July 16, Monroe, LA

Thanks to S Gossoo on r.a.m.d for this review!

A few thoughts:

Lone Star - Great opener!  It fits the corps well. It was the best part of
the show for me.  The rest of the show seemed to "level off" somewhat and
didn't match the level of the opener.  As in the past they have a VERY
strong drum line which pretty much drives the show.  The brass line is
balancing well but there are still individuals sticking out at times. 
Does anyone know what's with the guard?   The program listed 20 in the
guard, but there were only 8 on the field. They did well with what they
had thuogh.  It's good to see Lone Star get better each year.

Spirit was a no show.  MANY of us were disappointed.  

Southwind - I got the impression that they just had an "OK" run.  There is
alot of potential evident, but the show didn't seem to sell.  Don't know
what the penalty was.  The corps is solid and I Hope that Dave can find
what is needed to push them to the next level.

Magic - Another good year for Magic, Crown was too much for them.  Overall
good show but there were alot of holes that opened up and forms that
didn't quite seem to hit.  They have "top 12" look and attitude with a
show that can make it.  We'll have to wait and see.   ( The guard is good
but, I'm sorry, I don't like the uniforms. The star(?) on the heads is
hard to distinguish and the tights were distracting to me.  I found myself
looking at body curves instead of the guard work.)

Crown - Hmmm.  When they brought out the chess pieces I thought "is this
going to be another 'clutter show' ?  The show was wonderful!  This is one
of the shows that MUST be seen to be appreciated.  The pieces are moved
throughout the show and are used to good effect to propel the design
concept.  The corps is stong in all captions and should have no trouble
maintaining finalist status.

Retreat - Unfortunately this has been reduced to announcing the scores and
playing a final tune which turns out to be a "down ending" to a great
show.
  "O Canamerica" was not played well.  It is obvious that the kids don't
particularly like it. My nephew was with me attending his FIRST Drum Corps
Show and at the end of the "finale" said,"That's IT?"
   When will "they" (DCI, the directors, whoever) realize that the retreat
system with signature songs was a BIG draw for drum corps showsw?  It was
one of the things that kept me and my friends coming back year after year
(back in the 70's & 80's).  We could ALWAYS count on hearing something
good from our favorite corps even if they had a bad show or were having a
down year.  
    If there is any kind of group or movement to bring back the pagentry
and professionalism of retreat I WANT TO JOIN!  I see enough of the
 "mingle & scatter " at the end of band contests.


Thanks to Bart Yount on r.a.m.d for this review! I got to Monroe and guess what? It was raining. Big surprise! ;) Luckily, the rain stopped and by the time the show started the clouds were begining to clear. It was pretty humid, but it wasn't uncomfortably so because the rain earlier had cooled everything down pretty well. In fact by the time the show was over, It actually got a bit chilly (this is a relative term - I mean - how chilly do you expect it to get in Louisiana in July?) :) Anyway.... I'm a brass guy, so don't expect too much about the guard or drumline. And also, I didn't play judge while I was watching the shows, so don't expect much detail on specifics. I pay to be entertained. I'll judge when I start getting paid to do it. $$$ 8) Lone Star Those kids are putting alot of air through those horns! All upper brass are very strong especially the sops. The low brass a was relatively weak compared to the high brass, however they were outnumbered about two to one. If they can get rid of their tuning problems, they'll be excellent! Spirit Where are you Spirit? Spirit didn't show. My sister said she overheard someone say that their housing fell through. Southwind Slightly weaker as individuals in their playing than Lone Star, but they could still put out some sound! Everyone is very aggressive in their marching. Individual technique was very good (highest toes I saw all night!), but the forms still need alot of cleaning. My sister said the guard was pretty good. Crown I saw the standstill performance in Waynesboro and was left scratching my head. I decided not to pass judgement before I saw the full show, but in the back of my mind, I had already started to write them off as one of those "ify" corps. One of the ones that may or may not make finals. DOH!!! Was I WRONG! Crown will easily make finals. They have a very mature presence. They have very sharp new uniforms - purple (or is it lavender :) ) tops and white pants. The guard are dressed in knight's uniforms. The show only makes sense when you SEE it. The music supports the visual, not the other way around like most shows. The show starts with the field set up like a HUGE chessboard. All of the members are hidden behind the pieces. The music starts as the first move is made. Then they start taking turns. The pieces are moving, knights are fighting, the horns and drums are in sections and trading off. It's all really cool! One suggestion I have though. The guard uses flags that look like white practice silks that are dirty. I think they want the dirty effect, but there needs to be more contrast in the shade of the flags. It's not obvious enough that they're supposed to look that way. Or I might be completely wrong and they were just dirty practice flags. :) Anyway, the show was REALLY cool!!! BTW, I suspect that the 2.8 penalty was from the show running too long. They finished up a tune, and I thought the show was over, but then they went on playing for about 5 more minutes! Magic Magic's show is awesome! Robert Smith is the man! The music is great. The corps starts in the form of a crescent moon. After some slow marching through the Hymn of Flight. They start truckin' it with some more cool music. I was told by one of Magic's instructors that the Wright Brothers' Plane / Flag flies across the field for 12 seconds. So I timed it: 14 seconds. Not too bad. I'm sure Orville and Wilbur fudged it a little, too. :) The rocket ship and takeoff is loud! When I saw the huge black flags during this part in Waynesboro, I thought, "That's kinda stupid... black isn't a good color, and besides, the smoke from the rocket isn't black - it's white!" This time I saw what was going on. There ARE white flags near the bottom of the rocket and the black flags are near the top. The black flags represent the darkness of space! I get it! The ending is powerful but seems to end too abruptly. I hope they change that up a little (not TOO much - it just needs a little tweak). The corps ends in the form of another crescent, representing the achievement of man landing on the moon. The only thing I didn't like was the guard uniforms. The star-head/body-suit things - me no like-ee. What the guard wore at retreat would be fine for the show (black dress-like thing with gold vest-like thing on top). To sum it up: To put it in the words of Manny the hippie: The show is diggity-dank! Details: I hate Americanada. Crown did a victory concert. The scores seem kinda low to me. I would've added about 4 more points to everyone's score. I'm curious to see what happens to the scores when they hit the DCI shows starting on Thursday in Dallas. That's what I saw, and how I saw it. Run with it!!! Later, Bart Yount Sky Ryders 90, 91 Bluecoats 92, 93

July Scores

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