Stars on Ice Canada tour, April 26-May 16, 2019

honey said:
I think Singing in the Rain is his signature piece and I love it. I would watch Singing in the Rain 100 times a day over Slippery Side Up. Not super thrilled to hear the new program is similar to that, which IMO, is one of the worst programs he ever did :shuffle:.
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Not familiar with slippery side up. I remember now the package one was My Favourite Things with a brown paper package wrapped up with string - cringe worthy IMO
 
Everyone’s mileage varies and Kurt’s done over 150 different programs in his career so there are always bound to be hits and misses for different people.

That said, whenever he mentions having problems with his jumps as a reason not to skate, I think that he should bring back Nyah, or do something in a similar vein ;).
 
Kurt wrote a letter to SOI fans and tweeted it out yesterday ("... never take an audience for granted"): https://twitter.com/KurtBrowning/status/1121368344475705345

He also chatted in studio: https://globalnews.ca/video/5201358/stars-on-ice-kurt-browning
And gave a skating lesson to a reporter: https://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=1667697

ETA:

[Jordan Cowan] oniceperspectives
Who thought they’d never hear #KurtBrowning wearing mics on his skates again? Well, we did it. And in stereo! 🎧 (Part 1 of 3!): https://www.instagram.com/p/BwrXU4AFnGZ/
 
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I'll be in section 112 row J for SOI in Laval on May 1st!!!

Yippee! I can't wait to see the newbie cast member Nam a 2 time national champ skate age 21, skate with World and Olympic stars -- Patrick age 29, Elvis age 47 and the 30yr SOI vet Kurt who is still performing at age 53!!!

But the most exciting news (and the main reason I bought SOI tickets) for this dance fan is count em ---3 ICE DANCE TEAMS--- Including 1st timer's Gilles and Poirier Weaver and Poje and Papadakis and Cizeron, who will all be performing in LAVAL and cherry on sundae is 1 of my fav Pair teams Duhamel and Radford will be there too!!! Oh yeah 2 world champs and Olympic star ladies will round it out Osmond and Medvedeva! What's not to love about this season's CSOI tour?
 
After much debate, I purchased tickets for myself and my husband. I think I got really good seats. Last year I procrastinated the decision just a bit and there were no good seats to be had and we had to sit three rows apart. I hope the ticket sales are okay.
 
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Initial impressions from the Halifax show:

Tickets sales were decent, not as high as last year but comparable to other previous years

I enjoyed the group numbers. I can`t tell you the names of all the songs for the group numbers as I didn`t recognize them all (I must be getting old :lol:) But they opened to Lady Gaga, Born This Way and closed to I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends, and had a group number to 90s songs which was really cute. (I said this was the soundtrack to my university years....haha!)

Tour Newbies:
  • Nam was the first skater and he did great! I enjoyed him a lot on the tour. He seems to be a natural performer and know what the audience likes.
  • I enjoyed Evgenia too. She skated to a dancey version of My Favorite Things and also an emotive song I didn`t recognize. You can tell she is a bit injured as she kept the technical level fairly low but she is a great addition to the tour.

Tour Oldie but Goodies:
  • Kurt and Elvis! Elvis just keeps getting better and better every year. He threw in a triple lutz in one number and did some awesome hydroblading. :eek: :respec: He puts my 40-something self to shame. :shuffle: :lol: Kurt is like a fine wine....always good and brings creativity even if you didn`t realize you wanted it. I`m not a huge fan of clown numbers, but it was funny and the crowd laughed a lot. I LOVED his Gordon Lighftoot number. :swoon: So heartfelt. It was a quintessential Canadian moment.
  • Meagan Duhamel is not letting pregnancy hold her back. She and Eric brought is as they always do. Can`t remember what they skated to but the lifts and tricks were amazing.
Dancers:
  • It was great to see Piper and Paul on the tour. Their first number was to In The Mood performed with a stick. Interesting. But the show stopper was their Vincent number. It is shortened (leaves out the up tempo section) but just gorgeous. :swoon:
  • Kaitlyn and Andrew had programs to Alanis Uninvited and a fast dance number based on traditional samba songs (I know I suck at remembering the songs names....sorry! :lol:) They skated both numbers very well.

