July 16, 1997, Ogden, UT

Blue Devils..............87.2 - brass, GE, Vis
Santa Clara Vanguard.....83.8 - Perc.
Blue Knights.............73.8
Troopers.................61.3

Div II
SC Vanguard Cadets.......69.2

Thanks to D. Avila on r.a.m.d for these scores!

Review - July 16, 1997, Ogden, UT

Thanks to Julie for emailing us this review!


Editorial notes:

REVIEW HERE. CHECK SPELLING. CHECK QUOTE MARKS. PUT IN PARAGRAPHS. THIS IS NOT PREFORMATTED.

Note: The crowd at tonight's show was about twice as big as the Logan show the night before. But the Logan show was about four times as loud - the REAL fans must have been at that one. This Ogden crowd was completely dead. I wondered if they were all asleep at times or if none of them had ever actually seen a drum corps competition. I wasn't impressed. Speaking to some of the corps members afterwards, they were also disappointed in the energy of the crowd response compared to the night before.

Exhibition - Calgary Round Up Youth Band
These youngsters were very enthusiastic playing Movie themes in a pep band style.

Santa Clara Vanguard Cadets:
The first competing corps of the evening. They played music from Evita, This is the third time that I have seen them perform, and they have improved the show every time. They're coming along great!

Troopers:
There were a lot of fans in the audience because of how close to Wyoming we were. They got quite a crowd response( especially considering just how DEAD the crowd was the rest of the night) As usual, they played a variety of American music. They've had better years, and I hope that they are able to take it up to the next level.

Blue Knights:
Gorgeous silks!!! Every one of their flags was beautiful. Whoever designed them ought to show some of the other corps how it's done. Very tasteful. I guess I didn't GET a lot of the show. However- this is only the second time I saw them, the first being the Logan show the night before. There were some good moments. I'm sure it will improve as the season goes on and their scores should improve within the next few shows.

Blue Devils:
What can I say? I LOVE THIS SHOW!!!! This show is one of the favorite of the corps' that I have ever seen. It's as close to a perfect show as you can get, and they had me jumping to my feet several times. Every time I see this show I am more impressed. The Casablanca show is very well written drill (clean!!) and very well written music (clean!) and with every performance I have seen the excitement coming from the field has increased by leaps and bounds. Typical BD screamer soloists. Just the anticipation of knowing that there is a solo sop coming up is enough to make you smile. Love the unison run in the second (?) tune-very tight! The guard is excellent as usual, classy looking (love the uniforms guys!) but not as showy as last year which gives you an opportunity to actually look at the rest of the corps. They act out the story of Casablanca on the field and it makes me personally want to see the movie again! The whole sequence of the show flowed perfectly up to a much quieter ending than recent years. It works. No matter what happens this year, it's a sure contender for title, and I can't wait to see what they've done in time for finals!!

(If you have a chance to see a BD victory gig, DON'T PASS IT UP!! I would have paid my ticket price again to hear these guys wail one more time.)

Santa Clara Vanguard:
Speaking of I LOVE THIS SHOW!! You've heard it before--Santa Clara is definitely back!! This is by far their best show since 89's Phantom and it brings them up to date with the rest of the recent champions. Partly because of the climatic ending which BD passed up, SCV rivaled if not passed up BD in crowd response. The entire performance is SO visual you can't stop looking around or you miss something. Every time I see the show I find something I missed prior. I heard some people object to the swingy park song, saying that it's not them, but I won't go that far to put limits on what ANY corps can and should try. I think that it works for them and it definitely gets the crowd much more into their show than they have been other years. The guard is wonderful, and the uniforms are typically classy. The drum line is super-clean (they won high percussion tonight) with some cool licks showing them off more then I have noticed in the past. With good reason. The corps members seem to really get into the entire show and that makes it incredibly fun to watch. This is a wonderful show with just enough room for improvement to definitely keep them in the counting this year.

July Scores

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