Bluecoats................77.7 Magic of Orlando.........75.1 Carolina Crown...........70.2 Kiwanis Kavaliers........67.8 Southwind................61.8 Div II/III- Jersey Surf..............63.7 Lone Star................63.2 Vagabonds................Exhibition Thanks to Phil Lehenbauer for emailing us these scores! Thanks to Claudia Whiting for emailing us these scores!
Well, it was a chilly night in Butler, PA for this show, but the corps were worth it! It was nice to have a show that did not have an intermission, and the only drawback was the amount of warm-up noise coming into the stadium.
There was the incessant wood block/jam block sound from guard warm-ups that many times covered the softer parts of shows on the field. I'm hoping penalties were assessed, but since it never stopped during the show, I doubt that this happened. Oh well...
Vagabonds
15H/19P/14G
With tunes from the Sound of Music, there were some pleasant moments, but
with lots of unfinished guard work, it appeared to be one of their first
performances. Horns were better than last year, but desperately need more
baritone bodies!
Jersey Surf
30H/19P/8G
An enjoyable show thanks to a decent hornline, but it seems like development
is being hindered by a drill that appears much too difficult. With the horns
running many times, and a guard with much incomplete work, the show struggles
in many places. Some nice solo/screamer work though helps the fun tunes
along. I still like the uniform!
Lone Star
12H/15?P/4G
Didn't see too much of them, since I was grabbing warmer clothes from the
car, but what I heard sounded okay.
Southwind
30H/32P/14G
Not knowing what to expect, I was very pleased by this show. While as
previously stated in earlier reviews, the hornline is hindered by a lack of
contra sound, but the playing was pretty good on this evening, especially in
the opener. The music of Holsinger (as in Cadets "To Tame the Perilous
Skies") is fun and gets the show off to a good start. I would hope they'll
fix the spacing/holes in the opening company front, since the large gaps are
quite noticeable, but other than that, with continued cleaning the show
should come along well!
Kiwanis
47H/29P/24G
They were MUCH improved from a couple weeks ago, thanks mostly to complete
guard work. The guard now uses oversized white/gold flags at the end of
"Don't Cry For Me..." which help to give the ending a nice flourish. The
horn line is better, but still missing some punch in places where you want
it. The tone is still a little thin at the top, and could use more contra
sound (there were 8 out there, just couldn't hear them!). If they continue
to improve at this rate, they'll be in great shape for Orlando.
Carolina Crown
53H/31P/34G
A nice presentation of British music. The entry though the gates to start is
a nice touch, but the gates don't serve much function thereafter. The guard
was in creme/gold, with a variety of costumes throughout, but the equipment
work in the middle section was very dirty! The horns sounded strong, but
with intonation problems caused by the cold (as had most of the later corps).
I'm glad they brought back the "Enigma/Nimrod" from last year, since I love that tune!
Magic
60H/32?P/27G
The show gets off to a great start with the "Parade" segment, complete with
drum majors enticing the crowd to join in (reminded me of old VK antics) and
a sing-along. After this, the Robert Smith music is again original, but
pleasant, with an especially nice middle section featuring a mello soloist.
The horn line jamming at the front sidelines at the end of the show with the guard using huge (and I mean BIG!) flags made for a great impact to close things up!
Bluecoats
57H/32P/33G
What can I say? It's a complete package of visual, horns, and drums wrapped
up in lots of great music! The horns are probably the 'Coats best to date,
and there's plenty of tasty percussion writing. And it's nice to see a guard
doing equipment work for a whole show (flags and sabres)! With clean work
like the guard is doing at this point (some awesome sabre work tonight!),
they're very fun to watch. The drill was dirty on this evening, but there
are many nice pictures and lots of well-charted contrary motion segments that
make this a strong point. It you haven't seen the Bluecoats yet, you will be
impressed!
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