I just arrived home from the DCI Tour Premiere in theaters. Tonight I got the first look at what some of the corps are doing this season. In my opinion, there were some hits and some misses.

Let's start with Blue Stars. I thought that the Blue Stars came out very strong. They already sound great this season. BUT I'm not in love with their concept or the Bob the Builder costumes. To be quite honest, I'm not convinced that I saw anything in the drill or visual design that had anything to do with building - besides the work benches and a few other props - the guard with measuring tapes. It'll be interesting to see how this one plays out in the long run.

Next, Phantom performed ...... (insert deeeeep sigh here)... No offense to anyone who loves their show this season - I grew up in IL and love Phantom - but their 2018 show, so far, is a major snooze fest. I don't get their props. Visually it's a hot mess .. Yes, I know it's still early season. Based on that performance, I don't even see it making finals this year. I and everyone around me were shocked that they beat Blue Stars tonight. As my brother Nathan stated, they should have been 7th out of 6 ( think about that one).

As the show went on, Boston took the field. ... I can describe this show in one word - WOW! Boston's show was by far my favorite show of the evening. They play and march their butts off. I love their show concept. They had the most interesting drill of the night. They're going to be unstoppable after they clean up their show. WOW!

Following Boston, I believe, was Bluecoats..... To be honest, I'm not digging them this season. They should fire their visual designer. I dislike those BIG CHAIRS! I really don't understand their purpose. - it's like props for the sake of having props. When they pull out the smaller chairs and sit on them, it gave me flashbacks of Blue Devils 2009 - a show that I severely dislike. I don't like how the guard stays in the back field a lot behind the BIG ANNOYING CHAIRS. Musically, the show is fine. Visually, it's a big no thanks for me. I'm hoping that this show grows on me because I've been a huge Bluecoats fan. P.S I could barely understand what the vocalist was singing.

After Bluecoats, the Cavaliers came out on fire! I love their show. Their brass line sounds amazing - and in my opinion one of the best brass lines they've had in several years. It's not my favorite Cavies show visually, but it's much more interesting than some of the others I saw tonight. My only issue with the show is how boring parts of the slow middle section is.

Finally, after so much hype, I had high hopes for Carolina Crown. I like their show, but so far, I don't love it. Of course, their brass line is outstanding. Their percussion is excellent this season - what an intriguing and challenging book. Their ballad is probably what brought down their GE score tonight - more snooze fest 2018. For that matter, I really wasn't impressed with anyone's ballad this evening, except for maybe Boston's. Also, I didn't even know that Crown's show ended until the drum major turned around. In my opinion, they end too abruptly. It didn't feel like the ending. I was expecting more.

Overall, there are some very competitive brass lines this season as everyone already has been saying. As usual, all of these corps will need to adjust their volumes for the electronics. Some of the mics were not loud enough - some of the mics were too loud. Cavies, especially, had some very overpowering samples - at times, I couldn't even hear the corps. The only show that I love - so far - is Boston Crusader's SOS. Cavies are my second favorite at the moment. It's time to purchase another FloMarching subscription - so I can see what the West coast corps are doing in 2018.

Crown won music tonight solwly based on the perc spread over Bloo. It's night 1 so the scores don't mean much, but an interesting result for sure. Couldn't make it out tonight, but I'll be at Allentown round 1 next weekend!

Didn't get the chance to see it but I find it interesting that bloo came on top. Should be a good season - really interested to see what happens with BD gets thrown on to the scoreboard.

I personally loved everything about bloo.

Crown's show is actually not finished. They have still yet to get epiphanies out on the field. So yes you should want more I guess!

Boston was great.

Cavies also great.

TL;DR: this is gonna be a terrific season for the top 8

I like Bloo's music. I recognized that opener from Blue Devil's 91 show.

I had no idea that Crown's show was unfinished. That explains a lot! :-)

nice write up. i agree with most of what you wrote except i thought phantom's show is okay and i like bluecoats too lol but i know what you mean. it's too early to judge them right now

I couldn't get into Phantom's show at all - neither musically or visually. I realize it's still early season. Maybe Bluecoat's show will grow on me as the show progresses. Right now, it's a good show musically. Visually, I just don't understand it.

Blue stars show didn't do it for me, I feel like the construction thing is not used at all in the show other than the props and the guard equipment. Musically it was fine but didn't really excite me. This will be an interesting show to see be developed, hopefully they can figure it out.

Phantoms show left a lot to be desired. Some parts are done well( like the 13 person quad break) but overall the show drags. Visually the props don't make sense and don't really contribute much to the show. I'm confident that they can fix their problems and do great later on.

Boston was my favorite, they are the corp to watch out for. from uniforms to props to music to visuals they knocked it out of the park. Marimba spiritual will probably be the best percussion break this season(at least until we see SCV's percussion). Visually it was great, I love the reuse of the fire and the use of the compass and the makeshift jungle. Once they clean the drill and the music they will surely be top 5 contenders.

Bluecoats show was okay. I like the jazz theme but didn't get the chairs at all. It just reminded me of Ayala's 2018 indoor show when I saw them. The vocals could've been better, just some adjustments to electronics could maybe solve that problem. the show was great musically but visually it needs work. It will be interesting to see how this show unfolds.

Cavies show was good but like phantoms it dragged for me a little. Their music is done really well from all aspects of the corp, from the marching xylophones to the vocals near the end. Visually it leaves much to be desired, maybe using the props a lot more will help them as well as just some clean up to the drill. Overall it was good but needs some work.

Crowns show was good, but it was over hyped. Visually it need more, i didn't really get the whole idea of the "Beast" and i feel like they could've used it more throughout the show. Musically it was good, the brass was great as it always is, and the percussion was fantastic, a top contender for high percussion come finals week. The show was good, but I feel like crown was holding back a little, but hopefully that changes later on in the season.

I was at the show live. My thoughts:

Blue Stars - really?
Phantom - ughhh. This is a hot mess.
Boston - im a big fan of the Crusaders. This show seems to be too literal. They spell things...neato! Did everyone predict that they would spell “found” at the end? Fans in the crowd were joking about it.....and then it happened. Corps uniforms are awful. After last years show, I was more than disappointed. They are a clearly talented bunch of performers and I’m certain their design staff will improve this show immensely throughout the year, but I really don’t see them making any leap in placement.
Cavaliers - where did they find a hornline!?! They ran out of steam at the end but the first impression was wow. I love the uniforms across the board. The transition from all black to screaming colors was effective as were their silk choices. They clearly have a talented design team. All that being said they were messy and unfinished. There is a lot of meat left on that bone and it will be interesting to see where they take this program.
Bluecoats- clearly the top dog tonight. They are fun, interesting throughout and can flat out entertain. The giant chairs were....”interesting” but not fully integrated yet. Uniforms are GREAT and really set the mood well.
Crown- great corps. Shitty show. The ballad doesn’t fit. The guard costumes are too similar to the corps uniforms which creates clarity problems throughout the program. They do nothing with their props (that’ll probably change)....somebody showed me a picture of their beast prop upside down and it’s a sad bunny(look for yourself). Man can they play though!!!! Wow! That hornline is FANTASTIC! They’ll make this show better, but I could not help thinking that this won’t be in the top 3.

Dang so critical. I get talking about stuff as fans but calm down about it lmao. 1. It's early season 2. I'd take blue stars and phantom over a bunch of marching band shows.