6/24 - Innovations in Brass: Pittsburgh

Bluecoats - 74.900 Blue Stars - 67.900 Madison Scouts - 67.100 Boston Crusaders - 64.000 Troopers - 63.700

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So, I am going to break down each corps, then I will give my final 2 cents. Troopers- Music and visual were the strong points for this corps. You can tell that the music and visual program will grow exponentially as well just by the energy they brought to this performance. GE, however, may be an issue for the Troopers. It seems that the theme they are going for is not matching up to what they are bringing to the field. It will be very challenging to match the GE category with the same excellence as the visual and music especially. Colorguard came out in 5h tonight, however I thought they, as a unit, performed very well, and added to their great visual program. Boston- They seem to be coming out of a rough start. As opposed to last year where the theme seemed to be very bought into and motivated, this year the same feeling doesn’t come across. Colorguard is great, I would say just as solid as last year. They are helping their visual program a lot, as the main product seems to be lacking, as seen by the last place finish in visual. GE also needs to be more defined just as I said for the troopers. After seeing their 2013 show early season, and then at finals, I can tell you that BAC is no stranger to huge and numerous changes to their show (for the better of course). Finally, they got last in music, and it seems from their performance that the brass is a little thin. This issue is obviously fixable, and I see them rising in this caption as the season continues. Madison Scouts-A ton of energy once again. They were practically third in every category, which really shows what they are. Every caption that they portray is as good as the others. They are a very balanced corps, and I think that is very special. GE is great right now, however it may be hard to maintain that as the season marches on. Music and percussion were on fire, and Visual was great. Colorguard complimented the visual program well. They will be hot going into mid-season. Blue Stars-I enjoyed the show once again. They haven’t added a whole lot yet, but it is getting there. As seen through the scores, their GE and music is very deep. I predict that we will see quite a bit more come mid-season in regards to these two captions. Their visual was also very good, but still needs to clean up a bit. Although they were second across the board in almost all categories, colorguard placed 4th. Colorguard might need to step it up as the summer progresses to lift up the visual caption so it doesn’t fall behind their great music and GE. Percussion was sizzling as always, love the hype. Bluecoats- Coats always bring their A-game, and tonight was no different. Their brass is getting better every night, and their visual program matches it in excellence. Percussion was phenomenal, and colorguard is a step up from last year. In my opinion, they are overflowing in GE. The constant reunion of the theme and music is marvelous, and I can see them really making a push for first. Bloo. Here are my final thoughts. Stars, Madison, Boston and Troopers are all improving gradually, and are competing with each other closely. Bluecoats, however, are competing for the top 5/top 3/ first. Bloo had a great score tonight, and it really sets them up well for the rest of the season by how much they are growing as compared to the other four corps. Obviously the staff understands how the right changes can really add to the shows individual captions. Finally, watch out for Troopers vs. Boston, and Madison vs. Blue Stars, it will be quite a dog fight, as will the top 5.