KAL-ZOO Review

[Workenstiff]

Short review and to the point. Don't read on if you are offended by whatever. I did this last year for this show,,and got a thousand hits or whatever. Its nothing against ANY girl , boy , or whoever on the field , or anyone else. Just a hicks opinion. THATS ALL !@!! I just call it like I see it.

First off , Could not remember anything anybody played ,,and left the stadium hummen, a song I heard on the radio before I went into the stadium. Thats very sad.

Troopers :::::Got there when Troopers were going on. Very much improved , nice style. Big. When they lined up on the field to start, everything , as far as lines go looked sloppy. Not straight , before they even moved. Maybe it was suppose to be like this I dunno. Looked like crap. Starburst a complete dissapointment, not tight , in the start ( like a small circle ) to big to start, not held long enough and not enough of the outward high step marching to bring it home. Wish they still played Cowboy songs. Overall enjoyed them. Guard ok , nothing special. Didn't see the rifle toss like in the past ,,maybe I missed it.

Cascades::::: Sleep fest. Absolute bore. Even the color guard which had on these red/orange unis stood out, only for the color. I don't remember one thing the corps did, music, drill, march, whatever ,,just a pure bore. Music was like blow a note , stop blow a note stop ,,I dunno what it was.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Glassmen::: This was the first year I actually almost liked the Glassmen. Every other year I thought they were a,, HUH WHAT WAS THAT, but I liked the guard as Gypsy theme, and the opener was especially good. The guard was good ,,all around. They stood out overall. Maybe the best of the night. Music was ok,,,at least it was foot tappable once in a while. Sounded like Madisons Malaguanya, (sp) for a minuter there. Drill was ,,, so so,, don't remember to much of it ,,thats why I say that.

Bluecoats ::: I felt like I was almost at a drum corps show when they came on. Not to much silly dancing and ballerina moves by the guard, which is a good thing. The plain prison orange color of the guard when they first came out on the field was ,,,,...give me break. BUT ,,as soon as they formed that tight square or whatever in the middle , all together ,,,,it worked. REALLY a nice contrast to the corps unis. To bad they didn't stick with that ,,the change over was a bore. Some grey things with red in it.. Ick. The corps unis look like the Blue Devils ,,and visa versa. Don't like that. Didn't they use to have big white plumes?? I dunno ,,but they are to similiar. The theme was , Prison ,,or there show was prison. Don't yah think they could have tossed in a song we could recognize ,, even for a minute,,like close with Dragnet or SOMETHING??? AGHHHHHHH . I thought they would do a park , blow amd let loose,, but didn't see that. I did like their music , even though didn't KNOW ANY OF IT ,,and drill was fair to midlin. Alittle sloppy in parts ,,,, but ok.

Cavaliers:: Guard unis were the first thing I noticed. REALLY liked them. Plain ,,but effective. Grey pants , white shirt, grey suit top and tie. Drum major unis with that WHITE cape looks like crap , cheap. Should be black. Only real company front of the night,,,very nice. Sad we don't see that more often. They were good , but something missing. I didnt get that OHHHHH ,,,AHHHHHH feeling like I'm use to. I dunno what it was,,,,, and since this is the only show I will get to see ,,, thats that. Over all very entertaning ,,but not numero uno tonight or for Worlds. I think. Horns were ok ,,but not that crisp. They took top horns ,,so what do I know? Like the horns when they do that twist turn stuff etc. Kewl beans. Didn't like the front line layen down on the ground with the help of the rear line. Have to see it to know what I mean.That was visually not so impressive. Suppose to be a quiet type moment.

Blue Devils ::: Its weird for me with this corps. I don't really enjoy their music most years,,,but on the same note I don't really dislike it. I dunno ,,, they were SUPER CLEAN ,,,crisp ,,,, and LOUD. The guard ,,even though I don't like flowy things like butterfly guards flyen around the field ,,the opener and those butterfly purple guard things were VERY VERY effective. Almost pretty??? Their horns blew me away. I don't know what the music was ,,and I don't like that ,,,but I liked it this year more then I have in the past. Why can't they play ,,When a man loves a Women again ,,,,man that was HOT. Oh well . Anyway definately clean ,,and the drum line was outstanding. Only drum line I noticed. They ( drums) entertained as much as the corps did. In your face. Wow wee.!!!

