Notes Dump: DCI Quarterfinals

Part 2 of my who-knows-how-many-part recap of DCI Championship weekend. Out of responsibility to the blogosphere (and most of all, myself) I took the opportunity during DCI quarterfinals to take some notes with the intent of sharing. This was also when I allowed myself to take pictures, with the expectation that I'd get that out of my system so that I may give all the remaining corps my undivided attention during semis and finals. At this point I'll attempt to put into longerhand the notes I jotted down. If I don't have notes on a particular corps, that's the only thing it means--no disrespect is intended or implied.

The Academy, from Arizona, was one of only a handful of World Class corps I had not seen live before. While they didn't make it out of the first day, I was impressed with their sound output.

Pacific Crest was another corps I hadn't seen live before. Their 2008 program, Primality:The Rituals of Passion, featured a guard member as a drummer. Or was that a drummer as a guardie?

The Troopers were clearly the people's champ of the 1st set. People were to their feet at the mere sighting of America's Corps. Their showwas strong with a lot of the marching basics--gate and pinwheel turns reigned supreme.

I'm not 100% in love with Madison Scouts' new uniforms. That takes nothing away from their play, however. I noted them as the first hornline to truly scorch when facing away from the audience.

I got to see the Glassmen for the second time at quarters, the first having been in Charlotte at NightBEAT. Solid show, but they continued to anger the environmentalist in me by letting balloons go.

The Blue Stars' cycling themed "Le Tour" was another crowd pleaser. I enjoyed the show, but call me cynical, it read to me much as a bike version of Triple Crown, Carolina Crown's program from last year.

The Bluecoats' hornline really impressed me with a horn riff during which they left themselves completely naked and exposed and came out clean. This was immediately followed by... singing?

Ah, The Cadets... Narration be damned, their saving grace has always been that when it comes down to it, they really are that damn good at what they do. But this year, were they, even at their finest, demonstrably better than some of the other corps?

My notes for Phantom Regiment, the eventual champion who put on a "Spartacus" show, simply read "Bad ass!" There was much hype leading up to the show because I had been hearing about their program, and trust me when I say it lived up to every bit of it. I'll gush about it in full in the next post.

I was also seeing Carolina Crown for the second time in Bloomington. It seems to me their staging was constantly designed to say, "Look how many contras we have!" It's 16, for the record.

Some "clever" group of younglings shouted out "Go Shaniqua!" prior to the Cavaliers' performance. The Cavs are an all-male corps, which would make this mildly amusing, if not overdone.

A margin of my little notepad also has a list entitled "Plate Club". Several corps were marching cymbals this year, including The Colts, Spirit, The Academy, Pioneer, Pacific Crest, Madison Scouts, Crossmen, and of course, Santa Clara Vanguard.

Up next, I'll really break it down for y'all.