July 25, Des Plains, IL

Thanks to Joel Knull on r.a.m.d for this review!

Hey everyone, here's my review for last night's show in Des Plaines, everything 
was great (even my seats!) despite we had United Airlines passing by every 5 
minutes drowning out the corps.

I really only have time to comment on a few corps, so I'll review the last 4 
corps.


Carolina Crown 74.? - I LOVE THIS SHOW! These guys get better and better every 
year, this year's show is well thought up, the chess pieces are used very 
nicely throughout the show. The hornline has its power moments, and the 
drill...this is some difficult drill lemme tell you, they looked very dirty 
tonight (maybe they had an off nite?, or maybe its their late start this 
season?). Their scoring a 74 and there not even near clean yet, this is a 
sleeper show. If these guys continue to put out shows like this it could mean 
a new top 6 corps is in town. If they get really clean by August they are 
definite top 10.


Santa Clara Vanguard 85.? - First time EVER seeing Vanguard LIVE, and I tell 
you it was worth every penny. These guys are definitely back no doubt about 
that, the drill looks really clean and their drumline is really tight this 
year. But the main thing I loved was their hornline, man can these guys blow, 
even at the end of the show these guys blew me away. This is one awesome 
hornline and I now can believe on why they beat BD and Cadets this year. I 
really don't know why these guys are 4 points down from Cavaliers and Cadets, I 
thought they were an easy 87 or 88 tonite, I guess there getting killed in the 
GE department possibly, because there were times when I just sat there goin 
"uhh", but of course there were times where I sat there goin "Holy 
Shnikies!!!! These guys are back!!"


Cavaliers 89.0 - This show is getting more appealing to me every time I watch 
it, I'm actually starting to whistle the opener!! (and I don't even have the 
tapes yet so I can watch them 24 7!). The drumline is rockin as usual, and the 
drill is surprisingly clean. I'd like to see these guys hit top 3 again this 
year and so far its lookin good. The only weakness seems to be the hornline 
again, even tho tonite they sounded pretty good. Near the end of the show you 
could start to tell that the hornline was getting really tired and out of 
breath (not their fault, their drill is really hard), so I guess they still 
got some work to do in the hornline dept. If they can get that fixed they 
will have another successful season. Good luck to these guys.

Cadets of BC. 89.8 - Well, you can just ship these guys the 1996 DCI 
Championship Next Day UPS Air. This show is a winner, they changed some stuff 
since I last saw them at Streator, and it looks even better than before. There 
is not one thing I dislike about this show. It keeps me on the edge of my seat 
thru the whole show. The drill still looked alittle dirty, but if you haven't 
had the chance to see them this year I can tell you these guys are Flying. 
Hornline was definitely ON target tonite, and the drumline sounded awesome. 
This show is going down in the record books with all the other great shows ('93 
Star, '88 '87 Vanguard, etc etc). Put their staff and design team in the DCI 
hall of fame (or boardwalk whichever you choose) next year. This is one show 
I'm definitely telling my grandkids about (actually the second show, the year 
that I marched will be the first show). 

Well I gotta say that my money was well spent and I gotta congratulate ALL the 
corps on wonderful performances and wish them all the best of luck next season.

Here's how I would rank them in terms of brass, perc, etc etc.

HORNS
1) Santa Clara Vanguard - I couldn't hear after their show, these guys really 
blow and produce one heck of a sound.
2) Cadets of BC - Not far behind would be these guys, with their wonderful 
selection of music this hornline plays it extremely well.
3) Cavaliers - This is their weak point, tonite they did have a good nite. But 
can they do it every nite? I hope so!!
4) Carolina C - Horns are good and produce some sound, but still have those 
individuals that like to be heros and play louder than everyone else. It will 
get better though as the last 3 weeks progress.


Percussion
1) Cavaliers - Smokin drum line that has been clean all year, it's always a 
pleasure to watch this drumline perform.
2) Santa Clara Vanguard - Clean Clean Clean.
3) Cadets of BC - still need a little more work, but the drumline plays some 
mean stuff and can take the Drum Caption with ease.
4) Carolina C - drumline is ok, still a little dirty and they hafta work hard, 
drum solo is cool (looks almost the same as '95's)


Visual
1) Cavaliers - This is a clean show, there are some great ideas for drill and 
I think this years visual program is well thought up, dont peak tho!!
2) Cadets of BC - when this drill gets cleaned They can easily take this 
caption also, there is still alot of time left so look out!!
3) Carolina C - Yes!! I put them 3rd..got a problem with that?? :) These guys 
really fly and it was a joy watching there program, need lots of work. I hope 
next year these guys start alittle earlier so they have more time to fix 
drill, because with the drill their doin they need lots of time to work on it.
4) Santa Clara Vanguard - This drill is clean, but I really didn't find it that 
good. I mean dont get me wrong, they had some nice drill moments (I Love the 
end of the show). But they need that something extra visually, if they find it 
they can bring this show to top 3 caliber.


GE 
1) Cadets of BC - Do I even have to tell you why? If you dont know why then I 
suggest you go out and see the show yourself.
2) Cavaliers - Visually its awesome. Hornwise..site for these guys, Hornwise 
its awesome but visually it needs that extra something, they'll find it tho.
4) Carolinea C - Visually this can have potential, hornwise there gonna have 
to get rid of the easy mistakes (overblowing, missed releases) to be up there.

July Scores

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