Rock the Rink 2019 (Virtue/Moir, Chan, Stojko, Osmond, Kostner, Abbott)

[MR-FAN]

Does Kostner only have 1 solo number?!?

 

[chantilly]

Anyway
Here are my thoughts.

I enjoyed the band. It’s an interesting idea to have a band open for a skating show. But not sure it quite works as a concept. They feel somewhat disconnected. However when the band came out midway through the second act of the skating it was one of my favourite moments in the evening.

And yes the zamboni break is too long.

In general I think this show was one of the best “show skating” shows in a while.

The opening number was really good. Charlie’s choreography was great.

I will say one thing that people will likely kill me for, but Maxim Trankov is not a great skater. Surprisingly he was the weakest skater of the entire cast. I didn’t expect that.

Katelyn’s first number was beautiful and very poignant.

It was nice to see Jeremy Abbot but he was a little boring for me. He just seemed a bit disconnected to me.

V and T had a lovely pair number. She’s lovely to watch.

Patrick was good too. He had a stumble in his opening number but it was fun. Patrick should have been an ice dancer. When he and Carolina were skating together in the show, I was like, this gives me life!.

Carolina was exquisite through the entire show. What a treat to see her live.

Elvis was IMO the weakest of the show. He did this IMO cheesy lip syncing to rock music while skating in between. It just didn’t work. He was having a blast though. He was great in the group numbers.

All in all the show was great. There were a couple of falls and some stumbles and sometimes the time in between the numbers was a bit long.

Now Tessa and Scott..They were incredible. Sway was great. Fix you was so beautiful.Charlie did an incredible job choreographing that one with them and the group.

The Tessa and Scott videos were a nice touch to set up the final number.

It was sad to think of them never skating again, I definitely shed some tears, but I was so glad to see them live one more time.

 

[chantilly]

Does Kostner only have 1 solo number?!?

Not really. She has a solo number in the Cabaret scene. She’s featured quite a lot in the group scenes too.

 

[Sylvia]

Cleveland, the only U.S. stop of the tour, has been cancelled. I was considering making the trip, oh well.

Thanks to those taking the time to share their firsthand impressions and/or fan cam videos.

 

[Coco]

It's a shame they couldn't add Detroit.

 

[mackiecat]

Wondering if it is a work visa issue.

 

[aka_gerbil]

Wondering if it is a work visa issue.

I’ve seen that idea floated, but isn’t that something that would’ve/should’ve been taken care of before the stop was even announced?

 

[skatfan]

I’m guessing it’s a ticket sales issue. This isn’t the only show to be cancelled. V/M retirement not such a big deal in the US.

 

[Kecasyl]

Not saying this for sure but there is a huge concert the next night, so feeling they were bought out. Tickets were supposedly selling well, they had people coming in from all over the world to attend. International tours/skaters have much pull in the US when they are there, Tessa and Scott attending Scott Hamilton's most recent Nashville charity show sold many tickets. But no one knows for sure the reason for cancellation and probably never will.

 

[Sonata]

Not saying this for sure but there is a huge concert the next night, so feeling they were bought out. Tickets were supposedly selling well, they had people coming in from all over the world to attend. International tours/skaters have much pull in the US when they are there, Tessa and Scott attending Scott Hamilton's most recent Nashville charity show sold many tickets. But no one knows for sure the reason for cancellation and probably never will.

Do you mean they might have gotten bought out so that the people involved with the concert would have time to prepare the space? As you mentioned, we won’t ever know, but I didn’t know being bought out was a thing.

As much as Virtue Moir were popular during Olympics, not being American means their profitability and profile was not as automatic in the US compared to what they would be if they were American. However, there must have been something special about Cleveland if it was their only U.S. stop.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Rock concert was not a good idea.

 

[Kecasyl]

Do you mean they might have gotten bought out so that the people involved with the concert would have time to prepare the space? As you mentioned, we won’t ever know, but I didn’t know being bought out was a thing.

As much as Virtue Moir were popular during Olympics, not being American means their profitability and profile was not as automatic in the US compared to what they would be if they were American. However, there must have been something special about Cleveland if it was their only U.S. stop.

