SA evening - VERY BRIEF thoughts

[oswald]

Cavies were o.n. ON tonight. I still don't get the music package, but man they really are a machine, visually. It was stunning; fun.

BD was typical BD, but they didn't seem to "sell it" as much tonight as I've heard they've been doing. I was a great show, one of my faves of the night, but it was just missing that extra "something." My pops and I both had the same thought when they finished - they need to add some serious touches to the closer. The show was great and then it just...ended. (I'm sure changes are in progress, so consider this moot)

Phantom was tight, musically and visually. Horns were on, battery was on, guard was on. Visual package was there, but I didn't feel the energy, myself. Perhaps I was just exhausted, but I wanted something more. I still love PR, though, so a big congrats on the placement and score - they earned it.

Bluecoats were one of the most energizing of the night. I found myself left relatively flat by a number of the 12 tonight, but not these guys. They went for it and nailed it. I don't get the CG score, though. The guard was on fire from what I saw and I'm lost as to why the numbers were so low. Either way, increasing the guard score wouldn't have been enough for 3rd. I'll take 4th with a smile, though. :)

Cadets made me want to go get some nachos, I was so bored. The horns are awesome, as are the drums and guard, but the show concept itself is simply too inaccessible for first-time reads. I heard a lot of negative things from folks in the crowd around me, mostly about their continuance of a show concept from last season that was just as difficult to "get." Kudos to the corps, though. Just because people don't like the show doesn't mean they should be robbed of accolades for their high level of execution. But I still want the door to go away...

SCV was great tonight. Everyone seemed to really enjoy the style with which they executed their show tonight. Other than the one trumpet marching continually around the perimeter of the field during the show and doing nothing more than horn moves when the hornline did them, SCV struck me as, perhaps, the first corps of the night to have a real, honest-to-goodness, sustained major chord - at least they're the ones I remember. I'm not sure why it took seven shows to hear one, but the first six of the night (with the possible exception of Spirit) seemed to be heavy on the minor, dissonant chords. I'm sure I'm wrong regarding the repertoires of the first six tonight, but so much of the music from all the corps before intermission was cacophonious to my ears.

I can't remember much about Crown. They sounded good. They looked pretty good. But nothing really grabbed me tonight. They were the best of the first six tonight, but probably my second or third favorite of the same pre-intermission group.

Boston needs to lose the props. As with Crown, nothing really grabbed me or stuck with me about the show. I enjoyed it while they played, but found I had forgotten about them completely when they were finished.

BK was grating. Seriously. The pit was amped WAY too high and the speakers were about 20 yds away from the pit itself. I kept hearing marimbas on the 20 yd line. I found myself so distracted by this that I had a hard time focusing on the rest of the show.

Madison was fun. I like their show, but I think the drill is what's holding them back. It's movement overkill. Too much to clean, it seems to me, at this point. Good show, though. It was certainly in the top 6 crowd faves of the night. Good job, Scouts!

Glassmen stand still. A lot. Also, there is a great amount of artistic movement in the hornline. It was too much - got in the way of, I dunno, the show. And maybe I'm nuts, but I'd swear that half of the hornline missed a key change about 2/3 of the way through. Maybe this is intentional??? Plus they stand still. A lot.

Spirit was a great way to start the night. It was raining when the show started so they delayed things a bit. In the meantime Spirit came out and played Georgia to warmup - got the crowd REALLY excited. The shwo was fun, energetic and it just looked like they were having a good time out there. Not to blame them, but Spirit made it hard for me to enjoy most of the next seven corps that followed them.

I'm really fried at this point, so have a little mercy on this weary brain.

[Maestro767]

Nice review, oswald. Where've you been lately???

... kinda a weird question to ask, coming from someone who's in Australia.

Hope things are well with you in TX.

[Gentleman Marcher]

If the "key change" the Glassmen missed was in the closer before the deafness bit, it was intentional.

Thanks for the review!