topsops Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 Don't read this if you can't take critisizm.....I don't want to sugar coat too much. We all know its early so keep that in mind. I have no affiliate with ANY corp so keep that in mind also. White Sabers.....for a class A corp they are pretty good. They were better than they were last year at this show. Wonderful solo work. Music is better this year too. they just need to clean, clean clean if they want that top 3 position at DCA. Marching and playing at the same time is difficult to master, but they need to work at it. Nice show. Crusaders.....a bit dissappointing to everyone (except moms and dads). Young corps that needs LOTS of work. Too bad they didn't declare class A, they might have a chance there. The guard is the best spot with this corp, BIG and very active out there. Just a little cleaning in that deptartment. The guard has talent!! The hornline got weaker as the show progressed. It's early,but they need to work on stamina. Might, just might make a finals spot if they work hard this summer. VERY weak at the end of the show. Brigadiers......sorry , but this was a dissapointment too. Small corps (but that doesn't mean much). They play pretty good for this size, only this show needs 20 more horns out there. People in the stands didn't understand the music at all (not that Moulon Rouge is that popular), but to pull it off, you need the hornlines of the past. Drumline shines in their solo, nice job there. Drill wise, they didn't show much for excitment at all. Guard was their hi-light too. Big and beautiful guard. Lots of flag work and they did that fairly well. When they clean up this show it will be be pleasing to watch. Just no excitment! They will definately be in finals (out of top 5). Buccaneers.....beautiful looking corp. Largest hornline tonight. Drumline to kill for. Are they really this clean, THIS early? Yep, there out to win this year, that's for sure. Either not much power behind the horns, or its Bb that is killing that power??? Would be nice to hear this show loud. Guard is big AND good. Drill is fast paced and rather clean for just their second show. Nice job Buccs. Music played VERY well, but the show lacks the excitment level. It may be early, but they still need to excite with the show. The drumline will keep them near (or at ) the top this year, but if GE excitment has anything to do with it, they might be surprised about the outcome. The drum major is the classiest, and best one in DCA. Not a Russo, or Bruni showman, but doesn't need to be. This guy is all class up there and seems to DIRECT the corps, not just an enhancement to the show. Nice win for Buccs but watch out..... Empire was up last......FINALLY some entertainment. Wasn't just a hometown crowd, the REALLY entertained the audience. And loud??? Yep, smaller hornline than Buccs, but WOW, they sure can play. Solo work was superb, as expected. Soloists don't get involved in the drill, but are hi-lighted on a stage complete with piano!! Great look. Talk about entertainement......this is its own broadway show and the crowd loved it to the max. Thanks Staesmen for saving this show tonight. Drumline has its own entertainment value in their solo feature. WOW, what a drill. Not anywhere as clean as Buccs, but if that can get clean.....watch out DCA. They difinately will have the crowd in their hands. Hornline was good enough to win that caption, but have a lot of cleaning to do. A couple of bad spots, but that will clean up (I hope). And if that cleans up the way EMpire usually does....they have the horn trophy at finals.....wait till you all see this show. Guard was as big and good as the two previous corps, that will be a trophy to fight for too. The run on the keyboard at the end of the show was very cute! Exciting to say the least. Drill is very fast in spots....maybe too fast for Sr. er, all age corps. WOW, how do they keep up the stamina? Well, they do, and they do it well. This is my bet for the top spot at Championships (if they can clean it up). St. Joes Alumni put on their usually crowd appealing show. Not much drill this year, but they sure entertain the audielnce. Pounding of the feet on the bleachers told that story. The crowd sure loves St. Joes. Can't wiat to see Cabs and Bush next. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jami Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 Moving to reviews forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rfloat69 Posted July 4, 2006 Share Posted July 4, 2006 thank god for the statesmen fan review top sop well done . Maybe you should watch dci if you dont want to be disapointed next time.(just a suggestion) perhaps your expectations of corps first shows are too high Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PTBOmike Posted July 4, 2006 Share Posted July 4, 2006 (edited) Man I must agree with you on many things! Empire BLEW ME AWAY! I was not ready or expecting what I saw and heard. Maybe it was the fact that I waited at the border for 4 HOURS but I was just really eager to see some good drum corps. The first impact in the opener blew me out of my seat. I believe their hornline is twice as loud as their competition. I REALLY liked that! I think they have all of their sections strong and will be gunning for the championship. Drumline is very aggressive and fairly clean for this part of the season. I believe they will be hunting for the drum title. I tend to get bored easily and Empire had me out of my seat at least 3 times. David Bruni was entertaining as always! Great job Statesmen. Edited July 4, 2006 by PTBOmike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kusankusho Posted