The Wiggles Concert Review (2004)
1st U.S. Stop - Denver
March 29th, 7:00 PM show.
March 30th, 7:00 PM show.
Wiggle Dancers appearing in the August USA Concerts
Wilkes-Barre, PA August Wiggles Concert Review
Concert Overview
The performance was everything we had expected. It was actually better than we expected. Unfortunately… our 18-month-old son did not enjoy it as much as we did. I really think my wife and I are to blame for this. We let him get out of his routine… he ended up with no nap and hardly ate all day before the concert. And although we had great seats we ended up directly under the speaker system. It was loud and for the 1st half of the concert we had to take him up higher in the arena. He was content to lie in our arms and watch the concert from there and for the last half of the concert he had adjusted enough that we returned to our seats. He did have several bouts of giggling on the way home which I hope were happy memories of the concert.
I do think that this was just one of those days with an 18 month toddler. I think if we had done a better job preparing him on concert day he would have been just fine. We hope to test this theory out for the 2nd day of Denver's concerts. At the bottom of this review is a place where you can enter your own comments. We'd love to hear about your own toddler's experiences.
We did return for the evening show on the 30th. Alex was much better rested. This time we sat in the cheap seats up near the top and facing the end of the stage. The sound levels were much better but obviously we did not have the up-close view of The Wiggles. The show was still very enjoyable.
Alex did much better but still did not show great excitement at seeing The Wiggles in person. He treated it much like he treats the television show. He would not really pay attention until a song he liked came on. Then he would give them his full attention. I did have to take him down to the concourse once and let him move about a little.
I saw several parents this show just give up and leave when their kids kept acting up. I do not understand their actions. An hour and half is a long time for a small toddler to sit still. Many more parents did just what I did; go down on the concourse for short 10-minute breaks. I never really did miss much of the show doing this. If a song came on that I wanted to see I just picked up Alex and watched from the concourse tunnel or from behind the handicapped section. (Unlike most events the ushers allowed the parents to watch from the tunnels as long as traffic was not blocked)
Concert Details
The concert began about 10-15 minutes late as expected. We were sitting in the 'Hot Potato' section… floor level, 8 rows back and a little to the left of center. (1st show) The show was a tad over 60 minutes long with no intermission. As mentioned before it was pretty loud on the floor; at least to us because we were right under the speakers. The show opened with 'Rock-a-Bye Your Bear' and ended with the "Wiggly Medley'. Almost all of the songs will be familiar from the show although there were several that I have never heard before such as 'Central Park New York'. The standard favorites such as 'Play your Guitar with Murray', 'Hot Potato' and 'Fruit Salad' and many more were present.
These guys put on a great show. It was very high-energy and their interaction with the crowd is great. All of them except for Greg ended up in the crowd at least once. In the crowd there are plenty of picture opportunities. Jeff (my favorite) was all over the place.
As expected Captain Feathersword, Dorothy the Dinosaur, Henry the Octopus and Wags the Dog were all there. Captain Feathersword was played by Brett Clarke instead of Paul Paddick for the Denver shows, which was a slight disappointment since he is our favorite character. Brett did do a great job and is very talented but his voice is a bit higher. They all had their own songs except for Henry the Octopus.
Dorothy did several songs: 'Another Cup of Rosie Tea' and 'The Ballet'. Wags did 'Bow Wow Wow' and Captain Feathersword did a whole routine around 'Quack Quack' and his magic buttons. (Pressing different buttons had him doing different versions of the song including Elvis and Mick Jagger) I was a little disappointed they didn't do more of his songs like 'Ooh It's Captain Feathersword' or 'Nya Nya Nya' but understand the limitations on time.
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