San Antonio via the web

OK –I got to see most all the 2006 shows via Season Pass this past weekend and here are my impressions.
At the San Antonio afternoon session Division 1 corps ranked 9 thru 22 provided a great afternoon of drum corp with the top four scores earning a spot at the evening show.
The Madison Scouts stole the afternoon session with a riveting performance of there Primal Forces show. This show is fast, loud and appealing with a beautiful version of Ennio Morricone’s “Gabriel’s Oboe” in the middle..
Madison finished second to The Blue Knights 2006 edgy and avant garde production titled Dark Knights.
The evening session proved that Drum Corp is in great shape in 2006. All 12 corps have extremely entertaining shows with a lot of parity in the middle.
Positions 6 thru 10 are a virtual toss up between Crown, SCV, Boston, Madison and the Blue Knights. I give Crown the edge at this point but all the corps are so good that on any given night one could beat the other. Blue Coats and Phantom will battle it out for third this year , both fielding elite corps and having extremely appealing shows. But lets face it, we all came to see the Cavaliers vs the Blue Devils. The 2006 Caviliers are as good as ever and maybe better. They are a machine and perform “Machine” in which every moving parts fits and sounds close to perfect. Quite simply it is music and movement that will awe and please you. When the show ended I wondered how the Blue Devils could top this but they did not disappoint.
The Godfather, Part Blue will go down as one of the great Blue Devils drum shows ever. Wayne Downey has pinned Nino Rotas familiar and haunting movie music to transpose great on the field. The show has drama and builds with the integration of stunning visuals and percussion. The corp is in top notch shape and delivers form beginning to end. When all was said in done
The Cavaliers took the evening by .55 with one GE judge giving them a .7 point edge over BD. But this far from over with the Cavaliers being the real "Green Machine" and the Blue Devils making us a “deal we can’t refuse”.