Reviews of the 2006 DVD's

[Wildabeast]

Just got done watching Phantom while eating dinner.

I'm too emotionally drained to watch anybody else at the moment.

[fighttheurge]

The audio quality on the CDs are fine, just quiet.

You can thank reasonable mastering for that. There are actual dynamics.

If you think that the CDs are quiet, listen to the 3rd track on the the 2nd CD. Madison will blow you away, as always.

When I got the CD, I listened to Madison all the way up on my stereo... Boston came on afterward and I asked my brother if he had turned the volume down about halfway through the show because it was so much softer... he hadn't... I'm not sayin' anything... I'm just sayin'.

[thePerfectbuzz]

Top 6

Santa Clara Vanguard- thought was the most creative drill of 2006. just very dirty. horn book was very enjoyable, although their exectuion was also very dirty. overall very cool concept.

The Cadets- very artistic and entertaining show. Never get as loud as the other corps, but also have more demand while playing on the move. liked the ballad

Bluecoats- very cool show. hornline is making huge strides. drumline is nails. the guard is clearly the weakest part of the corps. goargeous ballad...and the middle piece (dont know the name) was very crafty and well designed

Blue Devils- cool opening impact. white stripe is distracting. Lead trumpets arent as impressive as usual. drumline is good but doesnt play long enough phrases to be impressive. overall good theme and well drawn up.

Phantom- i dont like their baggy pants. get loud but sometimes obnoxious (for me anyways they lose quality). drill is pretty clean. i thought the male performers were weak.

Cavaliers- thought i wouldnt like their show, but after dvds i really enjoy it. drill well designed, hornbook smartly written, theme intact throughout, and little added visuals tastefully done. very well performed, really dont have any complaints.

[BaritoneBamBam]

I formally apologize as I did not have the time to give an equal evaluation of every corps. I have a draft of The Cavaliers - Bluecoats done.

The Cavaliers –

In my opinion, this is one of the more simply enjoyable shows to watch. In terms of general effect, I felt that some parts of the show were just added for the heck of it: for example the warping block. It was a little discontinuous and I didn’t see how it fit. Either way it was a very cool effect. It’s by no mistake that this show brings out the full Cavalier quality, very mechanical, conservative approach to a heavily visually emphasized show. There were a few cool gimmicks here and there like the malfunctioning robot.

As much as I love this show’s drill and visual design, I don’t think Michael Gaines is separating from his theme of ripples. Which is fine, it’s his unique style that he evokes best in his writing. What do I mean by ripples? Almost all the cool effects through the years are brought on by some type of modified ripple movement. At times, this gets overdone. Although he does a good job in modifying his theme of ripples to other formations or drill sets. If you look at the entire picture, it’s very well met with the music.

I have to hand it to the guard for some excellent writing and integration as well as great execution. I was very pleased that the guard uniforms didn’t allow me to cringe as I did in 2001, 2003, and 2005. As simple as it was, it did bring out the effect of the show in terms of the mechanical idea.

I was a little upset that Casella’s arranging for the Drumline did not shine as it did in 2004’s Santa Clara Vanguard’s Scheherazade show. He has such a unique style to his arranging and writing that I don’t see why he didn’t take the liberty to put some groove in it. Though now thinking about it, the groovy methodic way he writes probably wouldn’t have fit for this show as well as probably Tom Aungst’s writing.

Oh boy! Here comes the hornline. I must admit I’ve never been really impressed with the Cavaliers horn book. I felt that this year was quite lackluster as well. I will be one to state that the music was not very memorable. Yes, it might have been the eye candy in front of me, however I listened to the CD without the visuals, there wasn’t much catchy stuff to remember or come out whistling. Though some might contradict with me on this one, however I feel that the music should be very memorable for the longevity of the show in people’s memories. However, I must admit that I did like the Tuba features in the middle of show, great control at the high tempos. Other than that, what I noticed out of this corps than others is that the horns are often down when doing harder drill moves, most of the hard material that they play are very often at holds. When you look at the entire picture, The Cavaliers march and play (at the same time) the least out of the top 12. That maybe their style, but this show certainly did not have a lot of brass playing. Every hard drill move were often in the horns down (carry) or rested. This is my biggest problem with their writing.

