Beverly, Ma. impressions

[X DM]

7/1/ 2006...........Beverly Ma.

Some brief observations on Corps this night ( just one Man's opinion )

JERSEY SURF......Fun show.....Classical theme but with just the right amount of comedic relief that asks us to take them and their music seriously, but not too seriously.....Worked well for me . ' Liked the fact the show design with the drill and musical book seemed to fit the growing talent level of the Corps....not too easy, but not too difficult either. 'Just about right, I thought, for their stage of development. Some corps designers seem to make the mistake of giving it's members a visual and musical book that is way too dififcult for their budding performers..... Their staff did not make this mistake in my view. ....... I'm biased toward shows that have a nicely integrated flow to them from beginning to end.... Jersey Surf seemed to fit that bill just fine.....

EAST COAST JAZZ.......featured a nice trio of brass soloists in their opening number and they performed the opening very well....... large and effective percusssion line....... nice guard..... pleasing show that was well received by the Massachusetts home based crowd. I might have had the Jersey Surf closer in the scoriing, but East Coast Jazz did seem to have a more difficult overall book to perform too and performed it a little better

MAGIC.......The Corps had a nice opening fanfare performed well that offered promise for the their show. Unfortunately, this Corps had major cross tempo tearing issues that plaqued them throughout their show. The kids worked hard to sell their show and there were glimpses of them doing so. But the visual and musical book seemed to be too difficult for their members to effectively perform right now.......liked the uniforms though...... this corps does seem to have some young talent though, so with the proper work ethic they could rise in scores as the season progresses.

SOUTHWIND.....my comments on this Corps are tempered by the fact they were late getting to the stadium due to their Corps bus being involved in an accident. We were releived to hear it was only a minor fender bender and no one was hurt. Needless to say, this could very well have hurt this Corps concentration and mental concentration levels......I was really looking forward to this Corps as they were very well received by the Boston audience at DCI last season where many from Massachusetts were not that familiar with this Kentucky based Corps........This year they have taken a more cerebral show approach that is less on the emotional tug side approach....... they offer a nice duality show where the Corps members are dressed in predominently black on the right side of the field facing the audience and the other half of the corps dressed in white......then they have seperate cadences performed by different corps sections.... that was very creative, I thought.. several corps this nite did this by the way, all very effectively in my opinion, but the novelty wore off a little when done by more than 1 or 2 corps....... ...... they have a nice sound to their brass line..... my guess, they are well trained in the fundamentals here...... I did not care at all however for the hideous orange colored guard uniforms...... they have the male guard in such tight uniforms, you felt bad for the corps as a whole as many in the audience seemed to wince around me watching Southwind's guard perform........the Corps shako plume was unique, but too bandish for this poster's taste.......but the concept of duality was well done, and this Corps seem to have a staff with creativity and the show did have a nice flow to it, I thought

CROSSMEN......I really liked this show, but did agree with the judges score that some think are too low......They have loads of issues with the fundamentals of marching and playing.......their alighnments, coverage, distance between members, feet, etc have lots of cleaning to do...... the visual design is lacking compared to other Corps at their level, in my opinion, and there is a choppiness in the show that other Corps to their credit do not have......that said, there is more meat here to this Crossmen show than last year...... they play some definately pleasing licks in both the brass and percussion lines..... they have this nice band march spoof that was creative and went over very well...... the guard also has lots of work to do..... the guard had a nice segment where they unfurled banners that I believe showed the guard members home town. Nice touch, if that was the case...... all in all, the Crossmen have an entertaining show that was really well received by the audience here in Beverly. They got the first well deserved standing O tonite. How far this Corps can go this year is anybody's guess. They have the goods to make top 12, but they also have lots and lots of cleaning to do right now to get there in my opinion

CADETS.......first off, this won't be my favorite Cadets show..... not even close.....that said, the Cadets have all the talent on the field tonite to win DCI again in my opinion......the brass line, guard, percussion line, difficulty level, it's all there...... they certainly have a ot of cleaning to do for a Cadets Corps though...... the amps and singing was not as distracting as I was prepared to witness from previous reviewers...... this corps has so much going on with various sections that it's impossible to take it all in with the naked eye...... I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing...... Cadets have music that is very accessible to this poster's ears though....... wonderful ballad, just georgeous......definately a confusing theme for many in the audience though.......this show does have some choppiness in structure that left me a little disappointed. I'd rework the ending, as the ending seems sort of flat to me..... but when it's all said and done, it's all about demonstrating talent with the performance...... whatever one says about the show, the Cadets demonstrated to me tonite that they have enormous talent...... and sometimes talent is all that's needed to win a title when coupled with such a demanding, innovative show......

