2008 DCI Southwest Discussion

[Xenon]

Here we go everybody, it is time for the 2008 DCI Southwestern Championships. I'm here in the Alamodome, where are you? For once, I hope I don't have many people reading this, because everybody should be here! But, for those of you that can't, I will be updating this thread throughout the day with my thoughts and impressions. My laptop battery won't be able to hold out for live updates after every corps, but I will try to do my best to keep you up as up to date as I can.

 

For reviews of some of the corps that I've already seen this week, you can look at the 2008 DCI Dallas Discussion thread.

 

Here is today's lineup:

 

 

AFTERNOON EVENT

[Danpod]

Are you able to get a signal from the live feed like we did at Super Regional or is this off of your phone?

[Xenon]

  Danpod said:

Are you able to get a signal from the live feed like we did at Super Regional or is this off of your phone?

 

I'm on the Alamodome's Free WiFi!

 

Revolution - Hornline looks a lot smaller than in years past. They have a fun show, but the sounds get a little edgy when loud and weak when soft. I like the visuals in the ballad, especially the foot on somebody else's kneeling knee stance. Some corps needs to have a Captain Morgan trumpet soloist.

 

The Academy - Lots of nice open runs from all around the various brass sections throughout the show. The cymbals were doing some really razy moves which caused one of them to lose his plume after a major headbanging session. The show is really fun and light. For some reason, they put the tallest trumpet right next to the shortest.

 

Pioneer - See the DCI Dallas review for details. It seems that DCi people aren't used to preshows yet. The audience was a little confused that they started playing and marching before being officially announced. Another cool thing about the Aeroblades is that Pioneer locked some of them together to form a dome-like shape.

 

Mandarins - See the DCI Dallas review for details. I'm really impressed with the progress that Mandarins have made over previous years. Really fun show. The Cajun Folk Songs section is well done.

 

Pacific Crest - See DCI Dallas review for details. The high brass did MUCH better today than they did on Thursday! They turned some of the more painful parts of the show into really exciting sounds. They had a really nice run that should be at least a full point above their score Thursday night.

[Xenon]

And yes, I am able to get the Live Webcast from DCI, but it is really weird having it up because it is about 30 seconds behind live.

[Xenon]

Troopers - I am a huge fan of the Troopers' shows for the past two years. They have had great musical and visual designs that are rally fun and exciting. There are lots of details in this show that are hard to catch in just one viewing. The brass use their instruments to hit stakes to build the railroad, they drink from the bells of their trumpets, etc. There was even a Contra Hat being worn for a little bit. If they could actually march up to the level of the design, they would be a real contender for an evening spot tonight.

 

Madison Scouts - See the DCI Dallas review for details. Here in San Antonio I'm low enough to get a much better view of their uniforms. With horns down they look great, but because all the detail is really high up, it is all lost and just becomes an ugly green whenever a bell larger than a trumpet's blocks the tie portion. They also look really bad on the battery because the harnesses deform the top in really odd ways. The best part of this loud hornline is the mellophones that can cut through and scream even over the loudest parts of the show.

[Xenon]

Crossmen - See DCI Dallas review for details. during the opener a guard collision happened (I didn't see it, so I'm not exactly sure what happened) one of the guard members didn't get up. He seemed to be holding his leg. The Crossmen guard director ran down and across the field as soon as it happened and went and pulled him off the field. They were working with him throughout the rest of the show and finally got him on a stretcher and into an ambulance at the end of Spirit's show. It really looks like he may have broken his leg or possibly even something more serious than that. Before the start of the show, the pit was playing what I will call Across The Universe (Zacharoodaywa). They have a nice ensemble sound, but individual sections playing soli's seem really held back.

 

Spirit - I was keeping an eye on the Crossmen guard situation, so I missed some stuff in Spirit. They have lots of fast drill in the opener along with a lot of contrary motion. They were doing a great job of playing kill the judge. There seems to be a slight lack of playing, especially in Equus.

[Xenon]

Glassmen - Really light hearted and funny show. Sabre Dance was really cool and had a lot of good play in it. A guard girl came out of one of the chests as a little girl with a balloon for the Ballad. At the end of the ballad the huge chord just keeps growing until the balloon pops. The closer sounded really muddy because the battery kept playing at absolute full volume in this boomy dome and just bounced and carried over everything.

 

Bluestars - In the preshow, the brass are standing in the endzone stretching and getting ready to run. I really like the pinwheels while translating. They also put on a really good technique show of all the different marching styles in quick succession both forwards and backwards for about 4 counts each. Good sounds all around, but not as full as other corps.

 

Colts - Start right out the gate with loud vegas Day & Night, Night & Day and keep up with the jazzy feel throughout the show. The ballad was absolutely beautiful. The closer was really exciting and never let up all while pushing the drill faster and faster.

 

Blue Knights - See the DCI Dallas review for details. The soli tuba growling in the beginning is really really intimidating. Turbine was really awesome, but I still miss the Richland trombone section in that piece. With all of the detail that has gone into the show, I am surprised that they don't have any transitions in place.

