DCI-Indianapolis

[Lancerman07]

Things that stuck out to me....

--Top to bottom I enjoyed almost all of the corps performances. I have the finals CD from last year and that was not the case with last year (musically at least). Southwind, Capital, Blue Stars, and Crossmen all had very cool shows.

--I loved the Glassmen. I really like strong classical music in drum corps, so I naturally liked their show. The part in the closer where the corps gradually drops out musically (I assume to represent Beethoven going deaf) then comes back in with the 9th theme is just amazing...one of my favorite impact moments of the night.

--I really liked Madison's show. Some of my favorite drum corps shows of all time were 80's and 90's Scouts so many DCP Madison supporters began complaining about the show I had my doubts. IMO, it still had the power of a traditional Scouts show.

--Crown was good, but nothing special for me. I enjoyed their 04 and 05 shows more, but that's just me.

--I really liked the Bluecoats. Their music was right up my alley.

--The Cadets. I heard all the talk on hear about them and I expected the worst, and it was...sort of. For about the forst half of the show all I could pay attention to were the gimmicks and it was bad. Then I started to block all that out and I actually started enjoying the show. I think that if all the gimmicks weren't there, this would be one of my favortite shows this year. Unfortunately, they are there and are just too distracting for me to enjoy the show.

--The Cavies were just so so for me. The music bored me, and I was pretty low in the stand so the visual didn't look as cool as I'm sure they were. I would probably like it better if I saw it from up high.

--Blue Devils were by far my favorite show of the night. Music was awesome, drumline was good. It was just all-around great.

[SFsmack]

how did Crown's drill look...I saw them on their opening night and it was dirty as expected. I'm sure its much cleaner now and want some feedback.

I was sitting on the 50 at the top of the bottom section 113...probably the best seats in the house for sound and nearly the best from a visual outlook. I think Crown had some KILLER drill. This drill is definitely much more difficult than last season, and the kids are really moving. I think it was pretty clean, too. I hella enjoyed that show! The opening might need some tweaking, but the rest of the show is smokin!

[Galen]

Crown's drill looked pretty good from high up. Performance is pretty good and there's a lot of good stuff written in there.

[audiodb]

I wouldn't base ANYTHING on the scoring in that caption last night

Any particular reason?

[RegimentContra94]

Well the writers of Alice in Wonderland were brilliant....whereas the designers of the 2006 Cadets are idiots. Big difference.

That is a pretty bold statement. Perhaps you could come up with something better than name calling?

[Melissa Sampson]

Blue Devils and Cavies. Awesome shows from both corps. From a fan perspective, I thought BD just barely edged Cavies, and the judges got it right. I think Cavies could beat Devils sometime during the season, but I really see Bd taking finals week, but by a slim margin. BD had the edge in brass from my standpoint, guards were pretty close, Cavies had visual. Cavies ending doesn't quite seem like it flows quite as well as BD's, but it will be interesting to see where these 2 packages go.

Cadets-take away the talking between drum passages, the singing, and you have a very nice 3rd place package. I thought some of the throwbacks to last years show were kind of cool. I really like the Twilight Zone riff changing keys at the end. This is definitely a show I need to see several times to figure out what is going on. Almost too much distracting visuals. The kids are doing a very good job with what the production staff handed them this year.

Bluecoats-Very solid show musically and visually. Should be in 4th come finals week. depending on SCV and Phantom. Having seen Phantom, and having SCV apd, I think it will be between Coats and SCV for 4th and 5th, with Phantom fighting off Crown for 6th.

Crown-Finally a show from them I love both musically and visually. Drill is top 5 level, and music is very nice. It seemed to me like the crowd response was the 4th best of the night, behind BD, Cavies, and Bluecoats. It seemed to me the crowd enjoyed them more than Cadets. Could be fighting with Phantom for 6th place this year. Although it has been a week since I have seen PR, I think these shows are close in the quality of performance, music level, but it almost seems like drill design is a little more difficult in the Crown show than Phantom.

