We had a thread like this last year (it's a sticky), and I figured we could use a place to organize our reviews of shows again this year, since the Opening Night thread has been a little more discussion oriented.

I went to the Pittsburgh, PA show last night, here's my review:

Southwind-In the Loop
There's real potential for a good show here, but there are a lot of execution problems. LOTS of phasing between the brass and percussion, battery and front ensemble, and low and high brass at times. A lot of what the battery was playing was noticeable filler, just long, 2-bar rolls and whatnot, but it was just the second day of competition, so I can't hold that against them. The notes that they do have written are pretty cool, and I've always had a bit of a soft spot for SW. They're underappreciated. In the lot, I was able to see their entire percussion section, and they were really smoking, so the potential is there, they just need to put it together on the field. The brass was surprisingly loud and had a great sound, but there was some aforementioned phasing at times. The drill lacked some cohesiveness at times, but it looked like they had a lot of holes, so that might have had something to do with it.

Score: 57.000, 5th place.

Glassmen-Gitano
Great thematic show, and the arranging is great. The music is very well put together for this point in the season, but some serious execution flaws in the drill. Lots of crooked lines, misformed arcs/circles, etc. The guard looked great and played an enormous role in the show. Essentially, the first minute and a half of the show is oceanic, tribal, piratey percussion, and then the brass does a backfield step, turns to the crowd and just wails at an eardrum-blistering level for the following minute. This show has a lot of potential, and I'd be willing to bet that they'll have a similar score pattern throughout the season as last year.

Score: 65.100, 4th place

Cavaliers-And So It Goes
When they announced that they were doing the music of Billy Joel, I was a bit skeptical, but I was willing to give them a shot... after they posted the audio a few days ago, I really couldn't wait to see it. The show is absolutely smoking. The percussion is tight as ever for this time of season, the brass has mad chops, the arranging is fantastic, and the guard looks awesome. While I didn't think that they deserved first place last night, I have a feeling I saw this year's champion in that show. Very fun show to watch and listen to, and I'm really excited to see how the show turns out.

Score: 75.050, 1st place

Bluecoats-Criminal
I love this show... it was definitely a crowd favorite, and they're giving off the same vibe Phantom gave off last year: They're here to be a dark horse contender for a high placement. The music arrangement was great, and the brass has some very breathtaking moments, in terms of difficulty and sheer volume. The percussion section has some serious notes, and I can't wait to see how they're going to evolve throughout the rest of the season. The thing that upset me was that the last minute and a half of the show was not choreographed for the guard, so while the entire corps is going nuts at triple forte, the brass is wailing, the percussion is pounding, there was no visual backup for it. It sounded great, and the rest of the show for the guard looked incredible, including flag work with chained handcuffs on, but that last 90 seconds just left a sour taste in my mouth. Again, I reiterate that it's the second day of competition, so I can't hold that against them. I want to see this show as much as I can this summer to see how it works out. Oh, and very effective use of amplification. If everyone used it like that, there would be no debate as to why it's ok to use it.

Score: 72.700, 3rd place

The Cadets-This I Believe
They're back. It's great to see them in their old-school uniforms, playing awesome notes with a great theme. When I first heard the audio, I was worried that they would over do the amplification, but to be completely honest, it's not as gaudy as I thought it would be. It's a bit much at times, but it really isn't horribly annoying. There are some very funny moments, some very touching moments, and some beautiful music. Blue Shades was fantastic, don't let the audio fool you into thinking it's just a narration-fest. There is plenty of time devoted to the music. The opener will melt your face off. The drill has moments that are standard, but used very creatively, and other times that will leave your head spinning. Great show, definitely a contender for the top spot this year.

Score: 73.500, 2nd place

Some other interesting moments:
When the Coats came on, everyone started "blooing," and when I yelled "Bloooooo," the woman in front of me had a fit. She told me that I was a poor sport and that what I was doing was in bad taste, that no one deserved to be booed. Then a Bluecoats alum and myself explained the difference between "boo" and "bloo". She was still upset about it, though.

After two groups of people yelled out names for Coats' members during the silence before the drum major's salute to no real avail, I screamed "Go Jay," directed at DLO's very own Cheese, and it echoed for what seemed like an eternity, so much so that people in the surrounding sections had surprised expressions that I can't repeat on here. The woman who yelled at me had her head turned, so I (sort of) unfortunately yelled directly in her ear. She was upset about that, too.

