Saturday August 12

College Park, MD (DCI) 2000 DCI World Championships This is for all the people out there that couldn't make to one of the most exciting finals in a while. Overall the shows were great and i was happy to see the bluecoats back in. Although, if southwind had made it i would have been as equally as happy. My seats were on the forty yardline about five rows down from the entrance of the stands. Talk about lucky huh? On to the reviews! Bluecoats - they had a great hornline an i was also impressed with the drumline. They had some really great riffs and a great drill move where they snaked through a block of the hornline. Can't say that i really like the guard though, the uniforms were a little too revealing for them. I'm glad to see them using some different equipment. Crown - Living in the south, every show i went to down here, they were at it. Early in the season, this show had some really great potential, but it seems it just didn't click at the end. For some strange reason, the hornline had been backed off major finals week. I think they were actually louder in JUNE. If they could just get a few people to blow, they probably have scored much higher. The drumline was phenomal and the guard really had some beatiful moments. I wouldnt be surprised to see them as a contender in five or ten years. I heard they've dropped out of YEA!, so we'll just have to see what happens. Madison - At Murfreesboro, i was all about this show. They came out on fire and absolutely blew me away there. All i could think was conspiracy. At finals, it was a completely different story. It just didn't do it for me. I cant say why, but it had a lot to do with the guard. Every big toss, someone would just let it fall to the ground. I hope they come out with a corps a little cleaner next year. Crossmen - Good show! My favorite from them in a while. Birdland didnt get annoying either. I know this is the third time in five years, but this arrangment was different. Dont have really much to say about them except i'm glad it wasn't ricky martin. Glassmen - Early season, this show was about as boring as possible. Guess what? It didn't change at all. Some great chords, and nice drill moves but, still, it felt like the show went on forever. I hope they go back to the music style they played in '98 and '99. I really enjoyed those shows. Phantom - Talk about a great show. Last year, i lied to myself and said i liked it. Not this year. It was great from beginning to end. The brass line could really put out some volume and the drum line was as clean as ever. the marching wasn't as bad as said and the visuals were great too. I can't really remember anything about the guard, so maybe that's why their visual scores were so low. I expected tehm to actually beat BK finals night. They were much more intense. BK - Semis, they were great. Finals, they lost a lot of the precision they had. I've said it before, 11 minutes of running around and dancing just doesnt do it for me. I will admit it though, it seems like they are the future of corps to me. Does anyone else agree with me? BAC - AMAZING!!!!!! I dont really care what people say about their show being so easy. It deserved to be exactly where it was. Again, early season, i wasn't impressed at all with them, and couldnt understand why they were placing where they were, but they proved me wrong thank god. Their ballad was simply awesome. I didnt care much for the singing at all. But then again, it probably would have been much better if people weren't yelling BOSTON countinously through it. I was thouroughly impressed with the Closer. For ten seconds, every melody played in the show was played at teh beginning of fiesta. I can seriously see them beating the CADETS in the east next year. SCV - Without a doubt, the most artistic show of the evening. Adagio for Strings was amazing. I seriously thing that if their show was cleaner, it would have easily won hands down. I hope to see them play another jazz piece next year. I cant remember exactly, but i think i saw a whole lot of green feathers out there. Lets see what happens next year. BD - They came out to play finals night. I didnt hear a second place hornline friday or saturday, but they were dead on finals night. I especially enjoyed the tag at the very end of the show and the guard guy who took off running at the end. The drumline wasnt as clean as years before, but they had a really difficult book with all the speeding up and slowing down. Hmm, i wonder if they might be in conention for the title next year? Congrats to Eric!! CAVIES - One of MY most favorite shows ever. I thought they should have beaten CBC big time. I wont really get into it, but i know they had a better brass sound than CBC. They came out on fire finals night too. They had some pretty amazing drill moves and visuals this year. I thought they were going to put another ending on the show, but the park and blow was alright with me. It was no doubt, where i was sitting anyways, the crowd pleaser of the evening. I've already watched the telecast a few times, but i don't get the same feeling when i saw it live during the jazz section. There was a lot going on in the pit that you just cant here on the video. Kudos to them for trying something new this year. CBC - I'll say it, even though people are going to get upset. I dont understand why they scored as high as they did finals night. Well, they shouldn't have scored higher than they did in semis. That show was really CLEAN. And for someone to say that about the CADETS, it means really clean. The whole show was pretty boring to me, except for the accompany front where they play the big chords and the entire third song. CADETS, what CADETS? You couldn't tell it was them during that whole production. I would expect to see something like that out of Madison. High brass, absolutely not. The *trumpets* during the closer were terrible. Someone needs to teach them how to tune. I hope this helps so people out there who just couldnt make it to finals. Sorry if i offended anybody with my comments too, but its just the way i saw it. See you in Buffalo next year. John Ferland

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