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The Main, Big, Public Show part one at Cardiff Coal Exchange.
I thought the show was very, very good. Not quite excellent but last years show with Anthony Gatto, The Gandinis, etc, was very hard to follow. The show at York was easily one of the best juggling shows ever. Cardiff couldn't really compete. But then, it didn't have to.
I thought most the acts were fantastic but the energy dropped every time the comperes stepped on stage. I'm not sure who they were but the cockney hardnut act they put on seemed strained and simpey wasn't funny. There was no adlibbing and they took ages to say anything. Not to worry. On with the acts...
Take That Out. Not a boy-band tribute act. A german juggling trio who specialised in stealing clubs from each others hands and throwing them back in at random times. I'm sure some of those tricks were done by slight of hand because they seemed pretty impossible to me. For me, this first act was the highlight of the evening.
Jason Maverick. No juggling but a hilarious comedy routine. "Tribute to Chocolate" was a work of genius. Just the type of humour I relate to, no idea why. Note to self: to get the audience on your side, throw buckets of chocolate at them.
It's hard to make out but this is in fact Kayleigh and Leigh on stage. I don't think I have anything to say about them that I haven't said already.
Donald Grant highland flinged the diabolo. No, that pun doesn't really work. Oh well, I might as well leave it in. Donald performed a flawless act with one and two diabolos and even managed to look like William Wallace. Nice.
Tom Baker played with his basketballs. This is when the height of the stage really annoyed me. It simply wasn't high enough. Just an extra foot would have let us see the whole of the performers and therefore actually succeed in the purpose of a stage. Not to worry. The variety of Tom's tricks were amazing and very fast paced. He had a few goes at Brunn's Impossible Trick which, as a juggling audience, we all really appreciated. He didn't quite manage it though, which was a pity but his act as whole certainly wasn't a disappointment.
Mimbre threw each other around like nobody's business. At last, an acrobalance act where they look like they are enjoying themselves. TEN OUT OF TEN GREAT BUYER A+++++++.
Everyone who I heard talking about Stickleback Plasticus before the act made them out to be the comedy act of the century. Unfortunately because of all this hype when I watched the act I was slightly disappointed. I think I had set my expectations a bit high. They were very, very funny but not quite what I had been lead to believe. The costumes and dance were fantastically over the top. Strictly Ballroom on acid.
Emmanuelle did a routine with six crystal balls but everything he did was too small. Talking to people afterwards it seemed like everyone at the front of the hall liked his act and everyone at the back didn't, simply because they couldn't see what he was doing. And there wasn't much variety from beggining to end. Or I couldn't see any from where I was. Oh well.
Manu Laude performed a routine that I've seen lots of times. It is still one of my favourites though. He doesn't just juggle, he dances with his clubs. And his act was flawless apart from one catch of a club by the wrong end.
To whoever had the kids that wouldn't shut up: what were you thinking? Just take them outside or don't bring them in the first place, there's no need to spoil the show for everyone else.
Next, the penultimate act, "Barry & Joan Grantham - putting the Razz in Razzmatazz". Or something. They wanted us to experience an old vauderville act called "Hats". The act must have been one performed by four year old children. That is the only thing I can think of to explain the total crapness of what they performed. Maybe I'm missing something. All we saw was two old age pensioners litterally shuffling about on stage. And they say TV killed vauderville. Maybe it was another act that you had to be near the front to appreciate but nobody was that far forward. All the way through I was waiting for them to suddenly do something really good and surprise us by their skill but it never happened. There was a few embarrassed applauses at random points. Then the man span a plate, which was almost a juggling skill, but it turned out to be a fake plate and stick, which were stuck together. Ho ho. I don't know what to say really. They were the second worse act I saw the entire weekend including all the renegade shows, and from the quality of some of the renegade that is going some.. and they were the second last act in the public show! I hope they were removed from the second show. No? Maybe someone in a high place liked them.
 
To the final act. The four boys known only as "The Russians". If by that name they are seen to represent their country with their juggling, I don't think any Russian would have a problem with that. Aged 12 to 13, they are some of the best club passers I have ever seen of any age. They made 9 clubs between two of them look easy. And here is a video of their finale... 16 clubs between the 4 of them. I loved their use of platforms to create different heights and levels throughout the act. All round amazing juggling and they even put in a bit of dancing too. The only problem was that their act didn't last long enough and they didn't do an encore. In fact, as an encore they could have performed their entire act again and we would have been more than happy. Have you watched that video yet? Well, I cut off the standing ovation.
Right at the end the boys were given loads of juggling equipment donated by the traders. They had just done that astounding performance with odd clubs because they simply can't afford to get new props in their home country. A worthwhile charity cause if I've ever seen one but as a juggler I might be slightly biased.
On the bus back to the school the only topics of conversation were the last two acts. No surprises there.
The last renegade.
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