The Cadets played the encore, and we got down in the second row on the 50 yard line... the brass was wailing, and this poor little 5 year old kid was trying to cover his ears, but he still wanted to clap, so he wedged his head under his dad's arm so that he could do both. For the record, it wasn't just because he was so young... my ears were feeling thick after sitting that close with as loud as they were playing. They played Shenandoah, Yesterday, another song I can't remember, Rocky Point (the loudest of them all), and, with the battery, the Back to the Future theme. Good stuff, and a lot of fun to watch.

That's funny about the bluecoats thing, I remember the first time I heard blooing, I was shocked too until someone explained it

Same here. At the Orlando 2005 show. it was my first DCI show ever. And I was a tool back then, so when I hear people "blooing", I thought they were booing . . . So I started booing also. little did I know, I was actually complimenting them. heh.

my mom was like "Why are they booing them so much!? I liked them a lot! they had a good show!"

heh. the good ol' days.

Did anybody go to the Alpharetta, Georgia show last night? The Cadets were AWESOME! And Carolina Crown had an amazing show also. I'm glad to see the do this well so far this season.

Interesting night it sounds like you had, Jaco. Yeah, I'm waiting for DCI North Texas so I can shout Jay's name, too, at the top of my lungs. =D

ill be at murfesburo and indy so ill write something up then

i guess i'm the first one to write about the west coast situation...I went to the riverside show since i couldn't attend the walnut show, even though its closer to my house by 2 hours of driving.

Academy - I was relieving myself when the show started, so i couldn't really see, but when the corps started playing the guy on the next stall and i shivered, then we looked at each other and went, "i'm glad i'm in the stall cuz i wouldve pissed in my pants" Academy definately deserves to be in div 1. i think it was the fan favorite of the night.

Santa Clara Vanguard: The line actually sounds ok despite the high schoolers in it. I don't remember clearly but they were cleaner than the devils at times. Can't really say much on this because my mom kept going, "that other one in the red was better [academy] than this one" yes, my mom is a new fan.

blue devils: they brought the rack again! rack and roll, if you will. they have so much energy into this show. i'm not going to comment much on any of the brass stuff since i know 0.01% about the wind world. the battery is pretty dirty as they always are in early season, but man those tom racks are friggin crazy. no cymbals on the racks- just 8 big toms that the battery just goes around beating it to death with. the whole drumline had this intense choreography going on that must require some serious muscle. if you want an analogy, last year's choreography with the drumline(during the snare break and a lil bit after that where the battery does the turn thing playing FFFF sixtuplets) was more like a slow dance, but this year's moves are tango kinda moves: fast and hard to catch up with. no dirt in the moves at least.


for some reason, i have no recollection of what the vanguard or the blue devils played for the on field warmup. i blame it on my mom's constant reiteration of "the corps in the red was better" and my sister's "i hate their uniforms," but it could be that i'm starting to show my age....

i can't wait until finals. overall, the west coast shows weren't very memorable to me, so i'm expecting a bang out of the eastern corps.

The AZ show

The Acadmey- For a new Div I corps, they did very well in my opinion. The brass got a little out on a few occasions. They did O.K. Keep an out for them though.

SCV- They had the tightest formations and the best visuals I have seen thus far. The cymbals were amzing and the marching was spot on. The only thing for me was the color guard was much to diversly colored; much to much going on. They disappeared in the lot, cuz they were unloading and then they were gone. Slightly dissapointing not being able to see them warmup.

BD- They did the best, barely. I think SCV should have taken it, but BD did a superb job. The color guard was very simplistic, yet complex at the same time, making the show very intersting. I loved how everyone was moving and weaving in 'n out. The snares were better in the lot. I saw them for 30 min before hand and they nailed their piece. On the field, they were a bit frantic, but still pretty decent.( I didn't realize Brohard and Jackson or even Bierek weren't marching. I know Casey is doing BD C/B corps and Jackson is coaching the tenors, but what happened to Mike???)
The Blue Devils or SCV didn't do an on-field warmup, but SCV had a much cleaner line than BD.
But the show belonged to the Academy.

I'm going to the Elizabeth, PA show tonight... Phantom, Crown, Boston, BK, and Crossmen are the Div. I corps, so I'll be able to get a good, early look at most of the top 12 corps, since there are no repeats from the Pittsburgh show. Expect a full-fledged review late tonight or tomorrow.