Honest Criss Angel Review from Last Night in Akron, OH

RickEverhart

forum moderator / t11
Elite Member
Sep 14, 2008
3,637
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Louisville, OH
Last night my wife and I were able to take in Criss Angel's RAW show in Akron, OH. I splurged for the $80 a piece tickets which were about 15 rows back from center stage. Anything in front of that was double the cost and I didn't think it would matter that much (which it didn't).

Not much to purchase prior to show. He had $55 black hoodies, $28 t-shirts and a hat. I would have thought posters or other memorabilia would have been there or even his book.

This is just an honest review from myself. Do not turn this into a BASH fest of why you hate or dislike Criss. Keep in mind this was the first actual show he has done coming from the Luxor the night before. I'm not trying to get anyone all fired up.

Opening - Nice intro to up beat/tempo music as a highlight video played for about 2 minutes on all of the screens. This was awesome and definitely set the mood to get everyone pumped up.
You could see the audience around us getting excited myself included. Ha.

All audience members were asked to post on twitter and Instagram and one would be selected for a meet and greet after the show. (One was selected however, nobody in the audience even screamed or shouted that they were the winner so we weren't even sure if someone in fact did win.) A meet and greet for an additional ticket price like Rob Zombie and other big musicians do, would have been nice. I know some guys do $150 and you get to do meet and greet, which includes a shirt, poster, a signature and photo. Oh well....I'll shut up.

I honestly cannot remember every single effect, however, I will try my best to give you what he performed. Photos and video were NOT allowed and if you were caught doing it on your phone you were asked to leave immediately with no refund. This was taken very seriously and people were watching all the rows.

Opening with the weird spider type dancing assistant while Criss did a mime/type dance was interesting. She definitely has some talent. Criss's dancing looked a bit odd at times and forced but I won't judge because I cannot dance whatsoever....lol.

Thread by Wayne Houchin - played okay and was a nice small effect as intended. :)

Swallowed a borrowed ring and cut his chest open to pull the ring out on string. Looked cool and gory, but the fake blood was a bit too red. Maybe darken it some. Definitely enjoyed it though.

Razor blades swallowed
and brought back out on string. Looked AWESOME and I enjoyed the added touch of using the camera down the throat. Very convincing. This played quite well. Well done.

Trunk/Chest Prediction - most of you know the method and I won't tip it, but it played out as it should have. It was sweet to watch the timing and misdirection and load sequence on this one.
Two thumbs up and the two female assistants divert your attention....LOL. I was glad my wife didn't smack me.

He had a card manipulator come out and produce cards. I do not remember the man's name but he was excellent.

Metamorphosis combined with the straight jacket was Super. It was fast and audience went nuts.

Coin Matrix on Steroids - WOW...looked incredible. Well done and close up with cameras on him.

While Seated at a table with 4 female audience members
(although the one was a plant for sure)

Borrowed iPhone slammed into a glass vodka bottle - looked great and sounded great. Very convincing as well and had the audience stunned.

Snake from lady's purse - didn't open up all the compartments of the purse which even my wife picked up on right away. Also...who when they walk up on stage carries their own big purse when it realistically would have been left with hubby or boyfriend back at the seat.

Hundy 500/Extreme Burn - What can I say? This always looks incredible. The follow up routine changing the 1 single leftover dollar to a $100 with the wipe of a hand looked bad. He had a tough time with the gimmick and with the camera zoomed in it was apparent of the gimmick flap. Not sure how he could clean this up other than the camera man not zooming in so close on the "get ready".

Spider Production - Worst gimmick box I've seen. When it opened you could see the outline of the box on the tray even though the crazy design was meant to hide it. Ugh....there has to be a better looking gimmick or pattern to use which isn't so obvious.

Slamming his arm through his male assistants body looked so horrible I had to cringe and laugh. He was so obvious to all of us around that his arm just came around from the side. Ugh...pull this out of the show now Criss. Yikes. Even people beside me said it looked terrible.

Banachek came out and did some mentalism. Although he is wonderful...with today's day and age, most of the info he was pulling could easily have been pulled from the ticket sales slips, names and Facebook posts on their page with a little help. The audience applauded but didn't seem that impressed. It is what it is and it did help break up the show some.

Slydini's Balls Over the Head Routine "Modernized"
with items out of a purse with a female audience member was a nice touch and went over awesome. Well done with the old classic Criss. It was funny and highly engaging for the volunteer and the audience.

Mentalism routine with stuffed animals
- Cute routine with two volunteers and I don't want to ruin it for you but it was cool. Nice kicker ending that involved something I didn't see coming.

Mentalism Routine with a dollar bill from an audience member - Criss was able to show a "pre-recorded" video of himself from a year ago displaying a one dollar bill which would match the exact same dollar bill and serial number from an audience member who was randomly selected. Now yes, she was definitely selected fairly, I don't doubt that. But Criss did WAY too much talking to give someone back stage enough time to edit a short video clip of "hands showing a matching dollar bill and then him getting in the Lambo she had also selected and driving away.
It played okay and I honestly don't know how else to improve this effect other than "technology" and video editing is a big answer to anyones questions on how this worked.

Levitation on the stage - you know he is known for this. Although everyone knows there were cables you sure as hell couldn't see them which was great! Looked phenomenal.

Snow Storm/Changed to Rose Petals/Red Paper - Everyone has seen Kevin James perform this, but again criss modernized it and made it his own and unique. I applaud his effort here and the effect was well received. It was very artistic and tied in nicely with the Vegas tragedy.

Overall my wife who has some knowledge of magic thought it was a great show and worth the price we paid. I would agree that he was a great showman and he gave the audience what they had hoped to see. I'm sure the kinks will get worked out and it will improve each and every night.

On a 1-10 with 10 being the best possible show. Last night I would have given it an 8. I thoroughly enjoyed my evening and would encourage others to go see the show when they have the opportunity.
 

RickEverhart

forum moderator / t11
Elite Member
Sep 14, 2008
3,637
471
46
Louisville, OH
I hear his show is an improvement from believe which was terrible. I have not seen wither so this is just hearsay but good for him for stepping it up!

Yeah, when I was in Vegas I chose to see Penn and Teller instead of Believe. I had heard back reviews of Believe as well, but figured since he was coming so close to my area I would give it a go and I was not disappointed at all. I truthfully enjoyed his performance and really liked seeing his actual sleight of hand and such with coin matrix.
 

obrienmagic

Elite Member
Nov 4, 2014
1,469
1,422
Orange County, Ca
www.obrienmagic.com
Yeah, when I was in Vegas I chose to see Penn and Teller instead of Believe. I had heard back reviews of Believe as well, but figured since he was coming so close to my area I would give it a go and I was not disappointed at all. I truthfully enjoyed his performance and really liked seeing his actual sleight of hand and such with coin matrix.

Believe had a ton of 1 star reviews on yelp lol
 
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