Phantom Regiment –

While its drill was not as impressive as the Cavaliers’ from above, I think the General Effect for this show definitely shined on finals night, especially the showmanship caption. They seemed to be on fire from the moment they walked in. Visually, I thought there were some very simple but very effective eye candies going on. The pentagram was a great form that gave the audience that “devil/pagan” tone. However, this show is not a show to be watching on High Cam… I’m sure you know the reasons; the hornline drill is very bland at times. While it’s more fun watching the Cavaliers from the top, it’s definitely more enjoyable to watch Phantom Regiment from the lower level.

The beginning movement with Mephistopheles, the devil, was quite effective. In terms of effect, I can see why this show had the highest visual GE. The staging was possibly one of the best that has ever been on the field. The design team did an excellent job to convey the battle between Marguerite, Faust, and Mephistopheles throughout the program. As the five figures traveled throughout the show, there was a lot of movement and individualized writing for their specific part. The hornline and drill always seemed to make an opening in the show for a kind of “theatre arena” to be created for some new event to happen. One of the icings on the cake was Marguerite gracefully exiting the stadium in her angel wings. What an excellent end to the drama.

Adam Sage has once again created some of the most artistic writing for any color guard. Watching 2004 Phantom Regiment progress to 2006 Phantom Regiment is like comparing night and day. Beautiful and stunning uniforms in the color guard certainly bring out the classical feel to this drum corps. I, myself, admit that the masks were very great in showing the operatic style of this design. Also, in terms of the writing, this corps has definitely epitomized the sync of guard work to music. The writing was a direct translation to what the hornline and drumline was playing, which I felt was great uniform integration. The visual staging and the music were one, which was the reason for its high visual GE, at least in my opinion. In terms of the guard, I would also like to make special mention that the female guard brings out a very special quality to Phantom Regiment. Though there were males, I believe they played a special role that was quite separate from the rest. The feminine characteristic of this guard’s dance is incredibly artistic and unique to this corps’ classical identity. Seeing the guard go co-ed is a little disheartening. Now in terms of execution, Phantom Regiment’s color guard has never performed a show quite as difficult or clean as this

one. There were quite a bit of uniform tosses and a good deal of spinning and dancing. Adam Sage will definitely bring this guard to a trophy in the near future.

The percussion section was certainly a cake of this show. Usually we don’t talk much about Phantom’s percussion section, but wow did these guys show up! The book is very well written in a style that I’ve not heard before. It incorporates very well, but having heard the drumline in the lot, I couldn’t exactly correlate their parts with hornline parts. However, seeing and hearing the whole package, the drumline book amazingly fit well with the horn book. Such different but complementary styles certainly brought out even more general effect, especially in design. Despite the fact that the drumline gets most of the attention, I was actually quite attracted to the pit in this show. Some of the multi-cam shots showed soloists playing keyboards in the pit with some amazing technique and dexterity. I have to give kudos to the marimba players who, might I add had amazing wrist technique and uniformity. Musicality definitely shined here. These percussion members were certainly untouchable this season.

Now, brass wise was my favorite show by far. Phantom Regiment is known for their rich and dark hornline for a reason, and this show certainly does not disappoint. I was very impressed with the uniformity attack by the Tubas at the higher tempos in the Corigliano. Great breathing technique definitely helped this corps achieve a very full rich texture in their attacks. This year has my favorite entrance to any show ever. Immediately after Crocker states, “Phantom Regiment, you may take the field for competition”. Wham! A burst of sound and devilish chords flooded the stadium. Certainly gave me Goosebumps to listen to with the surround sound. In addition, I must say that the ballad was not talked about in great depth for no reason. Great chords and quite a bit of emotion were poured through those horns. That was some great Showmanship General Effect! One thing to mention, having seen them all season, there was this one chord in Ave Maria towards the end that always seemed horribly out of tune, yes at every single show. However, I was very pleased to hear that this issue was fixed on finals night. This was just one more thing to add to their amazing final performance. I give these horn members quite a bit of props for their excellent feet. Those white uniforms can scream out any difference or discrepancy in tempos, but these guys certainly handled themselves well. The drill had very spread out forms where the drumline was not directly behind the hornline. As many of you who march or marched know, high tempos in this situation for a hornline member are very hard to maintain. After listening to the CD and watching Finals, I was floored by the corps’ capability to watch such subtle conducting as a time reference when the drumline was so far away. Fantastic control from top to bottom, great feet, great timing!

