Saturday May 30th marked the first big magic show I attended in 12 years and there’s nobody else I would have rather saw than Criss Angel. Part of the reason I hadn’t been to any magic shows is because after 5th grade I sort of retired from doing magic as a hobby. The only time I did magic was in high school for the occasional talent show but once those curtains closed I stopped doing magic for good.
That is… until 2013. I was randomly on the computer watching episodes of A&E’s Duck Dynasty and when I looked through the other shows listed on A&E’s website, I found Criss Angel Mindfreak. I’ve seen him on TV before when I did magic as a kid so I got curious and watched an episode and that’s when the magic bug took a big bite out of me once again. After watching him on TV, I thought the stuff he was doing was super cool and it made me want to bring magic back. I am at the age now where people start accepting others for who they are and everyone realizes that we're all unique. Also, I’m in the midst of college. I’ve gotten pretty popular over the years and always had a strong friend group. Not many of them knew I did magic back then so it made things all the more fun. During those parties, I would whip out a deck of cards and literally "mindfreak" all my friends. They were impressed, and I haven’t stopped since.
Since that day I rediscovered magic, there have been more magic on TV that I was paying attention to. There was Criss Angel BeLIEve on Spike TV that fall as well as a special by David Blaine. Those things only added to my re-obsession with magic. Criss in particular, I knew I had to see live. I’ve seen all the great magicians throughout my life, from Seigfried and Roy, to Lance Burton, to David Copperfield. Those guys are now either retired or past their prime while Angel has dominated magic for the past 10 years. Now he joins that elite group of magicians I’ve gotten the privilege to see.
Over the last year I was going through a lot of tough times. One of the few things that kept me sane was practicing my magic behind closed doors. Magic has provided an escape from the troubles I had. It was at that time when I learned that Criss Angel was thinking about touring. Knowing that I couldn’t afford to get to his show at Vegas, I knew that I had a chance to see him as soon as 2015. In the fall was when he announced his first few tour dates, those included Foxwoods in Connecticut, Easton, and Long Island, his hometown. Then in late February things got very interesting. He tweeted he was gonna tour again in May and he would announce the dates the following month. What followed was a long month and a half. Every time I got near a computer I checked his twitter during that entire month of March. He even said during one certain week he would announce the dates… he didn’t. Then in the very last week of March I was having a rough day. I came home from track practice and turned on my laptop about to write a paper and that’s when I found out the news that I had been waiting for during the last month and a half: Criss Angel is coming to Baltimore. I was hoping DC but Baltimore was close enough.
I called my dad and told him to get tickets the minute tickets went on sale, and I thank him for coming through with that. I almost got them myself and was gonna try and go alone since I'm the only one in my family that's into magic but he wanted to come too. I was six rows from the stage and it was $130 a ticket, which was worth every penny. The negative reviews of the show scared me a little bit, I’m not gonna lie, but I was pretty open-minded about going and glad I got to check off another thing on my bucket list.
The theatre was the Modell Performing Arts Center at the Lyric, which is mostly an opera house. The theatre was beautiful and my seats were great with an incredible view of the stage. The show opened up with two of his assistants fooling around. Their names were “The Great Maestro” who was a short, Mexican guy and his wife “Fifi.” They did some pretty silly stuff with a couple of magic tricks here and there and were messing around with the audience, all in good fun. There was even a part where Fifi introduced Criss Angel but instead it was Maestro just dressed up as him, which drew laughs from the audience. Eventually after a couple of tricks and a failed attempt at a straightjacket escape, Maestro asked the audience if they wanted to see the real Criss Angel. The audience responded with a roaring applause.
What followed was a sick intro video showing all the stuff he’s done on TV, including some of the craziest things that no one would even try to do. Just to name a few, this dude has hung from a helicopter from fishhooks in his flesh, jumped from a motorcycle into some pyro and disappeared, escaped from being chained to a car with a speeding car nearly hitting him and walking up the side of buildings. The one trick he did that I saw him do on TV that ultimately made me want to start doing this magic thing again was when he levitated above the Luxor pyramid in the light more than 500 feet above the Las Vegas strip. During the video, I was literally on the edge of my seat. I was about to see the magician I looked up to and admired for a long time.
After the intro he appeared and yelled out loud, “Baltimore are you ready?” If you’ve seen him on TV, you would think that he’s very dark and serious. When you see him live, you’d be surprised to find out that he’s actually a very funny and a down to earth guy.
Out of respect for Criss, I’m not gonna give away too much of what he did but I will talk about my favorite parts of the show. I liked his short presentation in the beginning about his life and how far he has come. I also enjoyed when he talked about Lance Burton. When I was a kid, Lance Burton was my favorite magician growing up so it was cool for me to see how the two of them are great friends. As part of a tribute to Lance, who is now retired, Criss did his own version of Burton’s sword fighting act. Lance inspired me back then, and Criss is one of those magicians that inspires me now so it’s neat to see that connection.
Another thing I liked was when Criss showed off on the videoboard his collection of bikes and choppers. He called up a female and took her around the stage showing her and the audience that everything was fair. He brings in a platform and covers it up and asks the girl to name one of the six bikes. She picks one then two seconds later it appears right on top of the platform. How the hell did it get there?
He also did one trick where he disappeared and a few seconds later appeared right in the middle of the audience. He appeared only three rows behind me, though I wish he ended up in the row behind me so I could’ve dapped him up.
I really enjoyed the way he interacted with the audience. He even went right in the middle of the crowd (there was a camera for those that weren’t near him to see what was going on) and did a close up magic act with coins using the dexterity of his hands to multiply them, something you gotta see to believe. Close up magic is one of the purest forms of the art of magic and certainly one of the most challenging because the audience is just inches away from you.
Near the end of the show, Criss talked about city of Baltimore and expressed his love and support for the people of Baltimore hoping that things will get better after all the stuff that happened there during the month of April. He brought to light the importance of unifying as a community. He wasn’t making any political statements. He was asked to cancel his show during the week of the riots but he didn’t want to because he wanted to bring positivity to Baltimore and support the city. When the show ended, he got a well-deserved standing ovation from the sold-out crowd.
After the show I went out to dinner in the Inner Harbor. When I left the restaurant I ran into the cast members of the show, including Maestro. It was awesome getting to talk to them for a few minutes and they were glad I enjoyed the show. I wish Criss was with them so I would’ve gotten to shake his hand and thank him for the inspiration he provided me to return to magic. He had to leave after the show to catch a plane to New York to see his family, which is totally understandable. If he brings the tour to my hometown in Washington, D.C. I have a good feeling I’ll get a chance to meet him.
In all I give this show five stars, no wait, I'd give it a million stars! This was the most hyped I’ve been for a magic show since that day I saw Lance Burton when I was eight years old. In fact, the hype I had for this show pretty much matched any big concert or sporting event I’ve gone to in the past couple years. Mindfreak Live lived up to the hype and was everything I hoped it would be and more. I was completely blown away and walked out of the theatre inspired. If you ever have the chance to see Criss Angel, go. You won’t regret it.
There’s not a single magician that has impacted the art of magic the way Criss Angel has for the last decade. He’s helped put magic back on the map and made magic cool again. He is a rockstar and after watching him live I feel like my magic can only get better. Walking out of that theatre, I felt inspired and now I want to work harder on my magic and make it better. I want to learn new tricks and improve my performance style. Criss said himself, “If you have a dream and you work hard, you will achieve that dream.” You just gotta believe.
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| From his twitter |
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