movies. You should have been able to understand Vito......Vito as that was said in unison. The unison Luca Brazi was added/changed since Family Day, so who knows......they might be changing more of those vocal aspects.

[Phantombari1]

1) Where have you been?

They increased the Euphonium line this year, for this bottom heavy show.

2) They know what they are saying. Eleven different lines from the movies. You should have been able to understand Vito......Vito as that was said in unison. The unison Luca Brazi was added/changed since Family Day, so who knows......they might be changing more of those vocal aspects.

Living in the past I suppose! I think there needs to be a little more top to this show! Maybe I didn't understand the Vocal aspects because I was sitting up on the 50 yard line and the sound didn't reach me. Unfortunately there was about 15 of us sitting together that heard/or didn't hear the same thing you were hearing.

[Jason Harrison]

2) They know what they are saying. Eleven different lines from the movies. You should have been able to understand Vito......Vito as that was said in unison. The unison Luca Brazi was added/changed since Family Day, so who knows......they might be changing more of those vocal aspects.

This is via the BD DM.....

The vocal section is the restuarant scene from the first movie. The corps is saying lines from the movie. At the impact of section are the words.... Luca Brazi..... Sleeps with the Fishes.... (enter the guard with silks with fishes on them)

[Phantombari1]

This is via the BD DM.....

The vocal section is the restuarant scene from the first movie. The corps is saying lines from the movie. At the impact of section are the words.... Luca Brazi..... Sleeps with the Fishes.... (enter the guard with silks with fishes on them)

I appreciate the clarification, I completely understand the concept but I don't think I should have to know the movie to understand what they are saying. Maybe I'll here it clearer now that I know what they are saying but it is hardly clear from the stands!

[EuphoniMom]

You can't understand or hear what they are saying, when they are all saying different things. I only knew they were saying eleven different lines from the movies, because that's what my son told me, when I asked what they were all saying. I even asked if they were all just saying jibberish, because with them all saying different things at the same time, that's what it sounds like.

The only unison part that could be understood at Family Day, was the Vito....Vito.

The other night in Bakersfield, the Luca Brazi.....Sleeps with the Fishes was said in unison, so you could tell they were all saying the same thing. Though, I myself, could not tell what it was, until I asked him after the show.

And, I have never watched any of the movies, so any significance of any lines is lost on me. (even though we got him the set of movies for Christmas, I still haven't watched them)

[EuphoniMom]

At the impact of section are the words.... Luca Brazi..... Sleeps with the Fishes.... (enter the guard with silks with fishes on them)

The drill is also a fish somewhere in there, with the fish flags. I sat in a restaurant at a table full of guys trying to describe it to me, but I still can't see it. Maybe I just haven't been sitting high enough. I was in the third row from the top in Bakersfield.

[PeeWee]

I love reading all of the positive reviews about the Vanguard this season. Thanks for that.

I love what their new staff is designing, and after speaking with the corps director a couple of times this year I know that staff longevity is a major goal of theirs. So here's to many more years of great shows coming from the Vanguard camp!

[MelloSteph]

My 2cents on the show....

Jester: Didn't see them...

Academy - I distinctly remember being very impressed last year by their show - the design, the maturity of the performers, however I was not impressed by this show concept. The execution was well done... the show concept belonged in a high school band arena...The winds and percussion tackled some difficult drill and parts of the music drew me in, but still very beginning-of-the-season quality IMO.

Blue Knights - Liked the music, LOVED the flags (again), however visual is still sloppy right now. One thing that is certainly distinct about BK is their marching style - the prep step and pointed pass through - SO, rookies don't quite catch on quickly. It seemed like they had a full package out there, but the feet CERTAINLY need cleaning. A lot of endzone playing going on too, so the sound didn't quite get me in parts... and I was in the 4th row on the 45, side 1.

