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i AM curious as to where he 'suggested' to get me to think of a glass... (well i wrote down shot glass) but when i was walking onto the stage, i had 'paintball gun' firmly printed in my head!

You were on stage?!?! Now that IS cool!

Saw him in Sunderland last night and it was pretty spectacular. I had some thoughts about a couple of things he did, but on the whole I had no idea. Even those with a bit of magic knowledge should be extremely entertained.

Also managed to meet him at the stage door and get an autograph, not much time to talk since there were a lot of people but he seems like a real sound guy.

Was the table turning thing that old Berglas effect? Sounds like it might be.

The Q&A thing seems pretty straightforward. People write stuff down on cards put into apparently opaque envelopes and he tells them what they wrote after he gets his hands on the envelopes. Pretty standard mentalism.

I find his live stuff quite average to be honest. On his TV shows he does truly impossible stuff. Impossible to work out because of the editing and selective presentation. Without this major prop, his live work is limited to what other mentalists do and I find it almost all uniformly easy to work out.

Neil wrote:Was the table turning thing that old Berglas effect? Sounds like it might be

I take it you haven't actually seen this show yet - this was table tilting rather than the old David Berglas lifting and spinning effect (as exposed by our old friend the Masked Magician!).

Neil wrote:I find his live stuff quite average to be honest. On his TV shows he does truly impossible stuff. Impossible to work out because of the editing and selective presentation. Without this major prop, his live work is limited to what other mentalists do and I find it almost all uniformly easy to work out.

No one wants an evening out consisting of misses and failures, whereas on TV you can just show the amazing hits from less than 100% techniques (q.v Colin Fry). Remember also that this is a show for the public to enjoy, not necessarily for mentalists to critique, so good, strong, reliable material is what he does on stage. Those in the know are in the know but the public aren't

Indeed. It's just that I find it a tad disappointing.

Furthermore it means that I now don't enjoy the TV stuff because I realise just how much of it is a con job. I can't be bothered to watch some effect that cannot be solved because we are only being told 1/2 the story and are expected to absorb the amazement and sincerity of the person he did the effect on by means of little clips of them confirming how amazed they were.

If you are going to hide the fact that a word was not actually "thought of" but in fact written down beforehand and completely hide that fact from the audience at large then why not just make the whole thing up?

Remember though not everything Derren does on the TV involves pre-show work, but things like routining and choosing suitable effects come into play when you're working on the stage.

The way I see it his shows on the television are a good way showing us interesting feats, supposedly or actually using psychological techniques - but these things you just couldn't do on stage (such as the Zombie Effect).

Really gutted I missed this .

Just to add a little. I managed to see the show last Sunday in Sunderland. It has remained mostly unaltered (see original posts in this thread) however DB asked for pictures to be drawn by some members of the audience but never returned to do anything with them. I suspect more of a time factor than a deliberate drop. I've previously used a very similar opener at training sessions but doubt I could claim copyright. Worked a treat though.

The show was very entertaining and I must admit I enjoyed it. A good night out. DB certainly had the vast majority of a near enough sell out crowd completely taken in throughout. I found it just as interesting watching their reactions as Derrens performance.

I did find him a little amateurish and not as slick as I would have expected at times. Some of his people handling was left wanting but, then, he was dealing with folk from Sunderland! Some of the tricks did not go altogether smoothly either but I doubt very much that those things would have been noticed by anyone other than those who know how the effects work.

The table tilting and turning was rather weak in my opinion - nowhere near the perfection of the Berglas effect - and the ideo-motor stuff leading up to it almost had me in stitches that he was getting away with it.

I felt that he rushed the items re the person at home selecting numbers and later the audience members selecting numbers. the finish was still very good but he could have made far more out of this apparent 'miracle'.

Some fumbling when doing his big finish detracted a LITTLE. Minor spoiler in next paragraph (put in tiny font in case you want to avoid it)......

I'm not sure whether he used a device in the stand or simply a direct substitute at the end of the Oracle. If the latter, the fumbling was unnecessary.

