Divion II/III Finals Review

[TexasPRfan]

I was surprised I hadn’t seen more reviews on Saturday’s II/III finals show, so I thought I’d try to kick out a quick one. Unfortunately, I missed Teal Sound & Raiders, and my apologies to those corps. In general, I have to say the afternoon was very entertaining, though I sure wish DCI would go back to the “old” schedule for Finals week and have these corps do their Finals on Wednesday night, and combine it with the I&E winners showcase & age out ceremony. That approach used to yield a larger audience, and the kids deserve to go out under the lights.

Memphis Sound – I had to catch their show from the tunnel, but from what I could tell, the strength of this show was their music, and they generated a good bit of deserved crowd response. Sound’s guard was a bit on the smaller side, and the corps drill was not as complex or demanding as the higher placing Div. II corps, however.

Revolution – Revolution delivered a solid show and came darned close to capturing the Div. III title for a second time, with what appeared to be a VERY full sized Div. III corps. As I have always found to be the case with Revolution, the music erred to the esoteric side, but the show was still enjoyable, and the guard added a great deal to the production. Was great to see this corps back on the field & I hope they “grow right” this time and have a long and bright future.

Impulse – Wow, this had to be one of the shockers of the Div. III season. Who would have predicted in May that Impulse would win Div. III? Yet, I think they deserved it. While I would say that Impulse was less entertaining than Revolution, I thought their show design had more depth to it. Also, while smaller than Revolution, I thought they had a more mature, less muddy sound to their hornline. Neither Impulse nor Revolution did much for me from an effect perspective, though. I blame that mostly on show design and music choice – NOT the kids.

Jersey Surf – As always, Jersey Surf was one of my favorite Div. II/III corps this summer, and score wise, I thought they should have been further ahead of Revolution & Impulse, and closer to the corps above them than they were. Their Moulin Rouge show was highly entertaining. The corps again was quite large, and produced an exciting, bold sound. The guard was huge and effective. Visually, the demand from this corps has improved in recent years, but is not in the same league with the Div III corps above them that rehearse on a more full time basis (understandably). Kudos, Surf, on another great show! The first of the afternoon I wouldn’t mind seeing multiple times.

Blue Devils B came next, and the “junior” Blue Crew brought a strong product to DCI this year. Musically, I thought they were both stronger and more memorable than SCV Cadets, and I was actually a tad surprised that they were ended by their California neighbors. Everything about their show was tastefully and apprioriately designed for their level.

SCV Cadets – This was the first time I’ve seen this group in a few years, but I have to admit I was just a little disappointed in SCV Cadets this year by way of comparison to memories of some of the amazing shows they’ve had in the past. Visually, I thought the corps was superior to BDB, but I honestly don’t remember much about their music.

Oregon Crusaders – Wow, what a great show from the crew from Oregon! I personally would have had them in 2nd on Saturday, with a very boldly designed & performed show. This corps has a great look thanks to their uniforms and they had a very effective visual show, and some exiting music as well. This continues to be a corps to watch.

Spartans – This show was everything I’ve come to expect from Spartans. A solid, demanding show executed impressively well. I’m not usually a huge fan of Spartans’ musical selections, and this year was no different, as I felt they were on the dry side. I love the look of the corps though, and their guard was on FIRE Saturday, deservedly winning high guard.

East Coast Jazz - This little corps just keeps churning out straight ahead jazz shows year after year, which I really appreciate. Visually, however, I thought they were far behind Spartans. I don’t understand ECJ’s winning of the High Visual Performance, as I thought the visual design was very simplistic when compared to Spartans and The Academy, and not marched as clean as either of those two.

The Academy – Holy Cow! Wow. These guys certainly lived up to the hype I was hearing all week, and all year, really. I’m so glad I dragged myself to the II/III finals and didn’t miss out on them (I say dragged, as I still hate the afternoon format for this show). I think this corps would have seriously challenged Spirit & Glassmen at the bottom of the Div. I Finalist corps. The strengths of the corps were clearly their size, their incredible hornline and the wonderful GE design (both musically & visually) of their show. No one in the crowd around me – including myself – seemed to understand why they were scored so lowly/close to ECJ and Spartans on Saturday. They were clearly in a league of their own and very reminiscent of Magic 2002 in Madison the year they competed in Div II and just dominated. This was an old fashioned, high intensity drum corps show with accessible, yet highly demanding music. The unison double and triple toungueing from the entire 64 person brass ensemble in the closer? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Wow! I can’t wait to see this corps again next year and hope they are ready to move up to Division I soon.

[baristeve]

The Academy – I think this corps would have seriously challenged Spirit & Glassmen at the bottom of the Div. I Finalist corps.

After seeing the clips on season pass, i'll have to disagree... the show design isn't there for top 12 div one at all.

[playloud]

I sure wish DCI would go back to the “old” schedule for Finals week and have these corps do their Finals on Wednesday night, and combine it with the I&E winners showcase & age out ceremony. That approach used to yield a larger audience, and the kids deserve to go out under the lights.

I agree and keep telling anyone I can find about this. Wednesday evening show combining the opening Ceremonies, the best Div II/III corps, and the winners of each I&E category, in case you missed them earlier in the day. General admission seating....great fun. Made more sense than any other schedule I can think of.

[TexasPRfan]

After seeing the clips on season pass, i'll have to disagree... the show design isn't there for top 12 div one at all.

Uhhh, respectfully, No. Season Pass clips aren't the same. I have several friends from the DCI/WGI judging community who felt the same way I did. Academy would have safely been in the 11-16 range.

Harvey

[Bugle Turtle]

I agree with steve on this one. I saw there show and I dont think it would have been ahead of any top 12 Div I. but thats just my opinion. Not bashing on Academy or anything they had an awesome show.

[leadsop97]

It is interesting that everyone is saying that Academy would have been a top 12 Div I competitor this year while for the last two years everyone has said that Spartans and ECJ really would have had no chance at making semifinals.

Just a quick comment about the visual caption. If you look at the recap, I think we came in 3rd in ensemble visual. I think maybe 2nd in visual performance. But you can't forget that colorguard is part of the visual caption as well, which is, IMO, where Academy ended up losing the visual caption. After Spartans and ECJ there was over a full point to the next guard, which happened to be Academy.

Has anyone else noticed that on every recap ECJ lost to the Spartans in visual by I think .15 or something like that. Someone should check that out maybe.

Thanks for the review. Some pretty good stuff in there. Don't understand the simplistic drill comment, but an objective review nonetheless.

Edited August 18, 2006 by leadsop97

[baristeve]

the season pass clips may not do the show justice... but i can definitely see that they stand still for solid 30 second increments at a time... something you don't really see anywhere in the top 17

[XxDrumCorpsFanxX]

why are we still arguing about this? obviously they had a good show, if they won. And peoples opinions are peoples opinions..if you dont' like whats in the review then get over it!

if you think their show was that easy, then great... but from what i've heard it wasn't easy, demand and drill wise.

And why don't we look at their show from where they came from the previous years. Everybody always said their drill was easy each year...but how was it the previous year. Im pretty #### sure that it was much harder this year then previous years....

Everybody always talks about how they are doing good with building up the corps, yet they still always talk trash about them. Whats wrong with people these days? Just can't seem to be happy one way or another, everything has to be how they want it...

[ArgonneRebel]

You know, there has been enough arguing about Academy being Top 12 quality or not. All I will say is the last 2 and a half could maybe have been up there. The previous eight minutes however, wouldn't have a chance of surviving in the top 12 of Div. I. Just my personal opinion though.

[Malambo13]

I think Impulse should've beaten Academy. And Surf should've won D2.