Blue Devils..............98.2 Cadets of Bergen County..97.2 Santa Clara Vanguard.....96.6 Phantom Regiment.........94.3 Madison Scouts...........94.3 Cavaliers................92.7 Crossmen.................91.9 Glassmen.................88.9 Blue Knights.............88.8 Magic of Orlando.........87.8 Bluecoats................87.5 Carolina Crown...........85.9 (Above Corps advance to finals. Congratulations to ALL of the Corps, no matter how they placed! Colts....................84.1 Kiwanis Kavaliers........82.7 Boston Crusaders.........80.5 Academie Musicale........79.4 Spirit of Atlanta........76.5Thanks to Neil Hamilton for emailing us these scores!
I was sitting on the 45 yard line six rows from the bottom, so I can't speak too much on drill designs and forms, but this is a GREAT spot for getting that in-your-face wall of sound and for watching color guards.
Spirit of Atlanta (76.5) -- You could tell these men and women were happy to be here. What a great way to start semis. Full sound, great uniforms, marching was much improved from Allentown, and a SULTRY, southern-style guard that made me feel I was in Georgia.
Academie Musicale (79.4) -- This corps has some really impressive rifle work. Their sound was one of the smaller ones tonight, but the quality was good.
Boston Crusaders (80.5) -- I had heard that these people had a shot of breaking finals, and I could see why during their opening number. Very dramatic and very effective. Unfortunately, their sound wasn't very consistent -- a few brass "uglies". Also, considering this is the only major Div. I corps in the Northeast, it would be nice to see them open up their guard to both men and women.
Kiwanis Kavaliers (82.7) -- Wow. Much better than the movie. This was a really beautifully designed Evita show. And these kids have SOUND. The Evita flags were really cool. I was silently rooting for these kids to make finals, just so I could see their show again.
Colts (84.1) -- Yikes. Their color guard is MEAN. If they ever got into a street fight with Madison's guard, I'd put my money on these girls. This was a very fun (and LOUD) show, which would have been a nice way to open Finals competition.
Carolina Crown (85.9) -- My percussionist friend saw these kids in Allentown and RAVED about their percussion, so I'll assume that's what helped keep them in the Top 12, since I'm not sure what else did. They had some very similar intonation problems as last year, there were LOTS of lines that looked very dirty from ground-level (what was the performance visual guy smoking that night?), and please --- if you're going to play music as profound as Elgar's Nimrod variation, don't stage it with guard members prancing around in hideously tacky lampshade hoopskirts.
Magic of Orlando (87.8) -- It started POURING in the middle of their show. And guess what? They kept playing. In fact, they played BETTER. I can think of no other artistic activity that defies the elements so wonderfully. My program book was ruined because of the water, I was still damp by the time the Blue Devils were playing, but damn it, it was worth it to hear these kids.
Glassmen (88.9) -- Great sound. Very clean marching. Very expressive guard. These kids came to Orlando to do business, and they did it.
Bluecoats (87.5) -- This was a classy show. Nice big jazz sound. Drill was mostly clean, but somewhat less challenging than most of the other Top 12.
Blue Knights (88.8) -- This show reminded me of the Blue Knights of 92-94. Very sophisticated music, played very well. The guard was impressive, and they had some beautiful silks to work with. The visual design was Top 6 quality -- not simply difficult drill, but drill that accentuates the musical program effectively, a technique which the Cavaliers design team seemed to have forgotten this year.
Cavaliers (92.7) -- "You gave us SEVENTH???" They must not have been very happy about that, because they played a very strong show tonight, enough to put them over Crossmen (temporarily). But there's only so much you can do with a weakly designed show.
Madison Scouts (94.3) -- Great sound. Great drill. Show-stopping guard. Crowd goes crazy. You have to be there to really appreciate it.
Phantom Regiment (94.3) -- Boy, Kristi sure looked pissed off before the show. What happened to the bubbly, teary-eyed smile that was the highlight of the DCI Highlights show last year? Oh, I get it. She must be pissed that the show designers took an opera with about 14 hours of music to choose from, which I have studied for the last six years, and there will STILL entire sections which I didn't recognize. Well, at least *I* was pissed. (Great brass, though, as usual.) As far as the guard goes, I think the guy sitting behind me put it very well when he said, as Phantom was marching onto the field, "Oh look -- Phantom's guard is naked." C'mon, Phantom, it's time to get some guys in there.
Cadets (97.2), SCV (96.6), Blue Devils (98.2) -- What can I say? This was like seeing three championship shows in a row. What really amazed me is how little has changed in the last 10 years: there was the Cadets, with their frantic, 200bpm, mind-blowing drill; the Blue Devils with their tasty, classy jazz and their BIG, part-your-hair sound; and the Santa Clara Vanguard, with such an emotional, haunting show (remember in 1988 when Steve Rondinaro said "Never count these guys out of it"?). Gail Royer would be pleased.
GEN EFFECT ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE TOTALS
MUS VIS TOTL MUS VIS TOTL BRS PERC VIS TOTL FINAL AUX
Blue Devils 19.8 19.2 39.0 14.9 14.8 29.7 9.9 9.6 10.0 29.5 98.2 9.7
Cadets of B. C. 19.7 19.3 39.0 14.7 14.6 29.3 9.6 9.7 9.6 28.9 97.2 9.6
S. C. Vanguard 19.6 19.1 38.7 14.5 14.3 28.8 9.5 9.9 9.7 29.1 96.6 9.5
Madison Scouts 19.5 18.9 38.4 14.0 14.2 28.2 9.3 8.9 9.5 27.7 94.3 9.1
Phantom Regiment 19.1 18.3 37.4 14.4 14.4 28.8 9.7 9.2 9.2 28.1 94.3 9.2
Cavaliers 18.8 18.5 37.3 13.8 14.0 27.8 9.2 9.3 9.1 27.6 92.7 9.2
Crossmen 18.6 18.4 37.0 14.2 13.6 27.8 8.7 9.5 8.9 27.1 91.9 9.3
Glassmen 17.9 17.6 35.5 13.2 13.5 26.7 8.8 9.1 8.8 26.7 88.9 9.1
Blue Knights 18.1 17.5 35.6 13.6 13.3 26.9 8.9 9.0 8.4 26.3 88.8 8.3
Magic of Orlando 18.7 17.4 36.1 13.4 13.0 26.4 9.0 8.8 7.5 25.3 87.8 7.9
Bluecoats 18.2 16.9 35.1 13.3 13.1 26.4 9.1 8.7 8.2 26.0 87.5 9.0
Carolina Crown 17.6 17.0 34.6 12.7 13.2 25.9 8.5 8.4 8.5 25.4 85.9 8.8
Colts 17.2 16.6 33.8 12.9 12.9 25.8 8.6 7.9 8.0 24.5 84.1 8.0
Kiwanis Kavaliers 17.0 16.7 33.7 12.4 12.7 25.1 8.4 7.8 7.7 23.9 82.7 8.5
Boston Crusaders 16.3 16.4 32.8 12.0 12.3 24.3 8.0 8.1 7.3 23.4 80.5 8.6
Academie Musicale 15.7 17.3 33.0 10.9 12.6 23.5 8.2 7.1 7.6 22.9 79.4 8.9
Spirit of Atlanta 16.2 15.4 31.6 11.4 11.8 22.4 7.9 7.5 7.1 22.5 76.5 7.6
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