IIRC, if a high profile artist and their tour has the money and want the venue for set up/rehearsal or whatever reason, they would be able to demand the venue. The venue would then be stuck with the decision of: "Do we side with a small figure skating show or a well known music artist that has tickets selling for much more than RTR tickets and would therefor be a easier, much larger profit?" Again, do not know and not saying that is the reason but suspect it may be a viable one.

 

[seabm7]

Scott Hamilton used to have his annual charity ice show at Cleveland at the first weekends of November for many years. But the final Cleveland show happened a couple of years ago. Now he's having charity shows elsewhere.

The Stars on Ice tour no long stops at Cleveland, either. I feel sorry for the figure skating fans at Cleveland and vicinity.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Band on ice towards the end was a great idea. They managed to get the sound levels and blending spot on for that.

It was sooooooo cold in the rink, though. It was hard to muster energy through the shivers

I wish @dinakt could have been here to see Abbott. A highlight was when he and Kostner did spirals in hold, such beautiful lines! What a great show to see sublime edge work.

Chan outdid himself in the group numbers, although everyone had their moments, and not just in breakout solos.

Volosozhar/Trankov's solo was exquisite: aside from a throw right on the music, it was full of moves that went beyond what they could do in a competitive program, and Kostner's jumpless solo was . They alone were worth two vacation days to get up and back.

I loved it, once the skating started.

 

[dinakt]

Thank you, @kwanfan1818! I was going to go in Cleveland and am utterly bummed it got canceled- with Abbott and Kostner and V/T the show has my "dream team". So glad you enjoyed it, and I'll be scouting for videos.

 

[Sonata]

Charlie White it would seem.

Charlie White on Twitter

“I have words. The RTR process and why the experience has been so meaningful to me. Don’t miss this— @rocktherinktour”

twitter.com

Not surprised that an ice dancer choreographed the group numbers. It has all the marks of someone who appreciates footwork and places weight on synchronizing even small moves with the music. Not sure if he choreographed Sway, but I love that number - true dance on ice.

 

[Kecasyl]

Not surprised that an ice dancer choreographed the group numbers. It has all the marks of someone who appreciates footwork and places weight on synchronizing even small moves with the music. Not sure if he choreographed Sway, but I love that number - true dance on ice.

Charlie did do a lot of the choreography, but they also mentioned it was a group (cast) effort to choreograph the show, plus they had Randi Strong and others there helping. I guarantee the footwork appreciation comes from Chan and Abbott as well, who the latter is a choreographer now himself.

 

[kates8]

Considering buying tickets, but how long is the opening "concert" and is it just 100% the band playing? Just wondering when the skating actually starts and how long the skating show is? Thanks

 

[chantilly]

Considering buying tickets, but how long is the opening "concert" and is it just 100% the band playing? Just wondering when the skating actually starts and how long the skating show is? Thanks

The opening concert is about 30 minutes and the zamboni break is about 25minutes.

Tons of people arrived just once the skating started.

The show starts at 7pm, skating starts at around 8.

get tickets! It’s a great show.

 

[honey]

I was annoyed when I heard there was a live band component to this tour because I thought they’d make multiple skaters skate to the music of band that are pretty unknown. While I’m glad to hear that’s not happening, I’m pretty about who thought it was a good idea to make people sit through a whole set with no skating happening to start the show.

 

[Alilou]

I was annoyed when I heard there was a live band component to this tour because I thought they’d make multiple skaters skate to the music of band that are pretty unknown. While I’m glad to hear that’s not happening, I’m pretty about who thought it was a good idea to make people sit through a whole set with no skating happening to start the show.

We are all puzzled. Such a weird thing to do. And in Vancouver the sound was so loud and badly calibrated that it was distorted. Sitting through a rock concert is not my idea of fun but I can do it, and even enjoy it, if there's good acoustics. This was just bad.

When the band came back on the ice later (just four of them, not the drummer) the acoustics were good, and the song beautiful and they were there as music for the skaters - it was one of the best numbers of the evening.