Blue Devils –

Upper body control is god. This is the first thing I say about the Blue Devils. To me they have fully achieved separation of the upper and lower bodies. It looks like they are holding cokes in their hands. Mentally, I believed this show challenged their visual awareness quite a bit. As simple as that Cross to Dagger to Heart drill was, I was amazed by the amount of demand that each member had to rotate that son of a gun around. The drill did not develop much besides a few cool aspect of it here and there. For some reason some of the formations look like they were directly taken out of 1999 Blue Devils. Again amazing visual performance for the brass line. It seemed as though the corps was moving at 6 to 5s all the time. Bravo.

And also Bravo to the color guard. They win high guard so many times for a reason. Dance, movement, and staging methods reigns supreme for this corps. What a great combination of upper body and lower body control. Great feet in the guard were one of the things that I saw that led this corps to win the High Guard trophy. Check out some of the poles in this corps. I was a little disappointed with the guard for the lack of spinning compared to the corps around them. However, they made up for it with their increase in demand with dance. They definitely deserved the High Guard Trophy!

Some of you might hate me for this, but I really think this was the weakest Blue Devils brassline in a very long time. I’m not saying it was horrible, but for Blue Devils’ standards, it was one of their weaker lines. There were quite a few chords that I could pick out as, “I know what chord you’re trying to play, but you’re almost there”. Thus, tuning in the middle notes of the chords seemed to have quite a bit of trouble. I felt that this was a very Blue Devil show to do, but I felt as though more could have been done with the arranging. The book, to me, seemed very watered down. There was definitely a bit more room to utilize that powerhouse Blue Devils’ hornline.

Bluecoats –

I’ve always been a fan of the Bluecoat’s drill. To me it seems like a hybrid between Sacktig and Gaines’s drill. For example, there are quite a lot of ripples that are involved in this show, yet there are very dense spacing and a lot of spaghetti drill that I saw. Great design visually with those white bands around the hornline as it represented the show’s name Connexus very well. In terms of execution, I think the hornline really should spend more time on spaghetti drill. Formations with shallow arcs often had breaks and rifts in them. Yes these are the hardest types of drill, but other corps did a much better job at controlling the focalization of the entire shape. Though I admit this corps controls blocks very well. There is a lot of integrity with this corps in terms of center of body control and maintenance of morphing shapes, especially with linear formations. The drill was very smartly written, it provided quite the challenge as you can see with the multitude of spaghetti shapes flying around, but I feel as though these guys can bring much more out of the design since the horn members were placed with quite a lot demand. I can also add that the feet were much better than I have seen them throughout the season, definitely helped the hornline with their unison in playing.

The Bluecoats color guard has always for me brought me a lot of fun watching. Like Phantom Regiment, the guard work does a great job of acting as a parallel between the horn book and the visual effect. Here, I believe that the work does a great job of bringing out a uniform effect and overall panoramic focus to the show. Despite that fact, I think that the color guard can certainly challenge the writing a bit more. The spinning seemed a little slow here and there, and it’s partially due to some of the lapses in the feet from beginning to end. Overall the guard does good deeds to effect but not as much as the other guards in terms of excellence and vocabulary. The corps is moving up, and I think this corps should utilize their growing talent to challenge the corps guard even more.

I’m pretty amazed at the drumline. They have great control and certainly feature a lot of spunk when they are featured. They do a great job of maintaining tempo for the hornline in tight background feature spots, like that part when the trumpets are featured up front. I saw a lot of very smart drill writing for the drumline as they were placed strategically to aid the hornline’s tempo control at fast tempos. I feel as though these guys can win a high percussion very soon.

Personally, though some may disagree, the hornline did a very good job with their control of different styles throughout the program. Bluecoats with their annual trumpet feature did a great job of exploring dynamics while adding flare to their little exposition. That always something really enjoyable to listen to, even though it may be quite small. What I certainly did notice about this show was its great writing for the middle voices, mellophones to note. These guys produced a nice clear sound though I could hear some lack of control during hard drill moves that could have been better cleared up. Also I’d like to point out that the soloists were by far my favorite throughout the entire DVD. They all possessed very great styling and shaping through their little feature in the middle of the show. One thing I would have liked a little more improvement was the tuning in the middle of the show, some of the middle voices were a few cents off on some of the louder chords. One thing that I noticed (though it wasn’t incredibly harsh) was the discrepancies in accents. In terms of section to sections, the fortepianos and the accents were unbalanced in their second number. However, I fully understand the difficulty of pulling something that stylistically wild in uniformity. Overall I was very impressed with the demand, stylistically for this hornline.