Why do corps have so many ,,oh boy,,spelling,,xylophones?? Most had 6 or 7. Whats up with that?? Are they different pitches ???

It was a PERFECT night for drum corps and the stadium is awesome for sound. DQ across the street ,,,,,,,,,,,,heaven.

The finale sucked. Drum Majors only. Bluecoats and Blue Devils played America the Beautiful ,,,no where near as good as all corps out there blown their guts out.

Blue Devils ,,,,encore standstill. Awesome. Went down to the 50 ,,4 rows up. YAH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! I need a hearing aid now.

And the best of the night ,,,,The Blue Devils DM came up to the stands to direct,,and asked this lady in the stands to hold his shako while he directed. I dunno ,,just thought it was kewl.

Some corps sang alot too ,,, covered my ears ,,HATE THAT.

scores were right B.D ,,CAVIES , Coats . etc

Thats all

[Huntington Mallets]

Great review, agree with you on many points

Edited July 1, 2007 by Huntington Mallets

[Krista]

that's why we have moderators, Huntington Mallets. Feel free to use the report button to bring things to our attention.

Moved to appropriate forum.

[davdrums]

Why do corps have so many ,,oh boy,,spelling,,xylophones?? Most had 6 or 7. Whats up with that?? Are they different pitches ???

Xylophones? Maybe just one if you are lucky nowadays. Marimba? Yes, that is what you saw. Think of it this way, a marimba has such a large range that just because there are 4 marimbas doesn't mean all of them are playing the same thing. Don't forget there are also Vibraphones, Bells, Chimes, Crotales in the pit as well. Maybe that is where you get 7. All those mallet instruments have their own texture.

Edited July 1, 2007 by davdrums

[The Nagging Cough!]

I'm a fisherman, so I love the castanets.

Oh, and marimba =/= vibraphone =/= glockenspiel. I think we just call them all xylophones, which literally means "wooden sound," because that's what we were taught in elementary school.

Edited July 1, 2007 by The Nagging Cough!

[shaners]

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[93Bluecoat]

I love reviews that state they didn't recognize any of the music from the entire show. That's priceless.

Its like reading a review by Randy Jackson...."The Devils were pitchy tonight...."

....or Bert and Ernie..."Neat colors."

DW

[bawker]

I love reviews that state they didn't recognize any of the music from the entire show. That's priceless.

DW

You know what? Unless you're really listening for some of the cues, they're pretty hard to find. Not everyone excels in melodic counterpoint, or is so intimate with the show that they can pick out things on their first read.

The book is fun, but the reviewer doesn't need to ce chastised because their level of sophistication doesn't match up with what Bluecoats fans think it should.

[arno0940]

Based on reading your review, I'm trying to guess what era of drum corps you can't get out of - I'm thinking 80's.

[Workenstiff]

Based on reading your review, I'm trying to guess what era of drum corps you can't get out of - I'm thinking 80's.

Lol ,,,try the 60s !! I actually marched McCormick place in Chicago when Soldier Field got rained out. Chicago Vanguard. Its not that I don't like music I don't know ,,,but as Dick Clark would say, "I like it ,,it has a good beat and you can dance to it!!" I know ,,,who the hell is Dick Clark!!! Great example for me Phantom. I most always like their music,,, even though I'm not a real classical music nut, never heard of some of their choices, there is something about it that is nice to listen to. There just seems to be less and less of a given melody today with most Corps. Its alot of dat dat ,,,move ,,,dah dah , move. There are exceptions, but when I leave the stadium ,,,I just feel like well ,,that was really good , kids work their butts off ,,but thats it. Leaven the stadium I hear people talking about ,,,placement ,,,Oh Blue beat the Cavies ,,blah blah. Don't hear ,,,wasn't that opener great by Devils ,,or what a kewl closer Cavies had etc etc. Its just melody I guess. I want to hear something I can remember for more then 2 minutes after the corps gets off the field. So in the long run ,,its not an era of corps I'm locked into,,,, its just I want to be more musically entertained ,,whether it be classical , rock , pop , off the wall,,, I don't really care. I do little unofficial surveys while I'm in the stands after a Corps plays,,and 9 times out of 10 , no one can tell me what the music was, or that they recognized the melody as a song they knew. I know Corps have original music ,,,but I'm not referring to that. Thats all I'm sayen.