Got home about an hour ago. I'm exhausted. Please, SOI, have a show in Baltimore or DC next year. Aside from the long drive, made worse by roadwork everywhere (my first year going to Hershey for SOI was 2014 and I swear they are still working on the same roads), I hate that venue with the heat of a thousand suns. They were pulling people out of line to measure bags if they thought their bag was too big (limit is 5x8x1, mine somehow escaped detection, it's 5x8x2), but oddly, didn't look in any of the regulation-size bags, just the standard metal detectors. I had food in my jacket pocket...in hindsight, I could have put it in my bag, except there was no room. Anyway, on to the show...
Best SOI in a long time, I loved the group numbers, the individual numbers were all amazing, not a weak spot in the bunch. At the meet & greet, a couple skaters asked me what my favorite parts of the show were, and I was like, everything?! Too Darn Hot was my favorite of the group numbers. It felt like the kind of group number SOI did in its glory days in the 90s. Obviously, these skaters don't have the same amount of prep time, just a few days during/after Japan SOI, but the choreo was well designed, fun, brought out the skaters' personalities and showed off their skating skills. The 'Blade Angels' Golden number was probably my 2nd favorite....choreo is looking comfortable and solid now.
Including the skaters' competitive programs was a nice touch, the tribute to the gold medal team was cute. Each skater got to say something or introduce another skater for the mini-performances. Amber said that while they were waiting for the final skater (Sato) marks, her teammates told her no matter what happened, she would always be a champion in their eyes.
Crowd was very enthusiastic. Biggest applause was for Alysa and Ilia, C/B and Amber also got a great reception, really, everyone did. The skaters were very appreciative of the support at the M&G.
I noticed they did not have any advance order forms for next year's show taped to the seats, like they have in the past (I haven't been to SOI for a couple years, maybe they stopped doing that?) which made me wonder if they are planning a tour next year. I hope so, I think all the new fans seeing the show this year would like to see more.
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that it happened again.
I was hoping they'd be added to Chicago. It's sold out... and ITA about a DC or Baltimore show! I'd love to go to either city for a SOI mini-vacation.
). From looking at my review notes, Sarah skated to Eva Cassidy's "Over The Rainbow" and Tamyra Gray's "Raindrops Will Fall." 
