Last night I got to see two of the world’s most famous magicians live in Manchester! Back in 2021, I spotted that they had planned to do a UK tour then but it’d been pushed back to 2023 because of Covid, so I checked to see if there were any tickets available and there still were a very limited amount on sale for the new date.

Penn & Teller.

I think I first saw them doing stuff back in the 90s when they had a TV show on Channel 4, where they’d do tricks with chainsaws and the like, often including a lot of fake blood! And obviously they’re massive in America, with a Vegas residency and appearing on TV quite a bit over there. They opened with a gag about them now performing age-appropriate magic, since they’ve been working together for 50 years, so started off with an escapology routine with them in rocking chairs with on oxygen cylinder on hand to help with their breathing!

Penn & Teller.

The whole show was really great, with lots of funny moments, but in retrospect they didn’t actually do that much magic! Penn’s an amazing story-teller, and makes up for Teller’s silence with the amount of talking he does, but they have a few bits where they’re either debunking a trick, or doing a trick on someone that’s quite obvious to everyone else. Plus there was quite long ending involving fire-eating, which is more of a circus skill, so I’m not sure there were that many tricks and illusions overall (maybe I’ve been spoiled by Derren Brown who does cram in a load of stuff!).

But ultimately, I wouldn’t let that detract from what was a really great entertaining show, and I’m so glad I got to see them live!