The sound quality was some of the best I've ever heard in the theater, at Movies 400 in Cumming. The shows look like some of the better I've seen in the last several years. '16 - '18 have all been great years. This year should match or exceed those.
There was some pre-show drama. It didn't taint anything in the end, and I don't want to taint my review, so I'll save it for the end.
I just sent this (6/21) to friends:
I was concerned that Phantom Regiment headlining on July 9 would not be good enough for newbies. Yes, they are Phantom Regiment, but poor Phantom has been floating around 7 - 9 place since their Spartacus win in '08.
I plan to see Phantom in Columbia 4 days before (July 9). Perhaps you should wait for my live assessment, but my tentative assessment is that I might cry during their show. It's a 90s-like classic Phantom show. Chemical Bob should be thrilled. And when I say 90s-like, that's from my perspective. It's probably more like a 70s - 80s-like Phantom show because their 90s shows reflected their history then, too.
Bluecoats might win it this year. I haven't seen the 800 or 400 pound gorillas, BD and SCV, respectively, but based on experience, Coats' show has a chance.
With that said, welcome to year 48 of "new and exciting ways to try to beat the Blue Devils (BD)." They are the 800 pound gorilla. SCV gets 400 pounds because they are the reigning champions.
It's a Beatles show with 19 songs woven in. Their brass sounds great--great enough to possibly beat BD, sound unheard in the case of BD. It was entertaining, but my first-viewing bias is against the Beatles. I might change my mind when I see them live (God willing) at M'boro; I might decide that it's fabulous.
To the extent that we saw the drum major, she was very focused; she had her game face on. I was curious whether she'll show more emotion by the end of the season. She may direct the last show on the field: the winner, both the last corps to take the field by this year's earned rank, and the very last encore performance.
Upon further thought, having seen no BD or SCV scores, or any other info since June 20, on July 2 I'm giving Bluecoats a 50% chance of winning finals.
I plan to see it twice live, but it has the potential to be one of my favorite Crown shows in about 10 years. Their 2016 Relentless show will be hard to beat in my mind, though. Their '17 and '18 shows both struck me as the parts being better than the sum of the parts. Or the whole not being as good as the parts. Off hand, I thought at least 60% of the show as well-integrated, and I'm very open to that percentage improving.
Their ballad is gorgeous, at least I don't think I'm confusing that with Boston's show, although confusion is possible. My legendary drum corps memory was based on my listening to recordings dozens and dozens of times, not one viewing.
There was as section from roughly 30 seconds in until 90 seconds in that reminded me of Cadets in the 90s--among other reminders, beautiful integration between the percussion and brass writing (written music). Cadets '90, '92, and '93 are some of my favorite percussion performances in part because it was so gorgeously integrated. Even though Cadets '05 is my favorite percussion performance, I don't think it was as well-integrated.
There were a couple of drill maneovers that even got my attention, and I'm not a drill person. For one, I'm usually not sitting high enough to see drill.
I almost plugged my ears and chanted "blah blah blah blah" during the instructor's / desinger's verbal preview. Sometimes the words around the design sound so absurd that I fear they'll ruin the show. (I remember cackling at Sevierville in '05 when the announcer gave the verbal preview of Glassmen. Thankfully, Glassmen lived up to the preview.) In addition to the potentially absurd notions about math and sacred geometry, he said that Steve Rondinaro would not be disappointed with the first note, and that the first few notes would "establish intrigue." I have to say, though, that the first few notes lived up to their billing including the intrigue. The whole show may live up to the billing with 2 more viewings, too.
I actually don't remember if it was Boston or Crown that had some beautiful snare work in the first minute or so. Possible both, but I think it was Crown. It seems to connect with my above commentary, which I'm sure was Crown, but I'm not as sure about this specific section.
As I've hinted, I remember Crown's show much more clearly, and I'm probably blurring Boston's with Crown's to some degree. I remember that the first ensemble toss that really got my attention was either Boston or Crown, and very likely Boston. Boston did some "stupid" guard tricks like toss, somersault, and catch, and toss over the head of the guy (Goliath) on stills, go under the stilts, and catch.