Edited December 26, 2006 by BaritoneBamBam

[BMBob]

Blue Devils –

Upper body control is god. This is the first thing I say about the Blue Devils. To me they have fully achieved separation of the upper and lower bodies.

Amen to that. I agree fully. While I don't always like what they do on the field, their body control is incredible.

[leadsop97]

BaritoneBamBam......thank you. Writing a review and actually talking about breathing technique, focalization, etc. makes it easier to read because not only are you giving an objective review, but you also obviously know what you're talking about. It makes it easier to respect the opinion of someone who really knows what they're saying.

I haven't gotten the DVD, so I won't write anything else except that I'm surprised more people didn't like Boston and Madison's shows this summer. IMO, they were a step in the right direction....First Boston show I've turly enjoyed, period. and with Madison, you all know I'm a huge Scouts fan, but 2004 and 2005 weren't my favorite years. This past year, with the exception of the closer, I thought it was great. Entertaining, high levels of energy. Dirty yes, but the Cavaliers were once dirty, and now look at them. I can't wait for the future.

[brassdrumguard]

Ok just finished watching all 23 corps. Phew.

Pioneer

Very dirty. Its cool though that this corps is still very alive ... with actually what seems to be the biggest hornline they've had in a long time. I hope they still keep on truckin'

Esperanza

Also rediculously dirty. This show didnt have much to it, the members looked really tired towards the end of the show and it shows through the sound. Horrible percusion line.

Pacific Crest

Fun show could see where they were oing with it. Seemed a lot easier then corps before them on the DVD. I actually would have had them at about 19th or so. Not bad ... for a weekend corps.

The Magic

Started out really good ... then defenitley let me down. Not good.

Seattle Cascades

Good guard. Nice show concept as well. Good hornline as well as drumline.

Southwind

Amazing show! Loved this show one of my favs from this season. Shouldnt have placed that low at all .... I would ahve had them at about 15th or so. We need more corps pushingthe envelope like this corps. Great show!!!

Mandarins

Small corps. Good show wouldnt have had them before south wind though. Dirty guard drumline not good ... alright hornline for that size. Dont remember much.

Capital Regiment

Not a fan. Feel like that show has been done before. Thought it was really cheesy. Very good marhcing band show though.

Crossmen

I actually do like this show took me a little while to get used to it. Neat concept and very fresh idea also. Loved the show.

Blue Stars

Thought it should win the lamest show award ever. Come on seriously lets have another america themed show. Boring .... the only show I fast forwarded.

Colts

Great show. Really should have made finals somehow. Good guard.

Spirit

Fun show. Not bad concept. Good 12th place show.

Glassmen

Eh didnt get into it. Good and cleanish. But boring.

Boston

Hahaha also a very good marching band.

Madison Scouts

###### drill kidna dirty but very happy they beat Boston.

Carolina Crown

Good brass blah blah blah. Easy show.

Blue Knights

Cool music very mean and powerful, great soloist. Really like the closer.

Scv

Cool show nice drill ideas. Great brassline.

Cadets

Best ballad of the year. Actually really like this show. Might make more sense if I was tripping on acid. Other than that. Awesome show.

Bluecoats

Alright dont really get into bluecoat shows. Bad gaurd. Great other sections though.

Devils

Nice show. Very BD

Phantom

Ill say it ..... should ahve won AMAZING SHOW.

Cavaliers

Cool dril. Cool moves. Getting boring ... anyone else??

[BaritoneBamBam]

The Cadets –

You heard it kids. This is the talk of 2006, but I recently found out the talk was for a reason that I cared very little for. Narration, singing etc… that’s all great and dandy or despised by some but… the bare fact is narration and singing isn’t new in 2006, so I don’t get what the concentrated attention was for these cats. Alright, not my favorite show of the pool but the design certainly has its merits. What design you say? This is the first show that utilized multiple (mostly dual) staging points simultaneously. Clarification you say? I mean that an audience member (or judge) can look left and find a focus of attention and look right to find a completely different stage. The show was one, but it’s as though there were two stages set. I’m placing a lot of bets that Hopkins got talked to about this very unique approach to the show. Without the singing and narration I certainly think this was another step in innovation.

