Cincinnati SOI Review | Golden Skate

Cincinnati SOI Review

KwanFan1212

Joey Votto Fangirl
Final Flight
Joined
Jun 24, 2003
Well, I figure there might be some folks here interested in SOI still so I figured I would post my review of the Cincy show tonight for you to read. Be warned, I have had a LOT of caffeine tonight, therefore I've used a LOT of exclamation points, LOL :rock:

So mom and I were actually able to get to the arena and settled with a little bit more time to spare than we did last year (we were a little bit late last year, LOL). We had on ice seats that ended up being at the non tunnel end and to the left of the tunnel (if you were coming out of the tunnel, we were on the left side). They ended up being PERFECT seats and I was stoked about being at the other end again. I found my friends Amy and Suzy so I chatted it up with them prior to the show and met Amy's friend from Israel who was really shy but really sweet too. After a few minutes of chit chat, the show was getting ready to start so we decided to head back to our seats. And I should preface this whole entire review by saying that I HATE it when the Cincy show falls on a weeknight because while it was a decent sized crowd, last year was more crowded for sure. There were entire SECTIONS empty in the lower bowl! Not a huge amount but definitely not a huge crowd. They were an AWESOME crowd though for yelling and giving the skaters lots of love though so I liked that for sure. =) Anyway, I still haven't bought a program yet (remind me to do that in Detroit this weekend) so I am totally going from memory. I might just do this by skater, that would be easier. And I will insert random mom comments just because she's funny, LOL =)
Opening-Awesome. Simply awesome. And I liked it better this second time seeing it because I could watch everything a bit better. I was scrambling the first time in Columbus because I didn't know where to look! But I loved it. And Jamie & Dave rocked out the throw which will always make me nervous now because of how she got injured on it earlier this year. Mom enjoyed herself for sure too. First random hair notice of the evening...John's hair is a bit shorter now but he's still hot. :biggrin:

Katia-Awww, I just adore her skating. She just floats over the ice and I think she was having a good time. In her first number, she had a fall on a 3 toe but it didn't mess up the program which was beautiful. I actually really liked both her programs and I am SO glad I got to see her skate again. She was one of our guests last year too. Yay Cincy! =)

Ilia Kulik-ROCK ON. He was awesome! I loved both his numbers too even though I got to see them at a different show earlier in the season. His jumps are SKY HIGH! WOW. My mom made some random comment about his legs being springs (or something like that, it was hard to hear her sometimes, LOL). He was just phenomenal and I loved seeing him skate again. His first number was just flawless but he had a hilarious moment in the second number that cracked me up. He was doing the canterleaver besti squat thingee and as he was coming out of that, he just totally wiped out! Flat on his back, slid onto the ice, wiped out! He was CRACKING UP and the audience was laughing too because he just hammed it up for us like it was part of his program! He then got up, finished the number, and ended with his pose!! It was a riot!! Definitely the funniest moment of the night! =)

Random YAY Moment #1 for Me-Jamie did the Gypsy transition!!! I know its shallow to be so excited about a random transition piece but I didn't get to see it in Columbus. YAY Jamie!!! That was a RIOT! She hams that up pretty darn good! Not that that's surprising to me at all though, LOL ;)

Kyoko & John-First off, John in pleather pants is very distracting, LOL ;) Yeah, their number was VERY well received by the audience and they skated it awesome. My mom's random comment, "Oh gosh, they are doing dangerous stuff!" Yeah, its called pairs skating mom, LOL :p Anyway, they did a fabulous job and I will never get tired of seeing this number....or seeing John in pleather, LOL :agree:

Elena & Anton-Their first number was just BEAUTIFUL. They skated it perfect too although the throw was so big Elena had to fall out of it a little bit or she would have gone down hard! Dang, that was a HUGE throw! =0 Anyway, 'If I Could' was just really sweet and beautiful to see again. Their second number with the Disco Music was totally awesome too. They were really getting into it and we had Anton dancing in front of us at one point! They are really selling this number now ands its just great fun. Definitely one of the crowd favorites too. =)