Blue Devils - One thing they have above everyone right now is immediate audience buy-in. (also helped that they did the pre-show clinic that day)... that energy undeniably affects every performer on that field from the get-go and they let the audience have it... at first. They have the full package right now... right down to the rifle toss towards the end of the show with the WHOLE rifle line (was that a 7 or an 8?? we lost count....). Personally I love the new uniform CONCEPT... the stripe from the front of the jacket down the front of the pants is pretty clever without being a visual tick magnet - if they were fitted right - which some of them had somewhat too big pants, so the line down the front was broken. The ones down the shoulders though were cheezy. I loved their closer flags too... What really got me though is that the hornline seemed to lose steam in the closer. Definitely didn't have the energy from the hornline that was present in the beginning... Overall, gave me goosebumps - very rare for this early in the season.

SCV - Liked the show, it's obvious they still have work to do. I thought the hornline was stronger as a whole than BD. They were consistent throughout. That's about all I remember though... there was nothing that really POPPED for me. It was a good show but not spectacular. Guard uniforms are hideous, IMO.

There's my 2 cents :)

[digitalkev]

My 2 cents.

Jester - Better than last year. It takes guts to go out there that small. I swear that somewhere in the middle of their show they yelled out "cheese fries". People sitting around me though they heard the same thing. Is that really what they were yelling?

Academy - I think this show will take them far. I liked the overall concept and how approachable the show is. I think with this being their first show of the year they were a bit tentative and never had that big sound moment. They are very good now, should be great by the end of the season.

Blue Knights - A very talented group performing a peice of music that did not keep my attention. Not much else to say because I mentally checked out about half way through. I blame the designers. Technically well executed.

Blue Devils - To me the best group of the night. The only group with a crisp sound. Tenors were on fire and have a lot of exposure. I think the heat really effected the volume because I did not get the normal Blue Devils wall of sound during the show. I did get it during the victory concert.

Vanguard - Very good show with lots of potential to keep getting better. Don't be surprised if they catch everyone by mid season.

[paparazzi]

First off, before I go on I want to acknowledge that I think all of the kids are extremely talented and are doing their best to live up to the traditions of thier respective corps. So what I have to say is not targeted at them. These are also my personal observations and do not reflect the views or opinions of any drum corps organizations I have been involved with. (Uh-oh, you can see where this is going....)

Now for the review part. I don't get it, I just don't get it. At what point are these shows supposed to be entertaining? Technically, I saw some great marching and playing out on the field, but the shows are so annoyingly dull that it's all lost on me. For example, musically, the Blue Knights show sounded like the same thing over and over. No distinction between the begining and end, just on and on and on. I checked out a couple minutes into the show.

Now when Blue Devils came on, I was ready to shake it off. As a BD alumni, I look forward to their show every year, and I really want to like them, I really do. Some years are easier than others, but this year, sorry, just can't do it. Now I have nothing but respect for the BD staff, so it pains me to say it, but this show was just plain vanilla, blah, even dull. Simple Godfather themes repeated over and over just doesn't give these kids a chance to shine. Even SCV was swinging harder than BD this year, and that's just not right.

Thank heavens for SCV and their opener, so it's still OK to open the show with energy and blow back the stands a little? The judges must hate that, not artistic enough I'm sure. So they were definitely my favorite of the night, but still not enough to really get me out of my seat.

Now if we were going to have a symphonic band concert in the fall, I would probably have enjoyed this more. But it's summer and I want to have fun and have my face blown back and yes, gosh darn it, be entertained. Guess that's not allowed anymore. Too bad, because the talent, drive and commitment of the kids is a constant. I'm sad that for a corps to be competitive, the shows have to live up to some pretentious, homogenous standard that has sucked the very life out of this great activity.

Some of us still remember a time when every corps/region had a distinct personality, now you could swap uniforms and do the shows and no one would know the difference. Well almost. As SCV prepared to enter the field, you knew exactly who they were. The way they carry themselves, their styly of walking, the very presence they bring, well I don't care what year it is, they lived up to their very proud tradition. They should feel really good about that.

Now I'm sure there are going to be many that disagree with me on this. Fine, if you can be entertained by these shows, good on ya mate. My point is, can't modern drum corps incorporate a little of what made it great in the first place (hype, energy, incredible musical/show moments, personality) and still be successful? Guess I'll just have to get my fix at a DCA show.

Sorry for the rant, but I know my feelings are shared by some other drum corps fans that were there with me. So what was the best drum corps moment of the evening? Listening to the 1975 DCI finals on the way home.