Another aspect that I found incredibly frustrating was simply trying to look at the show from an effect stand point. This has much to do with the staging mentioned above. To get to the point, this show was a sensory overload. Those backdrops, the props, the door, the ridiculous drum and brass book, the crazy amount of color in the guard, the uniforms backs, it was almost too much to swallow. When one looks at the entire picture, this has to be considered one of the most colorful shows ever fielded. All colors of the rainbow were very well lit.

This show was pretty amazing to see from the high cam, while I never noticed the drill to be very effective live, everyone should definitely take a look at the high cam. Sacktig’s drill in this show has more kaleidoscopic effects than ever, a great addition to the whole fun aspect of the Alice in Wonderland Theme. Seeing the show from High Cam, I found that I actually liked the background boards in the back. When I continued to watch the next show, it seemed as though the field was… empty. Maybe it’s me, but the usual small intervals that the drill had seemed to disappear this year, the drill incorporates a lot more opened spacing, in my assumption to cover more room or something… Don’t know why the sudden switch with the intervals. Other than that the visuals are absolutely great, however I did feel that show over challenged the corps. Watching this DVD, I was under the impression that the members contained a lot of rookies. This corps definitely did not move with the same confidence in the upper bodies, feet, and direction changes went. I must point out that the Cadets are very bold for having light colored pants and stripes, but when the corps does not execute everything to their prestige, the uniform can only bring them down. Having said that, the forms were very well done, but it just seemed as though many times the momentum of the direction change took complete control of their upper bodies. Thus, the bodies seemed to waver in a form with rotations or any sharp direction moves. This was very uncharacteristic of their visual program.

Moving on to the guard, I knew this wasn’t any where near 2005’s superb color guard execution, but I really did not see how they ended up in the spot they did. How many years has it been since they dropped out of the top 3 in color guard? Whew must be rough. However, after I watched it, I can come to one final reason the guard would spin at their level. Again, this guard was very inexperienced or came from multiple backgrounds. There were quite a few discrepancies with the feet that would cause a few lapses in the flow of the work. The catches were great, very uniform and solid, but I felt that most of the catches included some minor weaknesses in posture that would cost them a few potential points of merit. Though it was not impressively executed, the guard certainly in my opinion had some of the hardest work around. These kids had quite a book to spin. Check out the high cam compared to any other corps around and it looks like the guard would eventually have carpal tunnel syndrome. Wow what a book. I also give props to whoever could stand on those titled tables. Some Crazy… Stuff.

Now on to what most people expect of the Cadets. Their percussion section… In terms of writing, this book doesn’t disappoint from their note packed program from 2005, but like the guard, the execution wasn’t there. Now most people would immediately blame the drumline for their fault of the scores, because we ethnocentric beings consider that the percussion section. Hate to point the fingers, but I wasn’t a big fan of the pit. Now the writing and everything is fantastic, but I felt that the pit really staled off this year. There were a few momentary flams for fast material that definitely could have been cleaned up. Apart from that I think the drumline was great, not one of the best, but definitely was the better part in terms of execution. Great uniform attacks, stick height seemed proficient as well. All around, good approach. Besides that I, like the crowd, love the percussion feature in the middle.

I will say this day in and day out. The Cadets’ brassline gets a standing ovation from me every single day. Regardless of their score, execution, writing whatever. These guys do not park and play. You’ve probably heard it a million times. The hardest thing in drum corps isn’t to march or to play, but to do both at the same time. Any year you give me the Cadets, they do not stop marching to play their hard lick or what have you. No matter how hard the horn book or drill, these guys are always marching and playing. I feel that this aspect is very often over looked when people talk about their hornline. So what, they don’t have the best tone or control of the century, but they certainly don’t water down a hard horn and visual package. Sorry Saucedo, I think Jay Bocook really shines on his original compositions. What amazing writing that explores a lot of material from long drawn sustains and a good deal of runs. Very much expected of his writing, this brass book does not disappoint, this guys probably played the most notes out of the top 12, great mellophones writing. Gino must constantly hash on these kids for finger dexterity. Bravo. The weaknesses in brass execution for me seemed to be just control in general. Sustained chords would be unbalanced quite often. I also heard a bit of feet through the package, it was as though these guys played the show exhaustedly.

