SCC: Davenport Great River Show Choir Invitational (Day Two) 2008

OK, so I arrived in Davenport just in time to see Anamosa, and watched every group straight through to Kennedy. Let me start off with how I had the varsity groups ranked after the day round:

1) C.R. Kennedy
2) C.R. Washington
3) Davenport North (interchangable)
4) Iowa City West (interchangable)
5) Linn-Mar
6) Sauk Prairie
7) Iowa City High
8) Crete-Monee
9) Benton
10) Mount Prospect
11) Anamosa

Here are my thoughts on the shows I saw, in performance order:

Anamosa: The difference between your show at Benton and your show today was day and night. It's an entertaining show. I don't understand the brooms with the eyes, though... Keep working at it and you should be successful.

Benton: What can I say? You guys ROCKED. If the difference in Anamosa's performance was day and night, the difference in yours was... a lot more than that! I was not impressed last week, but that was understandable considering you were performing in exhibition. I couldn't believe how well the show went today. The male ballad soloist (the short one) is amazing - I had him in my top three for Best Male Soloist. Keep it up!

Iowa City West: Great, great show. I didn't get to see your show at Mount Pleasant so I was glad I was able to catch it here. Antwon does some really nice things with you guys. The guys' number is hilarious. The only thing that "bothered" me was your closer. What's with the trios in the back? You guys treat the whole song is like a dance break with some backround vocals. If you take the trios away and still have some vocal power, it'd be way more impressive.

Sauk Prairie: Saw you guys at Onalaska and was wondering, "What was that?" Not today, though. I really enjoyed the show. The uniqueness of it is what makes it so interesting. It's so clean and you guys perform it so well, too. I know I'm not the first person to tell you this but some more intense choreography would really help your scores. Also, if the group as a whole sang more often that might help, too - there was one part where the group didn't sing for abour 4 minutes or so. Glad to see you made finals, but too bad that you had to leave!

Crete-Monee: It didn't seem like it was meant to be. The microphones refused to work for you guys, but the little that we could hear of your soloists was quite good. Your dancing is pretty tight but could use some work. The main problem for you guys was I couldn't understand your words. I loved your closer!

C.R. Washington Celebration: It was a solid show. You guys are consistently one of the better prep groups, keep it up.

Mount Prospect: Probably the most disappointing group of the day. Maybe it was because I was coming into this with such high expectations. Your backdrop thing is AMAZING. Your choice of theme was AMAZING. And then the show was... eh. I will cut you a lot of slack because it is your first competition, and I know how those can go. The potential is completely there and I really hope you guys do well in the future.

Davenport North: Allright, I have to say it. I loved you guys. I saw you at Mount Pleasant and it was a good, solid show. Today, it was an amazing show. Your moves and music are tight and clean, and your soloists are stunning. I'm assuming it was the ballad soloist that won best male soloist, because he definitely deserved it. Your show is great and I really, really hope that you can improve your position in finals after catching a break. Go NSE!

Iowa City High: I liked the show a lot. The novelty number is pretty funny. Any group that dares to do "I Drove All Night" will always be compared to Clinton, so maybe that was why I wasn't a huge fan of that number. It really is a good show and you guys should continue to do well with it,

Linn-Mar: Ahh another interesting group here. You guys do sing well. And for the most part, you dance well. I guess I just wish for a more powerful opening. The choreography in the opener is not exactly powerful, and so to make it work it has to be perfectly clean. For this performance, it wasn't there - there seemed to be a lack of energy. Your songs all seemed to end abruptly, too. But like I said, your vocals were all there. I know you guys had a less-than-stellar daytime performance last year at Great River, and then turned it on at night. Maybe you did that again today? You just can't always count on that, though. Good luck with the rest of your season.

C.R. Washington Momentum: I was coming into this having heard that you guys were having a down year. Let me tell you, that is not the case. This show starts off with a bang and doesn't stop. It was all clean, it was all there, and it was great. I can't wait to see you guys again next week at Kennedy. Good luck tonight, I really hope you do well.

C.R. Kennedy: Here it is. Going into this competition, you guys had to be the favorites. After seeing you, that didn't change. Even a song that I wasn't really a fan of (Toledo Surprise) I still had to like, just because it was performed so well. There's really not much I have to say about you, because I'd just be saying "You guys were great." If you don't win this competition by a sizable margin I would be very surprised.

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Some thoughts I have on this competition in general:

I was surprised that finals continued. With five of the six finalist groups having to head west to get home, I think it was a risky decision. We'll see how it turns out. I know it sucks when competitions have to cancel finals, but I think the safety of the groups should be taken into effect.

Also, is Kevin Breazeale judging finals? I believe he was listed in the program as a choreographer of Iowa City West... I am surprised to see him add to the scoring judges for finals, considering one of his groups is actually in finals.

Great River was very well run. Excellent performance venue and very nice people. I had a good time there today.

Good luck to all groups in finals!