Ah, right, their show was Goliath. It's going to be hard to beat '17 and '18 Boston in my mind. '17 might have been one of the best designed shows I've ever seen. It may not have been quite as well executed as it could have been, but it was a great show. '18 grew on me and was plenty entertaining. As I remember, this one does have a chance of competing.
I just don't remember much. I specifically remember enjoying Stars, and I' pretty sure I did Cadets as well, although I'm drawing mostly blank on Cadets' details. I do remember Stars show design because they were dressed for winter.
The corps performed in standard, precise reverse-order based on last year's rankings--best went last. Not surprisingly, last night's ranks were exactly the same as last year.
I became somewhat concerned when I couldn't buy advance tickets 8.5 hours before the show. I'd been watching that for several days. So about 2pm I went over the theater to inquire. After talking to a couple of employees, I almost left with the impression that they weren't going to show it. I looked it up on my phone, though, and pointed to it. At that point, John went "upstairs" to ask. He came back to say that they were indeed showing it. Hours later, I found out that the show had been dropped on them by corporate about 3 hours before I got there.
This struck me as yet another instance of DCI (and corps) being treated as red-headed stepchildren by all sorts of organizations. In fact, it's time for a rant! Below I'll make a list.
It seems that there is a new safety rule that restricts field judges from getting into the thick of the drill.
I found myself getting somewhat mentally / emotionally tired and a bit nervous as the show approached. Part of it was that I had hope that I would not be alone yet again. Then it looked like I would be alone. I thought that until 5 minutes before the show, when Mr. Z texted. He got there about halfway into the first show, Phantom.
33 minutes before show time, I was the only one in the theater. I got there early to have a chat with management about potential problems I've heard (or not heard) over the years. On one hand, no one there that early is not unusual. On the other hand, if drum corps friends are gathering, they're usually early. Then perhaps 15 minutes before, a couple showed up, then another just after, then 3 more. Then just at show time a group of ~8 showed up. And that was probably it--there were 17 of us, according to the manager. I thought there may have been a handful more, but perhaps not.
A number of hours after the fact, I figured out more of the angst. See "aftermath."
It turned out that the manager whom I spoke to was the husband of one of my long-time Waffle House waitresses (salesperson), years ago. He remembered me, and I think he even remembered my regaling his wife with drum corps stories, some fragment of which was apparently passed on to him.
While they were finalizing / gathering / calculating scores, the showed about the last 4 minutes of SCV '18's winning show. That reminded me of one of the ways to beat the Blue Devils. It looked good yet again.
The show was over around 10:40pm. The manager, Mr. Z, and I talked for a bit, then just Mr. Z and I. I got home around 11:20pm. I was mysteriously tired. I went to bed pretty quickly. It still took until around 1:30am to fall asleep. I had a fairly vivid dream, which usually means I slept very well. I woke up around 5:30 and had some degree of energy. I fed the chickends, released them, and fed the cats due to their mewling. I don't do these things in the morning generally because I'm not awake.
Then I went to Waffle House, and they were stunned that I was there so early. One of my responses to their confusion was something to the effect of, "I'm not kidding about this drum corps stuff!" My salesperson (waitress) asked me if I was really that excited about the season. I had to think about this a while.
The answer is sort of, in part. Yes, the beginning of the drum corps season, and sometimes even the end after a good year, can be inspiring to me. In hindsight, though, it was release from the pre-show stress. To some degree I was happy that Mr. Z came, and I wasn't alone at a drum corps show yet again. It sometimes irritates me that after all these years, I don't have a totally consistent following. Part of it was that it seems I still seek more-or-less spiritual inspiration from drum corps. I think I was concerned that I might not get it, or the sound would be lousy, or something else would go wrong. And I got it! I was relieved and thus energized.
With that said, it doesn't mean my clock will reset. I'm struggling to stay awake at 3:49pm the day after the show. We'll see.
I'll probably add other instances.