PHANTOM REGIMENT...... I'm biased toward this Corps.... need to say that right up front..... there is no Corps that I'm playing their past music more than Phantom Regiment.......this year, Phantom is playing a more serious show theme than last years more "happy show "with Gershwin, etc.......outstanding percussion line...... that sort of surprised me as usually I think Brass most years with Phantom......the Faust theme of the battle between good and evil was OK, but the guard needs to sell the theme a little better in my view, particularly in the finale..... there could be a better utilization of the guard in design for this to take place....... absoltuely loved " Ave Maria "....... beautiful ballard..... Phantom could use more volume in the dark angry passages in the brass line in my opinion......the Corps has a nicely integrated show that is well presented and performed well across the board...... Phantom's not going to win DCI this year, but that has not stopped me from enjoying Phantom Regiment in the past, and tonite was no exception

BOSTON CRUSADERS........ Boston has such a clean and polished look to them this year..... guard uniform colors match the Corps proper nicely, ... guess I'm biased toward Corps who do this.....I really like Boston's show this year....last year their show had some more recognizeable music, ( played by many previous corps though ) but it was choppy from sequence to sequence, and the visual design was lacking compared to others at their level..... this year the entire show just flows very well right from the opening chords to the end...... best visual show Boston has had in years in my opinion..... and the music, while not neccessarily melodic, fits well with their visual design..... as a result, is a nicely integrated show..... terrific subtelties in instrument carriage and in body movement.......guard still has some issues, but looks to be improving.......the props though are confusing and should be left out of the show until completely designed and ready to go...... percussion line and battery appear capable and solid..... snare line had marching in unison issues at some intervals this niight......Corps intersperses into their visual and music some snippets of unmistakeable Boston Crusaders signature pieces that tell us they have moved into the future, but pay due respect to those who have gone before. That was a nice touch...this corps is not a threat to break into the top 5 this year, but they do look now to have established themselves as a very good Corps with perennial consistency now...... never thought we'd be able to say this a decade or so ago with Boston

Anyway, that's a brief snapshot...... If I've offended anyone with my frank reviews here. I'm sorry. If you were out on that field toniite performing, you are all winners in my book. The talent level I see each year amazes me and you are all to be congratulated for your efforts. Thank you for giving your all in performance tonite and best of success the rest of the summer !

Edited July 3, 2006 by X DM

[Jim Anello]

Excellent, thoughtful review. Thank you for taking the time to post it.

[X DM]

Excellent, thoughtful review. Thank you for taking the time to post it.

Thanks, Jim

[George]

thanks for the great review - as you noted: Crossmen are terrific fun this year and I think they have a good deal of potential too!

[marshamello]

Thanks for the review! I appreciate your honesty and fair treatment of all the corps. I was in Beverly as well and agree with much of what you said.

I was amazed, after watching the shows, at how unaware we are as a species of when our dislike for a person, organization or product can blind us to reality. Your review was fresh in this regard and how you were able to say you felt there needs to be some work on the flow/connectedness and that it was far from one of your favotirte Cadets' shows but you did not have to use 90% of your review to go on and on about every detailed aspect you didn’t like and give only minor recognition to what is working well and how well they perform (like 95% of the reviews on The Cadets so far this year). You get the excellence award for well-balanced journalist.

[oldguard]

Thank you for the interesting, respectful, and well-written review.

I could not be at this show and you gave me a good glimpse of what I missed and what I will be seeing soon.

I always enjoy reading another person's impressions of a particular performance.

I will look forward to reading more of your thoughts and ideas.

[gcurrier]

I'd rework the ending, as the ending seems sort of flat to me.....

This was in regards to the Cadets--I am going to add my own review tonight--and much of it I will agree with you on and this quote in particular I just had to say--EXACTLY what I said. I remember an earlier review saying people didnt know what to think after and didnt clap--I dont think it was as much people didnt know what to think as it was we were unsure it was over! My roomy literally turned to me and said, "They are done right?" LOL it just didn't have a big IMPACT that says #### ya were done! I am sure they will add that by year end (I hope).