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Deception Convention
Liverpool
Sunday 8th June, 2014
Reviewed by Quentin Reynolds
With a promise of four star lecturers and an array of dealers the Deception
Convention attracted about 100 magicians to downtown Liverpool’s Adelphi Hotel
on Sunday, 8th June. The hotel is impressive and you’d feel that you might meet
Hercule Poirot having afternoon tea in the lounge.
Wayne Goodman kicked off the day with his lecture, mostly cards and with some
interesting ideas on new methods for standard plots. The one that stuck in my
mind was a Brainwave Deck with no R&S.
Chris Congreave started with a (soon to be released by RSVP) card trick where
three randomly thrown dice point to a previously shown card that predicts not
just the total, but also a playing card. A variation of a Paul Gordon Poker Deal
led to a participant either losing (or winning) with five aces. The highlight was
a gag with a mobile phone credited to Steve Evans.
Dee Christopher opened with his spoon bending routine which I liked so much that
I bought his DVD. You can tell when someone works a lot when they talk about
blocking and sight lines.
Gary Jones brought the day to an end with some very strong commercial routines.
Gary was also the only person to use the platform for better communication.
Gary’s type of material reminds me of Joe Riding and Rovi - strong and direct.
Dealers dealt and demmed between the lecturers. Besides the lecturers we had
Aaron Hayes, Adrian Sullivan, Chris Webb, Stephen Leathwaite, Dave Forrest,
Magic Tao, Magic World, Merlin’s, PJ, Spellbound and The 1914.
I missed the late night show held later in another venue. It featured an Open
Mic session and performances by Wayne Goodman, Lewis Le Val and The Wizards of
Odd (Aaron Hayes & Jonti Sparrow). Those who were sober said it was a good show.
Those who weren’t said it was fabulous.
Jonti Sparrow put the day together and is planning a bigger day next year. ’Tis
no easy job to organise a day of magic and this one got off to a good start and
I hope there will be many more in the years to come.
© Quentin Reynolds, June 2014