At Las Vegas: An energetic, modern performance.
Oct 07 '01
The Bottom Line The Blue Man Group, Live at Luxor, is an entertaining and energetic modern music experience that you can't miss.
I remember seeing the Blue Man Group on Jay Leno a very long time ago, so it was a nice surprise to be in Vegas last weekend to find that they had shows at the Luxor hotel and casino (tickets were 82 dollars).
The Blue Man Group, Live at Luxor, consists of three "blue men". They don't talk at all. Possessing a sense of "otherworldliness", the blue men view the stage as a new place that they haven't been to before, with a desire to show the audience their world by using unique musical instruments.
When I first sat down for the show, I knew I was in for something interesting: staffers we're handing out long, TP-width paper, asking us to "decorate ourselves". Naturally I thought blacklights would be involved (as they would be into the show). In addition, there were several other surprises that presented themselves off-stage throughout the show, which really made for an out-of-the-box show experience.
The show mainly consists of performances carried out with customized tube instruments (contraptions such as the "Drumbone" or "Tubulums" for instance) and is driven by a strong, percussion-based soundtrack. The Blue Men always seem to be surprised by a new instruments that move onto the stage, only to approach them as a group and jump into the music shortly thereafter. From the expansive "drum wall" to the Blue Men's "backpack tubulums" (kind of like portable xylophones), the blue men use different sorts of drumsticks to operate the instruments. It definitely got me moving to the beats as the music reached many levels of percussion - when songs reach full-force, additional percussionists and band members perform with the Blue Men, dressed in costumes which make them appear as stick figures under the blacklight.
Non-musical segments involve audience participation in addition to the occasional person grabbed from the seats to join the Blue Men on stage. In one of the segments, a young woman was brought to a dinner table, where all three blue men and her faced the audience. For those in rows farther back, there was a large video screen above the blue men so that we could see their facial expressions and reactions between them and the woman. It was hilarious, and interesting, to see how she tried to do as the Blue Men did, and vice versa.
BMG: Live at Luxor may be a Las Vegas show, but it's more than just that: a performance about community and ritual. I'd like to say more, however it would ruin the surprises and experience of the show.
I liked the Blue Man Group so much, I'll watch them again.
For more information, you can find out about the Blue Man Group at: www.blueman.com
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Epinions.com ID:
JamesWong
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Location: California
Reviews written: 60
Trusted by: 40 members
About Me:
Video/PC gamer, video editor.
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