BMC Saturday Night Shows

Saturday night had a wide choice of shows and some very difficult decisions to make.

My show of choice was to see Cillian O’Connor as the line-up was very impressive. Ryland Petty and Harry Merlin Piper were also performing. Over the years, I have seen all three at different events and conventions, and they are now all achieving high levels of success.  

I met and briefly spoke to Cillian a couple of years back, and he signed a playing card for me. At the time, he was well known already in our industry, but it was just before breaking through into the public eye. His performance tonight was skilled, and he has already now successfully completed a UK tour and performed a lot on TV. A very accomplished magician at a young age who performs to a very high standard. Competent narration and storytelling along with performance skills that highlight why he is so successful. 

I was lucky to be up front and close watching this show. I did queue up early, as Craig Petty advised on Magic TV, get there early, support them as they are brilliant. And he wasn’t wrong. 

Ryland was up next, and it was also the first time I saw him perform. He is famed for his Harry Potter routine, and he didn’t disappoint. A classic set of traditional and vintage magic to a fitting narration with music. A pleasure to watch him and captivating, and what I wasn’t expecting is how good Ryland is at acting the part of a magic academy student learning to perform spells, fully getting into character and being believable in his role. Great body language, expressions and funny while performing in a classic vintage manner silently to music and fitting narration.

I already knew firsthand how good Harry Merlin Piper is having seen him perform in the past. He didn’t disappoint as an artist. He told me before the show that he was going to do something different from what I had seen him do before, and he was right. As the “Young Magician of the Year,” he presented his winning manipulation routine. I love card manipulation, and it is no easy feat to pull off and takes much skill and practice. A mind-blowing performance. 

Ignore these three artists at your own peril as they are already performing high levels of showmanship that others can only hope to achieve. A thoroughly enjoyable show, and they all deserve the success that they are achieving. They clearly all have very bright and long careers ahead of them in magic. Special thanks to all three who it should be noted are already very accomplished with their meet and greet skills to appreciative audiences.

So far, this was my favourite convention show.

I had also hoped to see Jack Rhodes and Terry Fator perform, but you can only do so much, and I have to pace myself.  

I opted for “The One Show,” and while this first part of this post was almost a mini-review, I am not going to give the same run-down here as about 9 artists performed. I am glad I went to this performance, and I particularly enjoyed watching Taylor Morgan with his balloon act and a dancing ballerina doing manipulation called Yan Yan Ma. 

While I had opted originally to see Terry Fator performing late, I needed a rest, so I had to miss that one. 

Bring on day 3 ! !!