Overall, I avoided talking about narration and singing, I did love the ballad for one. I think at times it tops Ave Maria, from Phantom Regiment because of the minor chords placed here and there. I was actually quite surprised that these guys actually got a great deal of applause after the ballad and after the drum feature. So it wasn’t universally hated! In conclusion, I thought this show was extremely hard but the talent level of the corps just couldn’t catch up with this program. And oh yeah, I LOVE THE NEW ENDING of the remixed zone end. AWESOME.

Edited December 26, 2006 by BaritoneBamBam

[rai-mello]

The Cadets –

You heard it kids. This is the talk of 2006, but I recently found out the talk was for a reason that I cared very little for. Narration, singing etc… that’s all great and dandy or despised by some but… the bare fact is narration and singing isn’t new in 2006, so I don’t get what the concentrated attention was for these cats. Alright, not my favorite show of the pool but the design certainly has its merits. What design you say? This is the first show that utilized multiple (mostly dual) staging points simultaneously. Clarification you say? I mean that an audience member (or judge) can look left and find a focus of attention and look right to find a completely different stage. The show was one, but it’s as though there were two stages set. I’m placing a lot of bets that Hopkins got talked to about this very unique approach to the show. Without the singing and narration I certainly think this was another step in innovation.

Another aspect that I found incredibly frustrating was simply trying to look at the show from an effect stand point. This has much to do with the staging mentioned above. To get to the point, this show was a sensory overload. Those backdrops, the props, the door, the ridiculous drum and brass book, the crazy amount of color in the guard, the uniforms backs, it was almost too much to swallow. When one looks at the entire picture, this has to be considered one of the most colorful shows ever fielded. All colors of the rainbow were very well lit.

This show was pretty amazing to see from the high cam, while I never noticed the drill to be very effective live, everyone should definitely take a look at the high cam. Sacktig’s drill in this show has more kaleidoscopic effects than ever, a great addition to the whole fun aspect of the Alice in Wonderland Theme. Seeing the show from High Cam, I found that I actually liked the background boards in the back. When I continued to watch the next show, it seemed as though the field was… empty. Maybe it’s me, but the usual small intervals that the drill had seemed to disappear this year, the drill incorporates a lot more opened spacing, in my assumption to cover more room or something… Don’t know why the sudden switch with the intervals. Other than that the visuals are absolutely great, however I did feel that show over challenged the corps. Watching this DVD, I was under the impression that the members contained a lot of rookies. This corps definitely did not move with the same confidence in the upper bodies, feet, and direction changes went. I must point out that the Cadets are very bold for having light colored pants and stripes, but when the corps does not execute everything to their prestige, the uniform can only bring them down. Having said that, the forms were very well done, but it just seemed as though many times the momentum of the direction change took complete control of their upper bodies. Thus, the bodies seemed to waver in a form with rotations or any sharp direction moves. This was very uncharacteristic of their visual program.

Moving on to the guard, I knew this wasn’t any where near 2005’s superb color guard execution, but I really did not see how they ended up in the spot they did. How many years has it been since they dropped out of the top 3 in color guard? Whew must be rough. However, after I watched it, I can come to one final reason the guard would spin at their level. Again, this guard was very inexperienced or came from multiple backgrounds. There were quite a few discrepancies with the feet that would cause a few lapses in the flow of the work. The catches were great, very uniform and solid, but I felt that most of the catches included some minor weaknesses in posture that would cost them a few potential points of merit. Though it was not impressively executed, the guard certainly in my opinion had some of the hardest work around. These kids had quite a book to spin. Check out the high cam compared to any other corps around and it looks like the guard would eventually have carpal tunnel syndrome. Wow what a book. I also give props to whoever could stand on those titled tables. Some Crazy… Stuff.

Now on to what most people expect of the Cadets. Their percussion section… In terms of writing, this book doesn’t disappoint from their note packed program from 2005, but like the guard, the execution wasn’t there. Now most people would immediately blame the drumline for their fault of the scores, because we ethnocentric beings consider that the percussion section. Hate to point the fingers, but I wasn’t a big fan of the pit. Now the writing and everything is fantastic, but I felt that the pit really staled off this year. There were a few momentary flams for fast material that definitely could have been cleaned up. Apart from that I think the drumline was great, not one of the best, but definitely was the better part in terms of execution. Great uniform attacks, stick height seemed proficient as well. All around, good approach. Besides that I, like the crowd, love the percussion feature in the middle.