Other cast members not previously mentioned:
  • Patrick skated a beautiful program to the music To Build a Home and another program to Justin Timberlake, Rock Your Body. The Justin Timberlake is definitely a departure for him. I`m not sure if it really works for him or not. But it was good.
  • Kaetlyn Osmond skated numbers to Proud Mary and A Million Reasons, by Lady Gaga. I loved the Lady Gaga number. She seems to be really embracing touring and having lots of fun. I`ll be really surprised if she comes back to competitive skating.
Overall:
  • This was a good show. It was more slower paced than last years show but still nice.
  • I liked last year`s show better. I think the obvious theme of Olympics and the Gold Medal win made an exceptionally outstanding show last year. But this year`s compares favorably to other years.
  • Lindt is not a sponsor anymore so no free chocolate. :(
 
Thanks to a helpful Twitter user who posted images I've added in some music info below.

skategal said:
Initial impressions from the Halifax show:

Tickets sales were decent, not as high as last year but comparable to other previous years

I enjoyed the group numbers. I can`t tell you the names of all the songs for the group numbers as I didn`t recognize them all (I must be getting old :lol:) But they opened to Lady Gaga, Born This Way and closed to I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends, and had a group number to 90s songs ["Pump up the 90s" by various artists] which was really cute. (I said this was the soundtrack to my university years....haha!)

Tour Newbies:
  • Nam was the first skater and he did great! I enjoyed him a lot on the tour. He seems to be a natural performer and know what the audience likes. "Runaway Baby" by Bruno Mars; "There will be Time" by Mumford & Sons & Baaba Maal
  • I enjoyed Evgenia too. She skated to a dancey version of My Favorite Things and also an emotive song I didn`t recognize. You can tell she is a bit injured as she kept the technical level fairly low but she is a great addition to the tour. "7 Rings" by Ariana Grande; "Beautiful Mess" by Kristian Kostov

Tour Oldie but Goodies:
  • Kurt and Elvis! Elvis just keeps getting better and better every year. He threw in a triple lutz in one number and did some awesome hydroblading. :eek: :respec: He puts my 40-something self to shame. :shuffle: :lol: Kurt is like a fine wine....always good and brings creativity even if you didn`t realize you wanted it. I`m not a huge fan of clown numbers, but it was funny and the crowd laughed a lot. ["Popcorn Perils" by MusicComedy] I LOVED his Gordon Lighftoot number. ["If you could read my mind"] :swoon: So heartfelt. It was a quintessential Canadian moment. Elvis - "Original Fire" by Audioslave; "Simple Man" by Shinedown
  • Meagan Duhamel is not letting pregnancy hold her back. She and Eric brought is as they always do. Can`t remember what they skated to but the lifts and tricks were amazing. "Get what you give" by Felix Cartal; "On our own" by Bruno Major
Dancers:
  • It was great to see Piper and Paul on the tour. Their first number was to In The Mood [by Duke Ellington;The Brian Setzer Orchestra] performed with a stick. Interesting. But the show stopper was their [Vincent (Starry, Starry Night) by Govardo] number. It is shortened (leaves out the up tempo section) but just gorgeous. :swoon:
  • Kaitlyn and Andrew had programs to Alanis Uninvited and a fast dance number based on traditional samba songs (I know I suck at remembering the songs names....sorry! :lol:) "Groove Me/Land of 1000 Dances" by King Floyd/Wilson Pickett They skated both numbers very well.

Other cast members not previously mentioned:
  • Patrick skated a beautiful program to the music To Build a Home and another program to Justin Timberlake, Suit & Tie/Rock Your Body. The Justin Timberlake is definitely a departure for him. I`m not sure if it really works for him or not. But it was good.
  • Kaetlyn Osmond skated numbers to Proud Mary and A Million Reasons, by Lady Gaga. I loved the Lady Gaga number. She seems to be really embracing touring and having lots of fun. I`ll be really surprised if she comes back to competitive skating.
Overall:
  • This was a good show. It was more slower paced than last years show but still nice.
  • I liked last year`s show better. I think the obvious theme of Olympics and the Gold Medal win made an exceptionally outstanding show last year. But this year`s compares favorably to other years.
  • Lindt is not a sponsor anymore so no free chocolate. :(
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Thanks for the report @skategal - looking forward to tomorrow's show in Ottawa.
 
skategal said:
Initial impressions from the Halifax show:
  • Lindt is not a sponsor anymore so no free chocolate. :(
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Noooooooo!

I was wondering, since the Lindt sponsorship seemed tied in recent years to Tessa and Scott...

Thanks for the review! I saw clips of the 90s number on Instagram, and while I recognize a lot of the songs (my high school/university years as well), there was at least one that didn't sound familiar to me at all. Looked like fun, though! I
 
skategal said:
I enjoyed Evgenia too. She skated to a dancey version of My Favorite Things and also an emotive song I didn`t recognize.
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That was "7 Rings" by Ariana Grande, which samples "My Favourite Things" for the intro.

Skating exhibitions are how I keep up with what's happening in pop music, heh.

Kurt's Gordon Lightfoot number is majestic, not hindered at all by him falling on his butt while attempting a flying sit spin. His other comedy piece is fun, my favourite part being when it turns his not being able to do a triple Axel anymore into a joke.

You can tell that Meagan's pregnancy probably nixed any jumps or throws in the pairs routines, but they're still performing energetically.