Todd Eldredge-WOO HOO Todd! He was definitely on tonight although he had a hand down on one jump in his first number. He was having fun though and I LOVED seeing his programs again. We got a random point at us during 'Let Me Entertain You' which is always fun. And I really like his last number (Forevermore) and he was rock solid on that one too. He's really come out of his shell during his tenure with SOI and I am SO glad to see that because his programs are fabulous. =)

Boxing Number-OMG, this was a total riot! The guys were hamming it up so much and I think at one point, David almost wiped out! Just on random skating, LOL ;) Anyway, they were all having a blast and my mom was cracking up. Steven got to win again but I think he does all the time! That was just pure fun and I think I got a very random picture of David and Steven when they do those high kick things at the very start of the number! Yay for random pictures like that! =) Random Question of the Night: I could have SWORN that Anton was in this number and from my recollection, it was Todd, David, John, Steven, and Alexei tonight. Am I wrong or did they change that around?! =0

Sarah Hughes-Her numbers were okay but nothing special. My mom made a comment here that makes sense. She said that while she was surprised to see that Sarah was heavier than she had been the last time we saw her skate live (at the Hallmark Skaters Championship in 2002), she wouldn't mind it so much if she was at least more in shape for skating. She wasn't impressed by her jumps or anything tonight. I have to agree with her. While Sarah is not big by normal person standards, she is definitely bigger by skating standards and I don't have a problem with that if you are able to keep your skills up a little bit more and she has not done that for whatever reason. Katia's programs were harder than Sarah's and Katia never had to do triples before when she was Olys eligible and while she isn't always successful at them, she attempts them and works on them. I would really like to know if Sarah is doing that right now. The audience reaction to her from the start of the show to the end of the show did go down as they saw her skating and I do think that's very disappointing. I think they expected more, as they should since they thought they were getting a different Sarah. Ahhh, I do think she fits in with this cast really well but I also think she needs to do some work this summer to get herself closer to the cast's level of skating again. Not back to her normal self but just a bit closer to the level that the others are keeping which I don't think is impossible. Yeah, now that I've rambled forever and a day about this, I am moving on.....and all that stuff up there is just MY opinion, its not right or wrong, its just MY opinion on that.

Steven Cousins-I may or may not have made mention that he could just skate without a shirt and my mom gave me a look, LOL :rock: Yeah, his number was awesome but Steven Cousins skating to a song about "Coming back to bed" is SOOOO distracting its not even funny, LOL :cool: I just love this guy. We got a few random smiles from him tonight too. He definitely knows how to work an audience! He got some great applause tonight too. =)

The Girls and Steven-I just love this number for its pure fun and girl power. And Steven is still looking all hot so what's not to like?! LOL =) They had a great time during this number and it went over pretty well with the crowd too. Like I said before, the crowd wasn't huge, but they were pretty appreciative of everyone! =)

Alexei-He did do Passion tonight but we were talking at the start of the show that we were nervous he wouldn't do it because they took down the sheets in practice (they attended the practice today). I guess he's feeling better now and he did a fab job during Passion although my mom kept cracking jokes about Cirque du Soleil taking over SOI, LOL ;) Anyway, he was awesome and "Shout" was even better received than "Passion"! The crowd was getting into the music and so was Alexei so that was good fun. My mom enjoyed his skating and we totally cracked up when this random older lady ended up with Alexei in her lap during Shout! LOL =)

Ride of Life-I like this number more and more every time I get to see it which granted has only been twice so far but still, LOL ;) My mom was cracking up at the random CSI theme song music during it. They had a blast during this number though and from what I could tell, there were no major missteps or mistakes. When the train went by us a few times, we were cracking up at them randomly looking into the crowd! They really get into that whole thing, LOL =) And I figured out how Kyoko loses her one dress at the end of this number because it happened right in front of us! That was random, LOL :rofl:

The Flea Tenor-OK, another random transition gushfest but the crowd ROLLED with this one. OMG, Todd hams it up more and more I think in every show! By the time I see it in Detroit this weekend, he could be even MORE hammy for it. And Dave wailing cracked my mom up to NO end! OMG, we were dying laughing and the crowd loved these transitions!! =)

