Well this one won’t be being added to our live reviews playlist because it’s not a music performance, though Mr Magic Mod does have his musical connections. Having toured with quite a few band (The Libertines, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Paul Weller and more) this was the final night of his first ever headline tour. The venue is new (having moved from just down the road) and the perfect size for the audience in attendance, allowing us all to get quite near the stage.
Plonking our arses in row two we waited for the lights to dim and a be-suited southerner to come on stage. Before getting here I was wondering how long the show would be. I’ve never seen a full performance from a magician since I was at Alison Teale‘s birthday party… and I was 6 or 7 years old. I thought maybe an hour. Tops. So I was a little surprised that after an hour we were breaking for an intermission with a full second half still to follow. And it had all been great.
The Magic Mod (Ben Taylor) knows his shit. He’s got a good stage presence, plays to the audience, and is happy to reference and honour his influences including doing one or two of their tricks. Paul Daniels and Tommy Cooper (major parts of my childhood) are part of that, and I’m sure they’d have been impressed with his routine. He knows it can be hard to get an audience going, and has a wealth of one-liners, comebacks and cheeky verbal stabs to get that initial reaction going.
But what about the actual tricks? He focuses on the smaller, close-up style including some of the classics – cup and ball, bottle/glass/glass/bottle, cutting ropes and so on. This is great as I love this shit. I have a vague idea how some of them are done. I kind of know where to look. I volunteered to help with two tricks. And even sat right next to him, and knowing (to a basic level) what was going to happen… I didn’t see it.
The audience warmed to him quickly and a few words were thrown back and forth (I’d definitely not call it heckling, very much more good-natured jibes) which fitted in well. I liked that he was very insistent that if he picked someone to help him that they absolutely didn’t have to do so, one person did indeed prefer not to, and there were some nice asides throughout. If I have one bit of constructive criticism, it’s the overuse of the “oh, that trick went wrong… oops… no wait, it didn’t!” trope. One or twice is kind of funny, but sometimes… play for the win. These are great magic tricks done very well indeed – show off a bit!
The time absolutely flew by, we had a great night, the venue was lovely and Mr Mod himself comes across as such a lovely guy. I know it’s a long shot, but maybe he’s good enough to apply for the Magic Circle, if he’s heard of them? Actually maybe he’s already a member, I can’t recall if he mentioned it (17 times) during the show…
As I said, this was the end of the tour but I’m sure he’ll be back for more at some point. If you’ve never been to a magic show, I definitely recommend it.
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