lukeshoots

“Observer effect is what me and many of my Gen Z cohorts would call a "Mega Brain" Show. As usual with the bluecoats design team, every visual aspect of this show is incredibly well thought out and refined. The idea of the observer effect being that we can only observe a moment of an event and not the entire totality, also that our act of observation causes an effect on the event. Speaking to how important our engagement and spectator experience of the marching art form is so integral to the activity. The designers love to play with your idea of perception. In the opener the drill and props set up the ensemble to resemble the Double-Slit experiment. In quantum mechanics this experiment demonstrates the observer effect. As the drumline approaches front field, they are separated and playing the same figures but with timing differences. You can only really listen in on one group to understand what you're hearing, forcing you to observe them independently and only really getting a decent read on that one event. The sidechaining effect used in the closer was really neat when utilized and will be interesting to see in the future. As we have seen in the past the bluecoats are always on the cutting edge of design and always spawn groups using the similar ideas in the years after. The use of live mixing and looping is pretty revolutionary as well. The ensemble has done similar effects in past shows (notably 2015,2019, and 2021) of having multiple small ensembles playing in a sequence or using samples. With the advent of recorded brass not being permitted the music team was able to find a loophole in this with using live sampling and looping. How they are able to line things up musically with this is impressive but the musical effect is powerful. Overall, this is an extremely progressive and cutting-edge show. It unfortunately stepped on its own feet a few times in execution but was still easily the strongest show design of the year.”

“Visually this program checks most of your typical top tier show boxes, but still somehow falls short with seemingly less inspired drill and staging than we're used to from the Blue Devils of years past. The musical arrangements for this show are excellent but seem to lack direction and energy in many moments. The theming and basis behind this show are second to none but it feels the design staff was never able to make it over the hump per se. I personally didn't hate the inclusion of the Soprano sax, especially in the introduction. I think it possibly could have gotten shoehorned into the musical program after the rule changes, but I'd like to think that isn't the case. The way the chairs transform to become stages and their use in the show is quite genius. The closer drill was fantastic and tight (matching with the final gathering moment) which was a refreshing dynamic moment in the staging era. special shoutout to the snareline for powering through the season and cleaning up their add in feature and making it great. The amount of dogpiling from the internet they received was so unnecessary and disrespectful of the work these performers put into these shows.”