Scouts- I really enjoyed this show. Granted, there was some definite problems in several areas, including a drill that needs a lot of cleaning, and the guardwork was a little rough. Change the uniforms, clean it up, and maybe add a couple of classic Scouts moves, and you have a top 8 show. But this year, with corps like Crown, Crusaders, Blue Knights, and others putting on some amazing shows, it is going to have to be clean to place top 8. Very nice effort.

Glassmen have a very nice show. Not extremely impressed with the arranging of the music, but some nice performing of what they were given. I like the silent treatment of Beethoven towards the end, has a very nice effect. The people around me, I think it took a bit for it to sink in what was happening. One thing about the early parts, is maybe it was just me, but it seemed to have some intonation problems?

Crossmen-Love the opener and the ending, but absolutely disappointed with the RADIO section. Really loses the flow of the whole show in my opinion. I was extremely surprised that they beat the Colts last night.

Colts-I haven't enjoyed the Colts since the late 90's. Hadn't enjoyed the design or music too much. Having said that, THIS SHOW ROCKS!! I can't believe they didn't place higher than the Glassmen or Crossmen. No offense meant to either of those corps. Colts have amazing music, and perform the drill very well. Nice color guard, and when they use the skirts in the ballad. it creates some absolutely amazing visual. Only weakness may be in the difficulty level of the drill. Add a little more difficulty and I think they could be pushing towards top 6 in the next few years.

Blue Stars, very nice show, very well designed. Level of difficulty is not to the caliber of the corps above, but it is performed well, and very clean. Look out for them in years to come. I predict they will be in top 12 by 2008 if they continue the improvement from the last few years.

Capital Regiment. Liked their show alot. It looked like it needs a lot of work. Hornline seemed a little weak compared to the last couple of years. Guard is nice, drumline nice. Just a good show. Almost seems like a weakened down version of old Cadets shows, but maybe that's just me. I am not sure they will make top 17 this year, as I haven't seen Mandarins, Pacific Crest or Esperanza yet. But they do have a very nice show.

Southwind, show sounded a lot different than a few weeks ago. Musical arrangements are nice, but not quite as crisp as last year. Well performed, and the kids seem to be enjoying themselves. I think scorewise they were much closer to Capital Regiment, if not just a slight bit better. Half of the crowd really seemed to be getting into their show.

Magic, having heard so much about this show this year, I was very pleasantly surprised. Very nice sound, and the drill was performed very well. Not quite as difficult as some of the shows of the late 90's and 2002, but a very nice presentation. Probably the most room for improvement over the season in my opinion. I thought their hornline seemed louder than CR, Southwind, and Pioneer.

Pioneer. Very nice show. probably my favorite from them since 96-97 years. Some nice visual, and if they raised the difficulty in drill a little, might be a little more competitive. Didn't quite sound as Irish as normal either.

Very nice effort on all the corps last night. Thoroughly enjoy the whole drum corps scene this year.

[madalumni]

Well the writers of Alice in Wonderland were brilliant....whereas the designers of the 2006 Cadets are idiots. Big difference.

Is that necessary?

Edited July 9, 2006 by madalumni

[George]

Well the writers of Alice in Wonderland were brilliant....whereas the designers of the 2006 Cadets are idiots. Big difference.

not exactly the "open mind" you claim you were going to carry into finals week. :P

[mobrien]

Well the writers of Alice in Wonderland were brilliant....whereas the designers of the 2006 Cadets are idiots. Big difference.

Only one author for "Alice..." , not 'writers'. Not sure how Dodgson would be 'brilliant' for writing a couple of nonsense books and Cadets staff any more or less brilliant for producing a nonsense drum corps show (we do all know that the "Alice" books don't mean anything, right?...unless you're totally drugged out, in which case you might want to try and find significance).

No one who's designing for a corps is an 'idiot.' If they were truly 'idiots', they'd be working in television... :P

Edited July 9, 2006 by mobrien

[SkyRyder_FMM]

Thanks for taking the time before bed to give us your thoughts guys !!

Can anyone tell me some thoughts on the colorguards ?? I see BD ahead by five tenths. Its early for sure, but thats a pretty big margin and I heard tyhis is their best ensemble offering in many years..true ?? or not !

~G~

I have not seen the recap yet, but BD's guard is amazing. Just flat out phenominal. You will love them this year - trust me on this.