Nam and Piper & Paul all looked super-thrilled to finally make the show.
 
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Very much enjoyed the show in Ottawa this afternoon. Lots of great skating, and the group numbers were well choreographed and executed. Kurt’s Lightfoot program is perfection, and Weaver/Poje were a highlight (and seemed to be taking on a leadership role, pleased for them). I would give one piece of constructive feedback, though — the second half opened with seven or eight slow, introspective numbers in a row. Beautifully skated, but sooooo slow. I had my 5.5 year old with me, and I nearly had to leave with her. She was very engaged with and excited by the first half, but the second half was a slog. I stuck it out because I wanted to see Kurt’s Lightfoot number, but I would encourage them to rearrange the numbers if at all possible. It’s rare that I say “thank God Patrick Chan livened things up!” (Big Patrick fan, but he’s not usually known for upbeat numbers!) Anyway, the show is well done and well worth seeing.
 
Thank you for your reviews of CSOI. Please, someone post video of Kurt's Lightfoot program (two of my favorite Canadians - perfect together)! :cheer2::encore:
 
MLIS said:
I would give one piece of constructive feedback, though — the second half opened with seven or eight slow, introspective numbers in a row. Beautifully skated, but sooooo slow. I had my 5.5 year old with me, and I nearly had to leave with her. She was very engaged with and excited by the first half, but the second half was a slog. I stuck it out because I wanted to see Kurt’s Lightfoot number, but I would encourage them to rearrange the numbers if at all possible.
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We noticed that too.

I didn't mind it too much but my husband did.

At one point he leaned over to me and said "I need someone to skate to a song that is not played at a funeral." :lol:

So yeah, I can see some fans being a bit bored by the slow numbers.
 
skategal said:
We noticed that too.

I didn't mind it too much but my husband did.

At one point he leaned over to me and said "I need someone to skate to a song that is not played at a funeral." :lol:

So yeah, I can see some fans being a bit bored by the slow numbers.
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None of our group of 5 found that an issue at the Ottawa show. We all enjoyed it immensely - one of the group had never seen SOI live before and she was thrilled. She particularly mentioned feeling so uplifted as she left the Canadian Tire Centre.
 
I felt very uplifted leaving too and loved the second part of the show. I thought many of the first portion programs, looked unrehearsed.

I’m not a fan of Kurt Browning’s CBC commenting, or his show clowning activities, but his second program was a wonderful treat. His skating is still amazing, with or without jumps. I also enjoyed Patrick's Timberlake program.
 
I attended the Ottawa show yesterday as well. Some very interesting moves done by some of the dance teams that I enjoyed. I'm generally not the biggest Gilles/Poirier fan, but enjoyed both their numbers and found the one in the first half to be a lot of fun.
I usually tend to like the group numbers, but this year I think the one which closed the first half of the show was my least favourite piece of the show.
And tremendous respect to Kurt that he can still close out the show with a backflip!
 
Steve Milton's Hamilton show (May 4) preview article: https://www.thespec.com/sports-stor...-browning-elvis-stojko-kaetlyn-osmond-in-tow/
"Evgenia is a huge figure skating star," Browning says. "She just owns her programs."
...
Also appearing for the Hamilton, Toronto and London segment of the tour is 14-year-old Stephen Gogolev, runner-up to Nguyen at Nationals. He is the youngest skater ever to land the quadruple toe loop, the youngest to land the quadruple Salchow and the youngest to land a quad Lutz.
Skaters don't perform such high-risk jumps in off-season tours, but it's a compelling parallel that Gogolev will be here with the man who executed the very first quad.
"Once you figure it out, it's like a Rubik's Cube," Browning, who went on to build one of skating's most varied artistic portfolios, says of quad technique. "Somehow he's deciphered the quad Rubik's Cube, he seems to have found the magic elixir.
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Just got home from the Laval show. I enjoyed it. Not the best CSOI I have seen, but not the worst either, I give it a solid B and it was worth the money.

The old guys still got it; Laval audience really loved Elvis and Kurt. Osmond got a lot of love too. All the ice dancer's rocked the house and honestly I was in heaven with 3 dance teams performing. Thrilled I finally got to see starry starry night, live, even if it was a shortened show version. I really enjoyed W/P 2nd up tempo samba number they looked like they were really having lots of fun skating it. It really suited them. P/C (special guests skated this season's RD (Green dress) and the ex from WTT but used new costumes. I really enjoyed the rebooted Nam, his excitement of being on the tour was infectious and it was great fun to see him smiling and speeding across the ice again, instead of his turtle pace. He held his own and he is a natural performer so I am happy they included him. Likewise Piper and Paul and It was fun seeing new number too. I was surprised at much Duhamel still did in terms of lifts, etc., they just did not do high risk jumps or throws, but they were still very musical, creative in what they did do and still quite entertaining.
 
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