July 4, 2006 Share Posted July 4, 2006 Man I must agree with you on many things!Empire BLEW ME AWAY! I was not ready or expecting what I saw and heard. Maybe it was the fact that I waited at the border for 4 HOURS but I was just really eager to see some good drum corps. First off - agreed with everything you said about the Statesment - they proved to me that DCA is every bit as much fun as it was when I marched in the '80s. It was my daughter's first exposure to senior and she had a blast. Now – about the border… Rochester should be a 3 hour trip from my home in Guelph, but I padded it with an extra 2 hours to allow for the long weekend. Not enough. We left home at around 3, got caught in all kinds of traffic south of Hamilton, spent a full hour just getting over the bridge and a ton of time with the nice border guard folks. The result was we got there in time to see Bucs get started. We ran up to the top of the stands so we were on the 10 yard line. Perhaps that accounts for my being a little disappointed. I remember Bucs from the 1981 season especially and I didn’t get the “in your face” sound I remembered but being so far off centre perhaps we just weren’t in the zone for the sound to be focused. I saw some posts here about the line being clean, and I LOVED some of the bass licks, but I thought the big diddles in the snares in the closer were kinda ragged. Again – could have been my vantage point, which sucked. It’s early and you have to expect some dirt. Overall I like the show and I’m looking forward to seeing it again at finals. Empire Statesmen – Yeah – nothing to add except – WOW! Fun from the first note to the closer. We were in a better spot for this show so again, comparisons are not on a level field, but the sound was so much stronger. I noticed a slight phase right after the vocals (which I couldn’t actually make out so maybe it started there) but the recovery was quick so no great damage done. Love the zig-zag drill in the percussion feature. Home town crowd to be sure but everyone was on their feet. Should be one interesting finals. I was surprised to hear Mighty St. Joes start off their show with the opening fanfare from our 1981 show (Niagara Regionnaires) but on the way home I ran into Don, a fellow former-Regionnaire now playing contra for St. Joes, so maybe he had something to do with it????? So after getting lost and almost involved in a police incident at a slightly scary gas station in Rochester, we got back on the road and home around 3 a.m. Twelve hours for two competitive and one exhibition performances. You’ve gotta love drum corps…… No complaints though, we had a great time – some quality father-daughter fun on a day where just about everything went wrong. Looking forward to finals! Cheers Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bariforhire Posted July 4, 2006 Share Posted July 4, 2006 I was surprised to hear Mighty St. Joes start off their show with the opening fanfare from our 1981 show (Niagara Regionnaires) but on the way home I ran into Don, a fellow former-Regionnaire now playing contra for St. Joes, so maybe he had something to do with it????? Jim That opener was an original composition writen by Ed Cozzolino for St. Joe's in 1964. He named it "Santa Jose". St. Joe's played it off the line in 64 and 65. The alumni corps has played it several times over the years and especially wanted to play it this year seeing it's the 75th anniversary of the St. Joe's organization and the 15th anniversary of the alumni corps. I guess Coz gave it to the Regionnaires latter on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kusankusho Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 That opener was an original composition writen by Ed Cozzolino for St. Joe's in 1964. He named it "Santa Jose". St. Joe's played it off the line in 64 and 65. The alumni corps has played it several times over the years and especially wanted to play it this year seeing it's the 75th anniversary of the St. Joe's organization and the 15th anniversary of the alumni corps. I guess Coz gave it to the Regionnaires latter on. We played it in '80 and '81 - I didn't know that Coz had written it for St. Joes, or that it was an original piece. Thanks for setting me straight there. It sure brought some memories back. Coz was quite a guy...... Cheers Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K2SMA Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 Don't read this if you can't take critisizm.....I don't want to sugar coat too much.White Sabers.....for a class A corp they are pretty good... Not trying to start anything here and "critisizm" (sic) is one thing. But that's an unfair slap at all the smaller corps that work just as hard as the open class corps in DCA. There is no need to qualify their "pretty good" performance if it indeed was "pretty good". Have you seen how competitive class "A" corps have become and how the quality of these corps has improved in recent years? I generally enjoyed reading your review, but that one comment cut the wrong way, and I don't believe you intended it to do so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 unfortunately, smaller corps still have an uphill battle to get the right recognition, but it's growing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topsops Posted July 6, 2006 Author Share Posted July 6, 2006 So sorry K2SMA, the review wasn't meant to hurt any class A corp. The White Sabers are better than they were last year at this time. I can't even explain what I was saying without getting into more trouble. One word can make a difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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