Half an hour late the doors opened and I got to the very front, it was so nice to be able to lean against the stage and not to have lots of stupid security guards there!
Jim Rose was the first on stage and put a spoon up his nose and swallowed 4 razor blades and a piece of cotton then spat out the cotton with the razor blades attached. We were then introduced to Bibi the Circus Queen who walked up a ladder made from swords and laid down (topless, to the approval of the audience) on a bed of nails and had Mr Rose stand on her.
It was then time for the ritual shouting of "LIFTO, LIFTO" , for Mr Lifto to come on. I guess he's probably the most famous act, and he did the usual lifting up weights via piercings to his ears, tongue, nipples and of course his penis! He also did the super-gluing a bowling ball to his hand and taking it of trick, and had a number firecrackers stuck to his chest and lit!
After a 15 minute interval a Swiss man(whose name I've forgotten, sorry) came on stage who stapled a 5 pound not to his head and left again!
The Rubber Man did a weird dance which involved him showing how his limbs could bend in various different directions at the same time which was somewhat freaky and that he could tie himself in knots! He also did an escape out of a chain wrapped round him, 2 pairs of handcuffs. He also had a block of concrete smashed on his stomach by a sledgehammer while he was lying on a bed of swords!
Matt the Knife did some sort of flame dance and then proceeded to juggle with 3 bowling balls, 3 then 4 knives then 2 knives and a chain-saw, which he nearly dropped on my head, well pretended to anyway!
The Enigma act was much the same as always: condom up the nose and out the mouth, then condom in the mouth then out the nose, condom over head. Squeamish girl has to fees worms then maggots then locust to Enigma. Jim Rose puts a scorpion in Enigma's mouth, but he doesn't eat it! He then did the sword swallowing routine and I was asked to verify that the sword which beats the world record as being the longest sword swallowed is real!(It's also quite heavy!)
Having these maniacs running round the audience in pitch black with chain-saws was, shall I say, an interesting part of the show while Jim Rose and Bibi squirted us with water pistols, good at first but dragged on a bit.
The Finale( hailed by Mr Rose as the most dangerous stunt of the 20th Century!) involved Matt the Knife balancing a Lawn Mower in his mouth while the cast threw lettuces into the blades!
All in all it was a very entertaining night out although some of the bits are exactly the same as on the video, but I definitely would go again, but perhaps not more than once on one tour.
Actually I did see the New Jim Rose Circus Summer 1997 in Switzerland. Some acts were still the same but there were also some new ones. I still enjoyed the show but again, I think once every two years is enough.
Also check out:
Jim Rose Circus Official web site.