Other than those few and really quite minor points which I think only people looking for technique would spot the show was brilliant fun. I believe the Oracle was achieved more simply than others have suggested (having seen one of the cards being written was interesting!) but the reaction it received from the audience was superb.

I'm no stalker but as I had a copy of Derrens book I took it around to the Stage Door to be signed. I'm pleased I already knew his name as the signature is TOTALLY unfathomable. Initially there were only about a dozen, if that, but it soon grew to a couple of hundred lined up outside but DB did a great job of signing, chatting and posing for photos.

It was reported to me and then on to the door staff that Coops car had had one of its windows smashed after the show. Hopefully it wasn't one of their vehicles.

If you have yet to see the show, do so. It is good value entertainment even if the absence of the magic of the editing suite means he is left with mere mortal powers.

Over the past few days I've had a few ideas about how the oracle was done. Did it say Q and A on the cards or just ask for a question?

Well I have to say I came away somewhat disappointed after seeing Derren’s show in Hull last night. It was the first time I’ve seen him perform and maybe he was having an off night or something but there was a distinct lack of sparkle to most of it.

I enjoyed the start to the show. It gave the audience a chance to laugh together and I wish there had been more of those moments later on. I also liked the stuff with the cash box...you didn’t need DB type skills to figure out what the guy was going for the 5 grand! 20 questions was ok but not really that interesting. Then it started sliding gently downhill, with a peak when he did the phone call stuff...now that was impressive!

There wasn’t a very good relationship between audience and performer. It felt like the audience wanted to be engaged and involved but it just wasn’t happening. This is partly due to some poor timing and pacing. Derren zipped through some of the stuff I found more entertaining and devoted a lot of time to one on one stuff with audience members. He also seemed to be a bit lacking in energy, which eventually created a lack of energy in the audience.

The ideomotor section progressing into table tipping was a slow start to the second act. That table didn’t want to go anywhere, Derren had to kick it a bunch of times before they started turning it. In fact the entire second act seemed to drag. People around me were tapping their feet and the applause was dwindling, so I get the feeling I wasn’t the only one who thought so.

The billet test was fun for the first 5 or even 10 times but it’s hard for the whole audience to engage when only one person is involved. Personally I would like to have seen the billet stuff cut down a lot and lead into something a bit more wow! Everyone reacted better to the drawings because we knew he couldn’t see them.

As for your question ian69, the cards had on one side

Name:
Date of birth:
Your Question for Derren:

on the other side it had

Give a piece of personal information (if you want this to remain private, write private on the front of the envelope):

Thanks, that's interesting! So for the rest of us he could do the answers using the personal info!

For the benefit of those who have yet to see the show, perhaps we shouldn't dwell too much on the fine details?

Yep, good point, apologies.

Ian - Cards, as just revealed above. There are several ways that the 'mentalism' could have been produced. I'm going with a rather clever (I missed it, therefore ego insists it must have been very good) substitution and some technological assistance - even if he did make great play about removing his earpiece.

Rosetinted gives a little unfair review of the show I feel. I'll agree with most of the comments but not to the extent that the vast majority of the audience were disappointed, not involved etc. I felt there was an element of confusion and uncertainty in the flow of the show during the second half where the think of a number and draw a picture elements were done but as I said previously the visualising of the pictures/items from the audience was cut from the show I attended. Why, I don't know but it spoilt the flow.

DB obviously is more comfortable in a one to one or small group setting rather than facing a couple of thousand people out in the darkness of a theatre and there were times when his pacing and timing could have been improved (I'm certainly not saying I could do better!) but we have to bear in mind that those of us who bother to find and then post on boards like this have our own agendas, the benefit of knowledge re the methods deployed and have usually seen and studied a number of similar performances. It makes us highly critical.

The 'tricks' or set pieces did not lend themselves towards a lot of mass participation and DB is really not a comic/chatterbox type performer but there was a reasonable amount of audience participation from the gorillas and throwing out of the frisbees to the complicit card revelation and a reasonable number of of people getting up onto the stage (excluding the 150 during the interval). You make a fair comment that there could have been more rapport and energy but I think that is more to do with DB and the image he prefers to work under (quieter, intense & under-playing) than a flaw in the production and direction of the show itself.