Dynamo at the Barclaycard Arena

On Friday night I went to see Dynamo. I’d booked the tickets in October last year, so had been waiting a long time! As it got closer I started to worry a little about how close up magic would work in a big arena environment, but my concerns were unfounded. It was brilliant.

Dynamo

I’ve always thought that Dynamo comes across as a really sweet and likable person, with quite a humble attitude and a strong family focus. Seeing him live reinforced that; he’s a genuinely nice bloke. The show touched on his background, and his struggles as a kid being picked on in his local area. He spoke about his Grandma and Grandpa with such respect and love, and they’re obviously a massive part of who he is today. There was even video footage of his Gran doing a card trick, which was great!

He indulged in some banter with the audience and made some funny quips and jokes which weren’t expected – I’d say he’s had some coaching prior to the tour as his shyness definitely wasn’t present (and with an audience of 5000 people that’s a good thing!)

There was a lot of audience participation and random selection of people which I suppose is there to prove that the people who are taking part on stage aren’t planted and “in on it”. There was no trick that I could say “I know how he did that” and most of them were so brain bafflingly complex so I couldn’t even begin to think how they’d been designed and orchestrated. It’s easy to suggest that camera trickery and clever editing are at play when you watch magicians on TV, but in a live environment there’s nowhere to hide. Leading me to declare, during the interval, that “magic must be real” (I’ve long suspected this, to be honest, regardless of the guffaws I’m met with whenever I share that opinion!)

I won’t talk about any of the tricks, as Dynamo made that request at the end of the show, but suffice to say I would highly recommend getting tickets to what’s left of the tour (if there are any still available) and prepare to be left scratching your head and wondering what on earth you just witnessed with your own eyes!