Vince's DCWorld Review of Fort Wayne, IN (Comment about BAC included!)
Vince Lamb
favorite review to write.
Vince
P.S. For all you doubters about BAC, read this. I think their show is
*great* and I personally thought they should have won this contest.
July 11, 2000 -- Fort Wayne, IN... The contest in Fort Wayne may be
officially known as "The Fantasy of Drums and Brass", but knowledgeable
fans were expecting something more like the battle of Fort Wayne at
tonight's show. Three nights before, Phantom Regiment had beaten
Madison
Scouts at DeKalb after two weeks of the corps trading placements. Two
nights before, Boston Crusaders had bested Crossmen in Altoona for the
first time all season. The night before, Crossmen roared past Phantom
Regiment in their first meeting of the season at Port Huron. The
upshot
was that any one of the four DCI finalists at Fort Wayne could win the
show, with the momentum going to Boston Crusaders and Crossmen over the
Midwestern fan favorites Madison Scouts and Phantom Regiment. The fans
also found drama earlier in the lineup. Kiwanis Kavaliers and Tarheel
Sun
had been trading placements during the previous week and Cincinnati
Glory
was looking to close the gap between themselves and Tarheel Sun, which
had
shrunk from seven points on June 30th to four points on July 3rd. The
fans
were not disappointed. Between the end of Madison Scouts' show and the
announcement of scores, members of the audience couldn't agree on who
won,
with equal numbers arguing for each of the four top corps. In the end,
it
turned out that the top corps had won two subcaptions each, evenly
splitting the decision among the eight judges. Much to the audience's
delighted surprise, the perennial fan favorite Madison Scouts eked out
a
narrow victory over a very strong field.
Cincinnati Glory has added props, changed guard uniforms, apparently
completed their equipment work, revamped their closing drill, and
cleaned
up their visual show very nicely, thank you. The props are seven
segments
of split rail fences, which the corps used as a frame for their drill.
The
new guard uniforms consist of indigo velvet vests with silver trim and
black velvet pants that are much sharper than the cream uniforms with
black
stripes with which they began the year. The guard also has two new
sets of
flags, a pair of royal blue, sky blue, and silver flags used by the
soloists in conjunction with segments of rope and a complete set of
seven
burgundy and magenta flags they use during the finale. All the
segments of
the show that had been so lackluster without guard work at Toledo and
Portage now have effective equipment routines and are much more
appealing.
The guard executed their work very well, including an underappreciated
flag
ripple and a clean, high saber toss. The reward was a fifth place
score in
guard ahead of Tarheel Sun and Kiwanis Kavaliers. The finale is now a
reprise of "Simple Gifts", which is much more exciting to watch and
listen
to than the early season version. A very precise job of marching by
all
sections allowed them to close the gap with Tarheel Sun to two points.
Tarheel Sun has added silver-trimmed royal blue sashes to their
uniforms
during the past two weeks and the effect was striking as they took the
field. The show proper began with a silent flag drill that drew oohs
and
ahhs from the crowd. The musicians responded with a drill that
expanded
from a box centered on the 40 to the fans' right, broke into rotating
squads, and reformed on the 40 to the audience's left. The fans
responded
enthusiastically. Unfortunately, it seemed to go downhill from there.
The
show itself is well-designed and visually very well coordinated and
their
unorthodox treatment of Buddy Rich's "Channel One Suite" works well on
the
field, but the applause points of their show just didn't all develop.
The
two culprits for this were that the brass played a bit timidly most of
the
time--not good, as Buddy Rich and timid are two concepts that never
went
together--and that the marching show was very poorly executed, with
ragged
horns-ups, uneven timing on turns, and generally poor individual
bearing.
When the corps stood still, the brass played with confidence and the
audience got into the music, but when they marched, the self-assurance
evaporated. Perhaps it was simply an off night, as the corps' score
dropped nearly four points from their previous outings in Philadelphia
and
Altoona.
Kiwanis Kavaliers projected their "Miss Saigon" show much more
effectively to the high stands at Fort Wayne than they did the night
before
in Port Huron. One could easily see the guard soloist in red silk
looking
desperately for her GI in camouflage and embracing him at the first big
chords a minute into the overture. The whole guard changed out of
their
fatigues into red silk outfits at the end of the overture, just in time
for
their flagwork and dancing to evoke the romantic mood of "Sun and
Moon".
The entire corps made an emotional about face by putting on their best
martial face, marching their squad drill and performing their snappy
guard
work with determination. Although the performance fell apart a bit
during
the start of "The Fall of Saigon", the corps recovered quickly while
playing backfield, leading to a loud ending which garnered enthusiastic
applause. They also managed to get ahead of Tarheel Sun.