Another note: the sound was so bad (distorted) that neither mr alilou nor I could understand a word of V&M's videoed goodbye message. Poorly done.

And the good stuff - the skating was fantastic! It's worth it for this. Get there late, skip the stupid rock concert and go for the skating.

 

[Habs]

One of my friends posted some photos/videos on Instagram from the show in Red Deer last night.... it looks like there were A LOT of empty seats.

 

[chantilly]

Penticton had quite a few empty seats as well.

 

[griffen]

With V/M's first tour I thought the music choices for a number of the skater's incl V/M was a type of music that is not going to appeal to many and for this reason I never intended to go to this time around. I am curious as to why they don't chose more appealing music and why on earth a rock concert! Yikes.

 

[chantilly]

With V/M's first tour I thought the music choices for a number of the skater's incl V/M was a type of music that is not going to appeal to many and for this reason I never intended to go to this time around. I am curious as to why they don't chose more appealing music and why on earth a rock concert! Yikes.

The music for the skating show is fantastic.

the concert before is not really successful. But the band playing a number on ice with a group of the skaters is IMO almost worth the price of admission.

as for their first tour and music, honestly don’t agree.

 

[sap5]

With V/M's first tour I thought the music choices for a number of the skater's incl V/M was a type of music that is not going to appeal to many and for this reason I never intended to go to this time around. I am curious as to why they don't chose more appealing music and why on earth a rock concert! Yikes.

This time they’ve picked lots of music that appeals to the typical skating audience: Rolling Stones medley, Motown medley, Sway (Dean Martin version), etc. But I also don’t get why there’s a concert by a band no one know for the first 30 min of the show??

The choreography and actual skating looks to be fantastic though!

 

[made_in_canada]

I just got back from the show.

The good: Carolina Kostner is such a goddess. It was also a treat to see Tatiana and Max. I really enjoyed how cohesive the whole thing was. The part with the band and the skating was definitely a highlight though Jeremy hit his toe pick and fell hard and it kind of broke the spell. Chan seemed to be having the most fun of anyone and just seemed so happy and comfortable. Shed a few tears during fix you.

The not so good: The band was okay but it was kind of weird and just not necessary. I went to see skating. Also, I know it’s his schtick but I am so over Elvis lip synching rock songs and him using a microphone as a prop made it 100 times more eye roll worthy.

It wasn’t super full here either. I knew a few people that normally would go that couldn’t because of the long weekend. Which is too bad because the quality of the choreography and performances was very high.

 

[Jay42]

I think part of the problem with the band is that their main demographic is easily at least 10 years younger than I am (32) at maximum. They mentioned searching them on TikTok and I know for a fact the average age of most TikTok users is 19/20. Considering that a lot of skating fans in towns that the show is going to are 40 or older I think it makes it a little harder for the band to really click with people.

The band is fine, I wouldn’t seek them out on their own but I didn’t hate that I heard them. They were engaging and would probably do well on a bigger stage.

 

[Alilou]

I think part of the problem with the band is that their main demographic is easily at least 10 years younger than I am (32) at maximum. They mentioned searching them on TikTok and I know for a fact the average age of most TikTok users is 19/20. Considering that a lot of skating fans in towns that the show is going to are 40 or older I think it makes it a little harder for the band to really click with people.

The band is fine, I wouldn’t seek them out on their own but I didn’t hate that I heard them. They were engaging and would probably do well on a bigger stage.

What I hated most about the band was that it was so loud that the sound was completely distorted. They're not in my demographic either but I suspect I would have enjoyed them well enough if there had been good acoustics and sound engineering. I loved their music when they stood on the ice later in the show. The opening concert OTOH was just painfully loud noise.

 

[Jay42]

What I hated most about the band was that it was so loud that the sound was completely distorted. They're not in my demographic either but I suspect I would have enjoyed them well enough if there had been good acoustics and sound engineering. I loved their music when they stood on the ice later in the show. The opening concert OTOH was just painfully loud noise.

The sound was alright for us. My mom said they weren’t enunciating very well while singing though. My brother is a sound guy and he’s turned us all into snobs lol.