Random YAY Moment #2-I got a random wink by Jamie when her and David were going around during one of the second half group numbers! That was fun. I hope they saw my Canada sweatshirt because I was the only one with anything Canada related in all the on ice seats! =0

Jamie & David-Yeah, rock on guys!! WOW. They were TOTALLY on tonight and had no mistakes that I could tell in either program. Jamie's throws got even better as the night went on (YAY!) and they were totally into both numbers. "Radar Love" got some HUGE responses from the crowd which only made them get into it even more if you can imagine that one! I think most of this number is back to the way it was originally so Jamie is definitely all better with her shoulder. They did the funky spin move with her on Dave's foot and I had a proud mom moment for them being able to put that back in again. Wow, they were just fabulous. No tentative moves at all and just having a great time. WWTLF was just WOW. That was one of the most powerful performances I've seen of that number and the crowd loved it. No standing O (Grrr) but myself, mom, Suzy, and Amy gave them a four person standing O which was appreciated! =) Awww, I just <3333 them. And I figured out how they get out there for the start of this number and all I will say is, that's sneaky!! LOL =)

Finale-YAY, more pleather! This went by SOOOO fast and I was all bummed out because the show was ending. Everyone did great though and I think they had a lot of fun overall tonight. The crowd was great, even if they were probably one of the smaller ones that they've seen lately, and the show is flowing SOOO well now. I am SO impressed and I can't wait to see the show again this weekend. Good job to everyone! =)

Randomness During the Show-We bonded with this one US Bank Arena worked named Chris who was telling us that the arena had been through more makeovers the last two weeks than humanly possible. We had the circus here about two weeks ago, a basketball tournament last week, SOI tonight, and the monster truck rally is coming this weekend! HI random!! LOL =)

Handshakes-I thought we were going to be lucky and get David to come down our section but he went the other way. Instead we got Elena (who was really sweet) and Anton (who was a trip and after I told him that they had done a wonderful job, said thanx and gave me a nice wink! WOO HOO!) which was awesome since I hadn't shaken their hands before at a show. We thought we were actually in Alexei's handshake section but he went to the actual end seats instead. Oh well, at least we got two handshakes this year because last year we barely got Jenni Meno due to our closeness to the tunnel!! I hope we get seats next year around where we were this year because they turned out to be awesome. =)

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the review and I am sure to be back with another one after the Detroit show this weekend! :agree:
 

Jaana

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Country
Finland
WOW, thanks for the review, Heather!!! LOL, that was funny with Ilia´s cantilever. Great that skaters are so well prepared to act if mistakes occur, LOL.
 
Joined
Aug 3, 2003
Heather,
I LOVED your review! :clap: It brought back memories of the show we saw in Bridgeport. We also had Katia in for Yuka (I love both) and Illia as the guest skater (can never get enough of his skating--ZOWIE!). I would have literally been ROFLMAO if Ilia had wiped out of the spread-eagle cantilever at our show. Now that's a real champ--somebody who can turn a splat into one of the highlights of the night, lol. Seriously, as long as nobody gets hurt, moments such as that are one of the things I love about high quality pro shows. Of course I love competition too (Worlds starts today!!!), but a great pro show has a joy and feeling to it all its own.

Excellent job, too, on describing the situation with Sarah. I'd say she's about 10 to 15 lbs. heavier now than she was when the SOI show was taped for TV. But ITA that it's not about the weight. Katerina Witt was certainly voluptuous in her last few years with SOI, but she was always in peak condition as a skater and also looked very lean for her body weight. BTW, once I saw her after the show in her "civvies"--a close-fitting top and belted skirt--and she looked very slender.

I don't know if Sarah has committed to skating with SOI in the future, but both for her skating and her safety--would hate to see her risk a repetitive stress injury because she's not in shape to do what she's been doing--I hope she thinks long and hard and decides what she wants to do after the tour. IMO, you could still see moments of the exquisite skater she is capable of being. Either way, I wish her the best.

