I should start my confessing a lifelong love of magic. Somewhere there's a Super 8 movie of a 7 year old Scaramouch performing the Cups & Balls. In fact, the very name Scaramouch comes from my college days, when I worked part-time as a table-hopping restaurant magician under that stage name. At one point I attended national magic conventions and have seen many of the top magic acts perform live.

So I guess it was always a given that i was going to enjoy my first time watching Copperfield live. But, the problem for a magician watching magic is that you can never really lose yourself in the performance. You are invariably watching for the telltale clue that will signal the mechanics of the illusion, and almost challenge the performer to fool you.

Well, I'm here to say that Copperfield truly blew me away, both with his performance and his act. A few highlights which I'll try not to exaggerate:

• A live scorpion selected a chosen card from a deck with his claw. A great twist on an old trick
• An impossible to predict random lottery number amazingly being predicted - in the form of decades old license plates. No matter how this was achieved, those plates looked like the real McCoy
• Almost instantaneous appearances of motorcycles and cars - the car especially had me on my feet.
• A “Thru Steel” illusion where Copperfield melted through a solid plate of steel
• Portal, where a woman is transported to a South Sea island visibly clutching a ploaroid I KNOW had been taken on stage moments before
• The finale, which featured the vanishing of 13 audience members simultaneously

In some ways, I'm sure many people view Copperfield as a relic of the late 80s, as relevant today as Duran Duran (who, coincidentally are also touring). But I'd really advise you to put aside those misconceptions and check out Copperfield's site to see if his tour is coming to a town near you. Mister Scaramouch assures the public this production will be second to none.