Westview FT: mini-review

[MalletMusic]

So i cruised out to Westview last night for their first annual FT and it was a pretty good show. The line up was sort of small but i was not disappointed with what i saw, especially in 6a.
Im not gonna review all the bands for sake of time, ill just review the bands i really liked.

El Camino: "Nightmare Before Xmas" 4a (?)
This show was pretty interesting, the played a medley in the beginning of Nightmare songs and then moved in to beetlejuice. The cool part was that their ballad was Sally's Song or something like that and the drum major actually sang the words while she conducted the band and it sounded pretty good. They didnt have uniforms on tonight, saying they were getting them by next weekend. As with everyone this early in the season its a little rough, but looks promising.

Westview: "Nightmare Before Xmas" - 5a
Hosts for the show. Good sounds, a LOT bigger than last year... getting up there with their crosstown bretheren. They went on right after El Camino and did the same show: Nightmare Before Xmas. The cool thing was i dont think they played any of the songs El Camino did so it wasn't like watching the same show twice. Colorguard is good. Low Brass very strong. New uniforms... are really dark, but its good seeing them in uniforms and not the buckets they used last year. Hope to see them grow this season, and on into 6a in the future.

Poway: "Circuitry" - 6a
WOW. WOW. Thats all i can say. First of all they walked onto the field in their BRAND NEW FJMiller uniforms. Green and white with black pants... VERY sharp uniforms. They announced they would be doing a Key Poulan show called 'Circuitry' and i thought it was weird they werent playing Richard Saucedo... and didnt expect much from the key poulan show. But at their full band impact i was blown away. They were the loudest and fullest band of the night, most visually clean, best colorguard. The show is based around electricity i think? with the guard wearing neon green and sort of computerized sounds coming from the pit. Their marching was really clean and they played so well. In the drum solo the band puts down their instruments in a ripple and sort of dances to the drums and the electronic sounds soming from the pit, ala "fight club" from Cavaliers 2002. Their show is not finished, but when it is it will be amazing, it is a shame they are not going to WBA this year, because they would definitely make a strong statement. Now i have a tough choice of going to RBV next weekend to see Vista and RBV or going to Poway Preview just to see this show again.

Rancho Bernardo: "Scheherazade, Polovotsian Dances (?)" - 6a
After watching Poway i was still in complete awe when RB came on the field. They started the show with Scheherazade, then went intoa ballad that i dont know, and finished with Polovotsian Dances (spelling). I dont think theyre as good at this point as they were last year. They turned around after a big block expansion for their first impact and their sound was.... quiet. Maybe it was because i expected somethin gas loud as Poway, but RB just wasn't as loud or as visually awesome as Poway. I didn't really like their treatment of scheherazaade either. But it was still a great show, as usual from RB. Hope to see them more often this season.

Well thats it. Its not much, just my 2 cents on the show. One thing i will say is that everyone who has a chance to see Poway will not be disappointed. They are the breakout group this year i believe. I will probably be at RBV next weekend but might stop by Poway at the end to check out their show one more time. Thanks

[liberatemenow]

i agree with your comment about rb i mean they are a great band but i was not grabbed by there show like i was in previous years...i liked powys show it was cool i wasnt tooo fond of there musical choice but they played that very well...

[Hangloose2002]

Ya, our (PHS) music choice seems more on the Techno side than in marching, and i belive if RB played a bit louder it would have been a better show.