Thanks for the great review, Heather. The only thing I didn't like is that you'll be seeing this year's SOI live three times and I only saw it live once! :mad: Seriously, as a total show and for 90% of the performances, I think SOI reached a whole new level of sophistication, seamless execution of the concept, and excitement. JMHO.

Rgirl
 

iluvtodd

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 5, 2004
Country
United-States
Thank you Heather, for your detailed report of the Cincinnati show. Glad you had a fabulous time. Have a terrific time at the Detroit show this weekend.

Thank you Rgirl for your impressions of the Bridgeport show.

It's so nice to relive the SOI 2005 tour experience through all of your comments.:party: I'm going through SOI withdrawal. Our local shows are over for this season. :cry:
 
Joined
Jan 30, 2004
Thanks for the review!

I'm with Gail....SOI withdrawal, realizing now it's the long wait til next years show in Philly. One of these years I'm gonna get to more than one show! At least we've got COI Philly and then Skate America in Atlantic City to hold us over!
 

nicole_l

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 28, 2004
Thanks for the review!
My mom was cracking up at the random CSI theme song music during it.
I love the Who, but Todd Eldredge had the air guitar thing all wrong (on the A&E broadcast, anyway). If you're going to imitate Townshed, it's a windmill, not a strumming kind of thing. Hehe.
 

Dee4707

Ice Is Slippery - Alexie Yagudin
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
Country
United-States
KwanFan1212 said:
Alexei-He did do Passion tonight but we were talking at the start of the show that we were nervous he wouldn't do it because they took down the sheets in practice (they attended the practice today). I guess he's feeling better now
Heather, what was wrong with Alexei??

Why do you think that Ilia fell out of the cantilever? Lack of practice???

Dee
 

tvcats

Rinkside
Joined
Dec 12, 2003
love the Who, but Todd Eldredge had the air guitar thing all wrong (on the A&E broadcast, anyway). If you're going to imitate Townshed, it's a windmill, not a strumming kind of thing. Hehe.

I thought that was during a bass guitar riff during that section of the program & that wouldn't be Townsend. Townsend played lead guitar. I think Entwhistle played bass. But you're correct, if you want to imitate Townsend it should be with large sweeping arm movements. ;)
 

KwanFan1212

Joey Votto Fangirl
Final Flight
Joined
Jun 24, 2003
Thanx for the replies back guys. I knew there were folks here who would like to hear about the show! I too think SOI has really become such a wonderful well thought out and performed show and I am just amazed at some of the things those skaters can do now! B TW, they put the thing back in where the girls and guys are in a circle and the girls are all flipped over (Wow, that's really hard to describe!!) which they had taken out for a while after Jamie's injury. That was WAY COOL! :rock:

To answer a few questions, Ilia didn't really fall while he was in the cantileaver, he fell as he was coming out of it. I think he just lost an edge, maybe he got too into the music?! He was sure having fun during the number so anything could have happened! All I know is he was fine and it was definitely the funniest moment of the night! :laugh:

I don't know a thing about guitars but Todd Eldredge randomly jamming air guitar is hilarious no matter what the music is!! LOL :laugh:

And about Alexei, I read not too long ago that he hadn't done Passion at a few shows due to illness so we were a bit worried that he wasn't feeling well again because they took all the stuff down at the practice for the number. Apparently he was feeling fine though because he did the entire number and it was great. No worries about Alexei! :biggrin:

Lastly, I am heading out in about twenty minutes to go to Detroit for the weekend (yay for seeing friends and seeing SOI again this weekend!) but I am SOOO happy to hear from other fans who have enjoyed the show this year. It seems like there were a lot of people disappointed in the A&E broadcast and its hard to get across to them that the show doesn't always translate well from live to TV. I hope more people can get out to see the show this year because its just wonderful. Don't let the TV decide for you!! LOL :rock:
 

nicole_l

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 28, 2004
I thought that was during a bass guitar riff during that section of the program & that wouldn't be Townsend. Townsend played lead guitar. I think Entwhistle played bass. But you're correct, if you want to imitate Townsend it should be with large sweeping arm movements.
Good point.
 
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