[Xenon]

Waiting on Scores:

 

DCI Southwest DAY SHOW

 

1. Blue Knights 83.225

2. Bluestars 81.975

3. Glassmen 81.625

4. Crossmen 79.350

5. Madison Scouts 78.925

6. Colts 78.800

7. Spirit 77.600

8. Troopers 76.425

9. Pacific Crest 75.150

10. The Academy 74.725

11. Mandarins 74.650

12. Pioneer 69.125

 

Open Class:

Revolution 73.3

[Xenon]

Boston Crusaders - They start their space show with a preshow from 2001. Nice ensemble chord builds from this group, but individual trumpets have some edgy sounds. The muted trumpets made for a really nice contrast of color. The drill starts out fast with a 4-to-5 passthrough right off the bat and hardly slows down from there. The Matrix chords were a real crowd pleaser, but my favorite part was the lines that wound up into boxes; it was done extremely well for such a complex move.

[Xenon]

Bluecoats - The fight announcer builds up the match during the preshow. The open hits in Waterfront are amazingly powerful, crisp, and clean. The bass drums roll around as "Rocky" works out rolling away at the punching bag. There are a lot of little things in this show that it is hard to catch everything that is going on in a single viewing. The ballad is absolutely gorgeous. The standstill concert and singing brought a tear to my eye. Adriaaaaaaaaaane!!!

[Xenon]

Update on Injured Crossmen Guard:

The guard member suffered a Dislocated Knee. Ouch.

[Xenon]

Cadets - They have such an amazingly gorgeous sound and play so well that the articulation comes forth even while facing backfield. Too bad it is sometimes covered up by the (I feel) unnecessary narration. Great drum break, but why is the hornline just standing around during it instead of doing awesome drill like I know they can? The drill in this show doesn't seem to be as fast and hard overall as other recent Cadets shows. I don't like that the melody in Vesuvius is getting drowned out by the rhythm. Nice runs crossing the sections to enter the closing parts of Vesuvius. A stumble during fast tight drill nearly lead to disaster, but a great recovery saved it. The closing set is stolen straight from Cedar Park (winking smily).

[ftwdrummer]

Where have you gone, Daniel-San?

[Xenon]

  ftwdrummer said:

Where have you gone, Daniel-San?

 

There was such a great lineup of corps that I couldn't take the time to get my laptop out.

[Xenon]

Santa Clara Vanguard - See DCI Dallas review for details. SCV's guard is CRAZY! The are amazingly good at acting out the craziness of Chairman Dances while keeping the beauty of synchronicity. I really like the drill move in the ballad where the circle dissolves into the line that crosses it. I made it into the Vanguard yell this time, but I still say it is in an awkward place. As far as I could tell, just me and the SCV staff knew where it was.

[the terminator]

so here's what I think

 

5th: Phantom Regiment

4th: Carolina Crown

3rd: The Cavaliers

2nd: The Cadets

1st: Blue Devils

[Xenon]

Phantom - See DCI Dallas review for details. OMG so gorgeous. The crowd gasped at every bit of violence in the show. The mellophone solo in the ballad is the best solo of the season.

[Xenon]

Blue Devils - See DCI Dallas review for details. They seemed a little held back tonight, but not much. It just didn't have the same feel as Thursday night in Dallas. I could see them getting beat tonight.

[the terminator]

  Xenon said:

Phantom - See DCI Dallas review for details. OMG so gorgeous. The crowd gasped at every bit of violence in the show. The mellophone solo in the ballad is the best solo of the season.

 

It would be so awesome if th DM would say "This is SPARTA!!!!"

[Xenon]

The Cavaliers - They open up with a fight between two samurai in which the blue samurai loses and gets scalped. Trumpet runs galore throughout the opener along with some strong chords to round everything out. There was an amazing rifle toss from one guard to another catching behind his back and with one hand! The ball falling through the block move is standard Cavies awesomeness. The drumline was using the Karate Kid II rattle things. There are so many little things in this show that I can't possibly recount them all. An oddity is that they had two trumpet falls that I saw.

[Xenon]

Carolina Crown - I love the new plumes, they are absolutely gorgeous with the little bit of added dirt color in the middle. This hornline is amazing!! You can hear every single 32nd not individually even with a whole section playing them and even over the rest of the corps. Uh oh scores time.

 

Edit: The ballad is absofreakinglutely gorgeous! and I love the ending to West Side Story. The closer included a whole corps butt waggle.

[Xenon]

1. Blue Devils 92.375

2. Cavaliers 90.975

3. Carolina Crown 90.025

4. Phantom Regiment 89.775

5. Cadets 88.725

6. Bluecoats 86.650

7. SCV 86.425

8. Blue Knights 82.700

9. Boston Crusaders 82.450

10. Blue Stars 80.675

11. Glassmen 79.950

12. Crossmen 77.275

[ftwdrummer]

Wow. Over a 2-point drop for Bones between this afternoon and tonight.

[the terminator]

ouch what happened to the Cadets, oh well, go Crown!!!

[Xenon]

92.375!!! Wow!!