The Crossmen had smelled Phantom Regiment's blood the night before
and
were out for more tonight as they were trying for their first win of
the
season. The result was a truly hyped performance that thrilled the
audience. The corps formed their trademark Maltese Cross and parked
and
blew at the first loud chord, drawing loud cheers. Two high clean
tosses
got even more applause. The end of "Caravan" earned a scattered
standing
ovation. Before the music started for "Nobody Does Me", two soprano
players waved and hollered hello to the crowd, getting several dozen
people
to wave and say hi back--what hams! The brass soloists were also on at
the
end of the song, earning the corps a very enthusiastic round of
applause.
The screamer during "Birdland" drew cheers, as did every section as
they
finished their features. The energized finale produced the first full
standing ovation of the night. Even though Crossmen didn't win, they
did
earn first places in Field Visual, Color Guard, Total Visual, and Total
General Effect.
Boston Crusaders "The Color Red" show has the same relation to the
corps' shows from the 60s and 70s that the New Beetle has to the
original
VW "Bug". It has the enough of the basic form and style of the
original to
satisfy all cravings for retro, but all of the modern features and
technology to be able to succeed in the 21st Century. The result of
Boston's "New Beetle drum corps" show, combined with their thirst for a
first victory against major competition in who knows how many years,
was a
show that was even more thrilling in its own way than Crossmen's. The
opening all by itself was something to behold! The corps started out
in a
very tough-looking pose (would you expect anything other than tough
from
the Boston Crusaders?) scattered from 10 yard line to 10 yard line. To
the
opening strains of "Bolero", two company fronts formed out on the wings
of
the field, picking up members as they glided to the center. When they
reached the 50, the effect of two merging fronts that then opened up to
form an expanding block drew oohs, ahhs, wows, and gasps from the
crowd.
The Italian singing in the third selection drew the most applause for
vocal
work by a corps since Garfield Cadets' "Amen" in 1978. The fanfare
from
"Conquest" before worked the crowd into a frenzy. The working of
"Bolero
into Clifton Williams' "Fiesta" was a real gas--enough to make me yell
"Ole! Toro! Toro!" The audience rewarded the corps from Beantown
with a
wild standing ovation. The judges awarded the unit first places in
Ensemble Visual and GE Visual but fourth overall.
To cheers and cries of "SUTA!" from the "phans" in the stands,
Phantom
Regiment's drum major pulled out his baton from his tunic to start
their
"Masters of Mystique" show. Like Boston Crusaders and Crossmen,
Phantom
smelled blood, too--their own from the night before. Instead of
fainting,
the corps rallied to fend off the Eastern upstarts. The trademark
phantom
sound fans expected returned during "Jeux" and never left, and the
expressiveness needed to sell the music returned as well. The only
knock I
had on the front half of the show was that the drill has very few
high-velocity, high-demand events. The new drill for "Rite of Spring"
doesn't have that problem--lots of events all through it, from the horn
flashes and fast drill at the beginning, through the rotation and
expansion
of the wedge before the long suspenseful build, all the way to the
classic
Phantom pose at the end. The result was a sincere standing ovation at
the
end and high brass and high music ensemble scores from the judges.
Madison Scouts performed as if they had no pressure on them to win.
They completely lacked the bloodlust for victory that motivated
Crossmen
and Boston Crusaders or the gritty determination of Phantom Regiment.
Instead, they marched and played as if it was just themselves and the
audience. The result was an amazing, almost relaxed performance.
There
was thunderous applause for the rotating squads within the sliding
wedge
during the opener. The juggling rifles and high-energy Cossack dancing
earned enthusiastic applause. Even a brief collision followed by a
quick
recovery couldn't dampen the cheers. The back half of the show, which
has
been reworked since DeKalb, is now even more exciting. The field
percussion marched as fast as they played during the drum solo. The
dark
Russian singing transfixed the audience. The show concluded with a
very
sophisticated transition into a company front and then the return of
the
rotation squads inside a sliding block. The fans gave the corps a
screaming standing ovation and the judges recognized the effort with
first
places in GE Music, Percussion, and Total Music.
After Phantom Regiment's drum line played all the corps onto the
field
for retreat, the announcer read the caption awards for Music and
Percussion, presented to the Scouts, and Visual, presented to the
Crossmen,
giving hope to partisans of both corps. After the scores were
announced,
nearly all members of the audience stayed in their seats to listen to
Madison play "May You Never Walk Alone", "MacArthur Park", and
"Meadowlands" for their encore.
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