Chrysler Stars on Ice Review - Saskatoon, SK - April 27, 2001

Since there have already been several reviews of SOI, I won't do a full blow-by-blow account, but some of the various thoughts I had from the show:

This show was very poorly advertised, especially before tickets went on sale, so we managed to get lucky and get on-ice seats just by buying on the first day (definitely the best luck I've had with tickets so far). It's sure going to be hard going back to sitting far away; once you've had the up close experience, not much else will do.

I'm no Maria Butyskaya fan, but I'll have to disagree with whoever said that she didn't fit in with SOI; I thought she adapted to the choreography very well and if anyone looked a little uncomfortable during the 2000 AD number, it was Yagudin.

Speaking of Yagudin, I've been a "semi-fan" of his ever since seeing his 97-98 LP and I've liked him a bit more every season, but he's finally won me over completely after seeing him live. Gladiator was amazing and I'm so happy I was able to see it in person. The emotion he puts into his performance blows me away every time I see him skate this program and seeing it live is even more mind-boggling. I sure hope Alexei decides to come to Skate Canada again, as I'd love to see him compete live.

Josee Chouinard had a great jump night, landing a triple lutz, salchow and toe-loop in her "Can't Fight the Moonlight" program. I'm not crazy about the program, though; I love the music and I love Josee, but I just don't really find the song to be "skateable".

Only Brian Orser (or possibly Kurt Browning) could actually make me like a program to Kenny G-ish music like "Against All Odds". I found that the program really built to the end and is one of those ones that works better live than on TV.

This was my first time seeing Scott Hamilton live and I was very glad to get to see him before he retires, but watching him did make me really regret never getting the chance to see him at his best. Even though it's obvious that he's slowed down a lot, his pure "showmanship" was still a treat to watch.

Kurt looked like he was trying a triple axel in Bring Him Home, but ended up with a messy double. Still, the program itself was amazing. The earlier incarnation of Bring Him Home was one of the few Kurt programs I didn't really like, but 10 years of experience and some more mature choreography has turned the current program into one of his best.

I was disappointed that Don't Fence Me In has been drastically cut (I'd heard it was shorter, but wasn't prepared for it to be that short), but since Kurt seems to be pretty busy in the second half, he probably needed a bit of a break!

Nyah brought the house down--this, along with Gladiator and Bourne/Kraatz's "Histoire D'Amour", was the highlight of the night for me. It just gave me goose bumps and was over before I even knew it.