SCC: Hastings Swingin' On The River 2025

Since my commentary on a competition last week (Urbandale) was well-received, I figured I’d do a similar thing for this one! I arrived just in time for Jive at 10:45 and stayed through the remainder of daytime.
These are just some positive things that I thought were memorable about each group. If I don’t mention something, that doesn’t necessarily mean it was lacking, it may have simply met my expectations or I didn’t want to restate an artistic decision that I liked with a previous group.
“Favorite” is just what I liked most, not who I think should get the most points from the judges using common scoring criteria
Anyhow, congrats to everybody involved on your hard work coming to fruition, and here’s my commentary!

Jive (theme: school’s out, summer, then back-to-school)

Soloist mics balanced very well
Good choral sound
Trumpeter has great tone
I never had a moment in the show where I thought “please do something with the dynamics other than bumping the volume knob” so good job on that!

Swing Cats (theme: words can hurt, but they can also heal)

Thank you for explaining the theme at the start
Y’all got the feel of the 5/4 time very well in the opener
At first, I thought the wall props needed some graffiti but I figured that might change (e.g. flipping the props around). Turned out the change was even cooler than that (I won’t spoil it for anybody)
Very good soloists, I could tell y’all put work into finessing every single consonant and vowel and it turned out great!
Loved the brass in the dance break before the ballad

Titan Express (theme: I’m not sure, but I’m not good at picking out lyrics and the set was fun and all the songs went together so no complaints here!)

Favorite choreo in the first dance break
Second song is a banger
Nice earrings! Also the second tuxes were pretty cool
Favorite performer: whoever was in front center in second-to-last song

Celebration Co (theme: meta show about show choir at a competition)

“5 to 5” instead of “9 to 5” lol
Costumes were great throughout
Band has good blend
Favorite soloist in ballad
Favorite chord shortly before “so when heartache….” in the ballad
Set contained several well-executed dynamic drops and subsequent buildups
I like how the band brought back something from earlier in the show instead of simply playing their previous section again

Midwest Express (theme: ghost in the graveyard; “Are You Afraid of the Dark?”)

Blasty trombone is not everybody’s cup of tea, but is certainly mine, good job
Literally got goosebumps after “you can literally hear their cries” before the ballad. Also at other points in the ballad. So it’s been my favorite ballad so far, and the lighting effects are simple yet powerful, I felt really engaged with this show!
Favorite dance break in song after ballad
Definitely the most impactful show to me

Vocalmotive (theme: masquerade prom; “remove the mask and see your authentic self”)

I like the use of the string synth to fill up the upper frequencies, and the super low piano at start of ballad to fill out the lower ones
Favorite choreo in the closer
The masks were cool and it only occurred to me how weird it was to not be able to see the faces of performers for half the set; I still liked the variety this gave to the event overall and gave me something deeper to think about

Jefferson Connection (theme: True North; finding affinity with our region)

Favorite set
Nice dance break after opener
Favorite acting in “lost in the woods”
Final costumes go so well with the set
Favorite chord at end of ballad
Liked how quieter sections were arranged throughout this show

West In the Groove (theme: sunrise to sunset, with a few stops along the way)

Thank you for explaining the show this time! I saw you guys last week and now I know exactly what it is
I like it when bands play something before the choir starts, great work!
loved the first crescendo and chord change
Idiomatic soloists, I like the variety of styles
Body percussion was pretty tight!
Second song was very groovy
Clarinet solo was excellent and very well-crafted; there was a nice call and response with the band, and hitting the high note at the end was the icing-on-the-cake!
Liked how ballad was second-to-last instead of in the middle; this makes the closer seem more like an actual closer instead of an afterthought and I wish more show choirs did this
Favorite ballad
Favorite performer is guy in front center during opener

Silver Connection (theme: road trip)

nice drum groove in first dance breaks (ride bell for the win!)
Good transition to ballad
Liked the acappella section at end of ballad, wish I heard show choirs used textures like this more often
GLISSANDO from trombone was quite nice
Accelerando into last number was great!!
Hit ‘em with the turbo is my earworm so far
Favorite arranging so far

Titanium (theme: no idea, I have a good ear for notes and rhythm but not for lyrics; it was a fun show and nothing seemed really out-of-place)

love the first outfits, quite striking
stunning choral stuff at the beginning
Interesting boomy bass stuff
Favorite choreo in second song
Great dancing soloists in ballad
Favorite performer: backflipper

Amazing Technicolor Show Choir (theme: don’t give up, because the future starts now?)

Snappy choreo throughout, my favorite of the night overall thus far
Favorite performer: baritone soloist in second song
2-3 resolved suspension at the end of ballad was lovely
Soloist combo was great
Pretty good band
Banger of a dance break within “future starts now”
Favorite chord is the dissonant “now” right before the first applause in the closer (if it’s not supposed to be dissonant, I’m so sorry, it still sounded really cool, I promise!)

Rhythm In Gold (theme: “Diamond of the Season” involving Victorian-era courtship)

Band is also dressed in 18th-century garb
Favorite acting is the writer at beginning; was some other great stuff throughout the show
Meticulous costumes and set

I’ll recap my favorites once I get home, I had a lot of them