Thanks to John Weldy on Compuserve for this review!
DCI North and Columbus, OH review
Here I am once again. I have received many comments from RAMDers and
marchers alike to keep my honest and biting writing style (this one's for
you, Chemo), so here goes. Since DCI North was pretty much an addition (of
Bluecoats, PR, Crown, and Crossmen) to the show the night before in Columbus,
OH, I saw no need to write separate reviews. The first score/placing will be
DCI North, the second will be Columbus, OH.
Nite Express (10th, 56.1/6th, 54.1) is a perfect example of the kids
in the corps trying their damnedest to perform a show that just doesn't work
(not unlike Glassmen, more on that later). Their conglameration of
"Symphonic Works by YES" simply lacks that certain something that makes drum
corps fans stand up and scream. The music has no direction and the drill
looks like it was written by a Michigan band director, but there's a LOT of
top 12 corps that could use their basics program!! Their feet are all that's
between them and dropping out of the top 21.
Boston Crusaders (9th, 65.6/5th 61.6) have opted to revert their
musical style this year from classy Romantic music to Pat Metheny, and they
obviously forgot to tell their staff. I kid you not when I say that this was
without a doubt the worst performance I have ever seen given by the Boston
Crusaders hornline. I have never heard so much dirt in a hornline this big
with a history of excellence. Sometimes I wondered if they were even playing
the same music, it was that terrible. On Friday, I thought maybe they just
had a bad show, but it was the same on Saturday! There are so many bad
points about this hornline that I can't even begin to verbalize them. The
worst part, though, was in First Circle, their closer. They began pretty
well, I thought they might end the show on a positive, hopeful note. NOPE!
They begin playing the main theme, you know, with the extended long tone.
When they get to the long tone, instead of holding it, they play this
syncopated rhythm on the note!!! Did they think people wouldn't notice on a
tune this common?? Why don't they just tattoo "We can't play a long tone and
march at the same time" on their foreheads??? Heed my words, there will only
be ONE corps playing Pat Metheny on Semifinals night, and it WON'T be
Boston!!!
The first "judicial travesty" of the night was directed towards
Carolina Crown (8th, 73.8). While they had their problems here and there,
Crown had a MUCH more advanced musical and visual show than Crossmen. The
music of Stephen Melillo, Enya, Marty McCartt, John Barnes Chance, and John
Williams in a Storm motif fits the corps to a tee. The best part of the
show, though, is the drill. I don't know who Kevin Ford is, but he has
presented these kids with their ticket to finals! The drill is just perfect
for Crown. It will push them to their limits, but is also well within their
reach. The only flaws I saw were uncleanliness (just BARELY more than Xmen)
and a minor lack of GE, which is probably where they are getting pounded.
Once they tweak a bit, they will have no problem passing Crossmen again and
winding up 11th or 12th.
Without completely changing the style (like Glassmen, more on that
later), I have never seen a corps bastardize a piece quite as much as
Crossmen (7th, 76.3) did to Samuel Barber's School for Scandal. When I heard
that they were playing School for Scandal, I nearly wet myself. What a
wonderful piece, so fitting for drum corps! When I heard that they had 20
mellophones (which I later found included 4 holes), I couldn't wait to see
them. Then I saw them and puked. I'm not familiar with the Alfred Reed
piece, but I have never heard School for Scandal taken so far out of context.
If you have ever heard and loved this piece, I urge you not to taint your
opinion of it by watching this show..it's that bad. And as for the 20 (oops,
16) mellophones...yes, it's a neat idea. No, it did NOT work in this show.
And NO, IT DID NOT SOUND LIKE STAR!!! The thing about expanding your
mellophone line and closing down your sop line is that it inevitably leads to
throwing sops and anybody else you could find onto mello. And that's exactly
what the line sounds like: about 6 decent mello players, 6-8 sops that still
think they're playing sops, and a few people that just have no clue at all.
If they don't do some serious show revision, they're gonna find them selves
in the stands on finals night watching Carolina Crown.
It is very rare for a corps to waste a definate top 6 hornline on a
show that shouldn't even be in the top 12, but the Glassmen (3rd, 73.2/6th,
76.8) have done just that. The show begins with a wonderful rendition of
"Little Fugue in G Minor" by the hornline played as a warm-up. There are
moments of dirt that stem from treating this section as a warm-up instead of
a performance piece, but overall it is done very well. They end on the 5th
(cracked me up!) and resolve it at the beginning of a fanfare worthy of Blue
Devils' hornline. They then go into a quaint setting of "Jesu, Joy of Man's
Desiring" that still needs help in phrasing and breath control, but what the
heck, it's one of the toughest tunes out there this year! And then...What's
that you say? What about the drums? No, I haven't forgotten about
them...except for a little bit in the fanfare THEY HAVEN'T PAYED YET!!!!!!!!!