I will say this day in and day out. The Cadets’ brassline gets a standing ovation from me every single day. Regardless of their score, execution, writing whatever. These guys do not park and play. You’ve probably heard it a million times. The hardest thing in drum corps isn’t to march or to play, but to do both at the same time. Any year you give me the Cadets, they do not stop marching to play their hard lick or what have you. No matter how hard the horn book or drill, these guys are always marching and playing. I feel that this aspect is very often over looked when people talk about their hornline. So what, they don’t have the best tone or control of the century, but they certainly don’t water down a hard horn and visual package. Sorry Saucedo, I think Jay Bocook really shines on his original compositions. What amazing writing that explores a lot of material from long drawn sustains and a good deal of runs. Very much expected of his writing, this brass book does not disappoint, this guys probably played the most notes out of the top 12, great mellophones writing. Gino must constantly hash on these kids for finger dexterity. Bravo. The weaknesses in brass execution for me seemed to be just control in general. Sustained chords would be unbalanced quite often. I also heard a bit of feet through the package, it was as though these guys played the show exhaustedly.

Overall, I avoided talking about narration and singing, I did love the ballad for one. I think at times it tops Ave Maria, from Phantom Regiment because of the minor chords placed here and there. I was actually quite surprised that these guys actually got a great deal of applause after the ballad and after the drum feature. So it wasn’t universally hated! In conclusion, I thought this show was extremely hard but the talent level of the corps just couldn’t catch up with this program. And oh yeah, I LOVE THE NEW ENDING of the remixed zone end. AWESOME.

Agreed. About the runs, I did hear many of them and they somewhat frighten me seeing as I am going to see them in a couple of days. Oh well, like I said, agreed.

[Einstein On The Beach]

Ok just finished watching all 23 corps. Phew.

Pioneer

Very dirty. Its cool though that this corps is still very alive ... with actually what seems to be the biggest hornline they've had in a long time. I hope they still keep on truckin'

Esperanza

Also rediculously dirty. This show didnt have much to it, the members looked really tired towards the end of the show and it shows through the sound. Horrible percusion line.

Pacific Crest

Fun show could see where they were oing with it. Seemed a lot easier then corps before them on the DVD. I actually would have had them at about 19th or so. Not bad ... for a weekend corps.

The Magic

Started out really good ... then defenitley let me down. Not good.

Seattle Cascades

Good guard. Nice show concept as well. Good hornline as well as drumline.

Southwind

Amazing show! Loved this show one of my favs from this season. Shouldnt have placed that low at all .... I would ahve had them at about 15th or so. We need more corps pushingthe envelope like this corps. Great show!!!

Mandarins

Small corps. Good show wouldnt have had them before south wind though. Dirty guard drumline not good ... alright hornline for that size. Dont remember much.

Capital Regiment

Not a fan. Feel like that show has been done before. Thought it was really cheesy. Very good marhcing band show though.

Crossmen

I actually do like this show took me a little while to get used to it. Neat concept and very fresh idea also. Loved the show.

Blue Stars

Thought it should win the lamest show award ever. Come on seriously lets have another america themed show. Boring .... the only show I fast forwarded.

Colts

Great show. Really should have made finals somehow. Good guard.

Spirit

Fun show. Not bad concept. Good 12th place show.

Glassmen

Eh didnt get into it. Good and cleanish. But boring.

Boston

Hahaha also a very good marching band.

Madison Scouts

###### drill kidna dirty but very happy they beat Boston.

Carolina Crown

Good brass blah blah blah. Easy show.

Blue Knights

Cool music very mean and powerful, great soloist. Really like the closer.

Scv

Cool show nice drill ideas. Great brassline.

Cadets

Best ballad of the year. Actually really like this show. Might make more sense if I was tripping on acid. Other than that. Awesome show.

Bluecoats

Alright dont really get into bluecoat shows. Bad gaurd. Great other sections though.

Devils

Nice show. Very BD

Phantom

Ill say it ..... should ahve won AMAZING SHOW.

Cavaliers

Cool dril. Cool moves. Getting boring ... anyone else??

Wow, this is quite possibly the worst review ever. By the way, do you march anywhere?