The Wiggles Concert Review (2004)
Wilkes-Barre, PA
August 27th
By: Josh, Kim & Jaden (~2 years old)
Wiggle Dancers appearing in the August USA Concerts
GetReadyToWiggle.com's March Wiggles Concert Review
The show started with an overture...some instrumental versions of their songs, while the video screens depicted the Wiggles in the Big Red Car driving toward the Wachovia Arena (they even showed a few Wilkes-Barre exit signs, much to the delight of the locals). It was a lengthy sequence, but it did its job and built up some incredible anticipation. The kids who were old enough to know what was happening were screaming in anticipation, and many of the parents were getting excited too. Finally, they showed the reverse-side of the stage as the Big Red Car entered the arena's backstage area. The overture started blaring an instrumental version of 'Get Ready to Wiggle' as the Red Coat Dancers ran out with colored flags. Finally 'Get Ready to Wiggle' culminated seamlessly with the opening notes of 'Toot Toot', and the Wiggles drove on-stage in the Big Red Car. At this point, Jaden's jaw hit the floor. He just stared in amazement. Greg drove the car to all corners of the stage and right in the middle, so everyone got to see it. They did the whole song before driving off the other side of the stage.
Jaden wasn't really sure what to make of it at first. He just had this blank stare for the first fifteen minutes or so, and we were worried he wouldn't get into it. But once they brought out Wags, Dorothy, Henry and Captain Feathersword he got excited and started clapping and dancing. The floor was packed so we ended up holding him up most of the time so he could see; no easy task with toddlers behind us and adults in front of us.
The playlist was as follows, though this is not in order (one or two might be...):
- Toot Toot, Chugga Chugga Big Red Car
- Rock-a-Bye Your Bear
- Hot Potato
- Fruit Salad
- Eagle Rock (since King Mondo wasn't around, Captain Feathersword took lead vocals)
- Can You Point Your Fingers and Do the Twist (Jaden's second favorite)
- Quack, Quack (Jaden's absolute favorite Wiggles song)
- Where's Jeff?
- Lights, Camera, Action
- The Butterfly Ballet (with Dorothy in a ballet dress)
- Dorothy (Do You Want to Dance?)
- The Monkey Dance
- Play Your Guitar with Murray
- Nicky Nacky Nocky Noo (I was surprised at this one; I always wondered what it would like with Paul Paddick singing it)
- Hoop-Dee-Doo
- Dancing with Wags the Dog
- Rolling Down the Sandhills
- Wiggly Party
- Wiggly Medley
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They also had a lot of songs in the very long Medley, including Captain's Magic Buttons (which they didn't actually sing, although they did a hysterical segment with the Captain singing as Mick Jagger, Tom Jones, and Britney Spears). I was a little let down that none of the Wiggles came down our way (Jeff passed by very quickly during the Where's Jeff song), but Murray did read our sign from the stage (which said, "We love Murray" so it was kind of fitting...though he couldn't read the 'Can we shake your hand' part so we didn't get to...). We were featured on their video screen for a few moments as well while he read our sign.
There were a few times that you could tell someone forgot a line or said something the others weren't expecting, because all of them had the giggles very badly. Anthony especially; he and the captain had a lot of fun together. You could tell they genuinely loved to be together and to be entertaining. Such chemistry! And the kids were very responsive to that. Jaden could barely keep his eyes off of Captain Feathersword and Anthony - to this day he still tells us all about how Anthony tried to push the big Wiggle balloons (the inflatable Jeff and Murray dolls) up, and they kept falling down on him. It was also a nice surprise to see the Big Red Car in person, and the way they introduced the Wiggles was just great. It really built up the anticipation for them to come out on stage.
Overall it was beyond what I'd hoped to experience, and Jaden really loved it. He's more into the Wiggles now than ever. He watches their videos and dances and signs much more often, since he saw all the other kids doing it at the show. He got a Captain Feathersword hat from the concert (part of his Halloween costume this year) and barely takes it off.
Josh and Kim and Jaden
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WigglyMaster@GetReadyToWiggle.com
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