They've just been running around with cymbals dancing with the grace of a
well-fed cow. And therein lies the core problem of the Glassmen's show.
Let's go on...the next tune is "Ode to Joy" done Hooked on Classics
style...reminiscient of Phantom Regiment before they figured out how to play
Classical music in the drum corps idiom. Then comes the "crap, the drums
haven't played hardly at all yet" drum solo. What is it with running around
aimlessly and fondling big, ugly boxes that just shouts Bach??? The "closer"
of "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" is the closest they've gotten to drum corps
yet, but the drums still seem out of place. Then they play their first drum
corps tune, the recapitulation of "Jesu". This piece is WONDERFUL. True
drum corps with execution up to top 6 levels!! However, the rest of the show
far outweighs it. Because of the extremely high performance level of this
corps, they will not have a problem making finals, but they will tread no new
ground.
The mirror image of the Glassmen is Magic (4th, 72.3/5th, 78.5).
Instead of a well-polished corps with a show that needs a lot of work, Magic
has a well-polished show with a corps that needs a lot of work. And this is
the reason that they are flip-flopping with Glassmen. Their show is much
more complex and helps the corps out a lot, but the corps is nowhere close to
Glassmen's performance level. I still haven't decided if I really like or
even appreciate their show, but it's a lot better than Glassmen's. Some
serious woodshedding will put them solidly in 8th.
Perhaps the biggest suprise of the evening was the Bluecoats (4th,
80.1). They have proven to DCI that they are no longer content with
medeocrity and can play serious drum corps instead of drum corps-ized jazz.
If you've ever complained about the Bluecoats' music, check them out. If
you're a long-time fan, check them out!! The Bluecoats have accomplished a
feat that few corps ever have, they completely revised their style without
changing a thing (somewhat akin to Phantom Regiment in 1993). They have a
new, sharper look with white pants, dark blue sailor hats, and marching
technique!!! But they still have that same old Bluecoats hornline that will
sweep you off your feet one minute and rip your face off the next. The only
thing keeping these boys in the second tier right now is individual errors,
marching and playing alike. If they can get that working, the top 5 will see
a new member in Buffalo!
Phantom Regiment (3rd, 83.5) better worry about the Bluecoats nipping
at their heels. As it is, Regiment's probably the loudest hornline in DCI,
but they have no finesse. You can almost see the Baritones' tongues come out
of their bells at times and the show plays like "Excerpts from Rachmaninoff"
instead of a cohesive package. But the worst part about the show is the
black uniforms and what they try to get away with in them. I can honestly
say that this is the first time I've ever seen the Bluecoats look better
posture and marching-wise than Phantom. The biggest pinnacle for this is the
big finish which should be the most impressive part of their show. Those of
you who've seen the show know what I'm talking about...BLAT!!! (Run madly)
BLAT!! (Flail wildly) BLAT! (Further lose control of posture) BLA A A A A A
HHH!! Ugh!
I have never before heard the Blue Devils booed, but that's exectly
what a few people did at both Columbus and DCI North out of reverence for the
Cadets of Bergan County (2nd, 88.0/2nd, 88.5). I had seen the show before,
so was only marginally impressed when they performed a flaw-ridden show at
Columbus, but I still was blown away by Swing, Swing, Swing. And, more
importantly, the ending is no longer a let-down! At DCI North, though, they
pulled out all the stops and performed with an emotional level not seen since
their '92 show. Every part of their show oozed emotion and energy, but in
the end their early position caught up with them.
Blue Devils (1st, 88.5/1st, 89.8) have one of the weirdest shows i
have ever seen done by a potential champion. "Carpe Noctem" begins with a
twist on the familiar old tuning chords and progresses through shrouds, minor
modes, and skulls, until it culminates in a rehash of years past. All this
is performed wonderfully and when they're on fire like they were at Columbus
it truly is a sight to behold. However, they seemed to just turn the machine
on and coast through a completely uninspired performance to win DCI North.
No wonder they were booed. An 8th championship? I doubt it.
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