June 21, Mt. Prospect, IL

Thanks to Eric Camburn on r.a.m.d for this review!

Couple of brief notes before I conk out.  

Drum lines: Cavies and Pioneer (surprise!) very tight for this 
time of year.  Madison- the 8 tenors are killers.  Phantom-
extremely small battery--7 snares, 3 tenors, 5 bass.  Are more
to come later?

Overall impressions: the three top 6 corps are very clean for this
early in the season.  Cavies have much more room to grow with 
their show than Phantom and Madison (IMHO).  Maleguana is a gas
but is essentially the same arrangement as 88.  If the three
big midwest corps are any indication power and volume are really
in this year.  

Next stop Evanston on the 3rd.  



Thanks to Tony Densmore on r.a.m.d for this review! Other impressions from Mt. Prospect: Call me cynical, but I was a little let down after hearing all of the early season hype about the big 3 Midwest Corps. Cavies, PR and Madison are all very clean for this early in the season, impressively so. I was very surprised by the lack of audience response given to Madison, PR. This is somewhat understandable given that they were on the Cavies turf, but the fans weren't turning cart-wheels for the Cavies either. Madison's show is the most apealling right now. As stated in other's comments, Bolero is way too short. It needs more time to build (musically and in terms of volume in order to really get the crowd involved. Sopranos are fantastic! Maleguena needs to be dropped quick if these guys really want to go anywhere. It's the same thing as 88 and it's almost boring. I think the average DC follower will have the "been there, done that" feeling when they see it again. Why can't these guys try yo come up with another Madison classic. Wouldn't that be fun for everybody involved? I don't know where Eric was sitting (i was on the right 40) but i didn't notice volume and power eveyone is talking about this year, maybe i've lost some of my hearing, i'm only 25. Phantom has one of those shows that I think will tend to grow on people. Each of the brass choirs has a unique sound to it. You put them all together and you really have a fine wine here. There are some great french horn licks in this show. I'm still trying to understand all the hype about the big volume and sound. They're marching 70 horns, it ought to be, but i don't think it's anything extraordinary, but then again, it could of been where i was sitting, which wasn't bad considering the confines of our "stadium". PR IS getting new drums. the lavender is out and wood-grain is in; there going after the grain-wood look of violins or whatever your favorite orchestral stringed instrument is. I think Cesario has let himslef get to his head this year. This all-black concept works visually for about a minute. WHat's particularly defiant about an all-black uniform? To me, it accentuates the uniformness of the uniform. Perhaps this is intended given Shostakovitch's political environment, but you'd have to ask MichaelC. I think adding some red/pink (whatever color the guard is wearing) to outline the black velvet/velour sash(across the chest) or something like that would be a nice touch, and would actually gain them a few tenths of a point, maybe more. Musically, the Shostakovitch works, but doesn't create it's high points very quickly, they take a long time build, which is different from what we're used to seeing from PR. Ithink they need to do more visually to keep the audience in the show as th music builds. I was told by a PR mother that Phantom has only been working their current drill for 6 weeks. This might explain why they seemed still a little uncomfortable with the show. I'm anxious to see how PR progresses with this show. I think it could be spectacular in the subtlest of ways, or something like the 1812 show a few years back. Cavies: well I was particularly surprised that their home crowd fans didn't show them ant more support than they did. I can only attribute this to the show. Why the Cavies are winning, has been a question many on ramd have been asking. I don't know the answer either. I think it might be that they appear to be busier than PR or Madison. It's odd to hear them playing Latin-American type music. I don't think that Sensemaya a few years back really counts. And I don't think the crowd particularly got into it. It's defintely not what we're used to hearing from these guys. Well, that's all. Interested to hear any comments from others that have seen and heard. Respectfully submitted, Tony Densmore IU Chemistry

Thanks to David Monti on r.a.m.d for this review! I saw this show, too, and I have some comments to make regarding the top three: - Madison: Again, entertaining, but what else? Yes, they blew, but the end of Malaguena was so loud that you couldn't hear the underlying parts. Not very musical, IMO, and perhaps that's why they're not scoring higher. As far as originality, I think all three corps are guilty of not making too many new innovations, but the season is young.... I'd hold back on the ooohing and aaahing about the 8 tenors until they clean it up. I heard a lot of rims. - Phantom: Like a previous poster, I had to work to stay awake during the opener. Good, warm sound by Phantom's horns. Nothing about the middle part of the show was memorable. The flashy "poles" were an exception to the innovation comment (see above). I hope a lot of additions will be made to the closer--Shostakovich's 5th deserves something a little more climatic. The sops had some troubles with the runs here (I'm not a horn player, forgive me). But about that Phantom sound everyone is gushing over-- I feel that Phantom "moseys" around the field way too much. That is, their marching always follows the tempo of the music (usually slower and fluid). IMO, this will hurt them unless they spruce up the show, which I'm sure they will. But this great sound will always be around as long as Phantom continues to "mosey." I've noticed how much better the Cavies sound when they're in concert formation, not that I want them to stop moving :) I really, truly felt that Phantom needed to move their feet twice as fast at the end of the show. This should help their score quite a bit. - Cavaliers: I will try to keep an open mind, but this show needs to grow on me. Unfortunately, the only other Cavalier performance I will see is this week. The drum line is _solid_, but I'd like to see a little more innovation. There we're too many licks borrowed from last year. I do, however, see a lot of room for growth in this show, which makes me happy since they are already ahead in the midwest. The guard work with the woodgrain "fences" was hard to warm up to, especially when one guy practically entangled himself in one and proceeded to dance around. Unfortunately, Prospect HS's stands were not very high, thus it was hard to judge M&M for all the corps, however, I could notice the Cavalier's "surefootedness" over Madison's. Phantom was no problem--they mostly walked their show. Anyway, that's my two cents. Please don't read any hostility into the above words, but you are more than welcome to disagree with me. Best wishes, Dave Monti ENS USN d-monti@uiuc.edu http://ne43.ne.uiuc.edu/~neutron

June Scores

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