I went to see David Copperfield's show in Las Vegas during the Formula One race, and when David appeared from the motorcycle shadow box, he seemed tired, unhappy, and like he did not want to be there. I understand David does many shows, multiple shows a day, and he seems burned out. I saw his show many years ago, and it was good. Now, in my opinion, his current show is pretty bad. The Blu 32 alien act is horrible and super cheesy. Maybe it is the storyline, but it was ridiculous. Whoever is helping David produce this show is definitely failing him tremendously.

The car appearance that is part of the lottery prediction routine was spectacular and a crowd favorite.

David stood on stage and popped a balloon that was placed in the middle of the audience with the power of his mind. The effect hardly got any kind of reaction whatsoever. He then took it one step further and placed a balloon inside another balloon, blew them up, tied them off, and stuck the balloons into a plexiglass box. He used the powers of his mind to pop the balloon that was inside the other balloon, leaving the outer balloon unharmed.

David did another effect that was part of his email routine. He had a woman come up and write the name of any celebrity on a large sketch pad on an easel that was facing away from the audience. She wrote the name of the celebrity while a poster hung in the air on the side of the stage in full view, turned around so that the audience couldn't see what was on the poster. But when David revealed the name of the celebrity, that the spectator supposedly wrote on the sketch pad; the poster that was brought down had the face of the celebrity that the woman had written on the sketchpad paper. The woman was then taken off stage, and instead of going back to her seat, she was taken to the back of the theater where two crew members talked to her for about two minutes. Then she went back to her seat. While she was about to sit down, she was shaking her head back and forth to her mom, and she looked very disappointed. She was later in the lobby telling people how the trick was done.

The audience member levitation and vanish that was done in the audience; the vanish method was very obvious, and many audience members were pointing it out as it was being carried out. That illusion is a very bold move.

The onstage platform vanish where David disappears to reunite with his dad has a very cheesy story, but the vanish itself looked good. David stood on an elevated platform, and there was a sheet with a wire on both corners of the sheet. The sheet was down on the front side of the platform and then raised in front of David, raised enough to expose his feet. As the cloth raised up in the air, so did David; his feet were visible behind the curtain raising up into the air, and then the sheet dropped, and he was gone.

The UFO appearance over the heads of the audience was cool but not magical in my opinion, as all the lights in the theater were off, and nobody could see anything in the pitch black. But once the lights came back on, it was cool seeing the large UFO floating overhead.

The T-Rex dinosaur appearance that appeared in an open-frame box was cool.

After the show was finished, I unfortunately overheard the family sitting next to me saying how stupid and corny the show was as they were laughing. Another two people sitting in front of me to my left got up after the alien routine and left the theater and never returned. I'm not sure if they left because they were disappointed in the show or they had plans and had to be somewhere else. Many people in the lobby were expressing verbally the disappointment they had with the show.

Before the show started, a crew member came out on stage and said no video recording and picture-taking. He also asked the audience to give a standing ovation at the end of the show. Well, not many people stood and participated for the requested standing ovation. I personally did not like this show, and I think his show needs to be entirely redone. With his resources and money, he could have a top-notch production. I just do not understand this production, I have read so many bad reviews on his current show. Anyone else have any thoughts on this or opinions on his current show?

In addition, I had the opportunity to attend the magic show of Shin Lim and Collin Cloud, a far superior experience in my opinion. Despite the predominantly card-focused acts by Shim Lim and the mentalism routines by Collin Cloud, their combined performance delivered a captivating and memorable show and people left seeming to be blown away.

Next time you're in vegas, stop in and see Mac King, best show in town.

I definitely will. I wanted to see him during my last trip but unfortunately the show was dark during my last visit. I caught Copperfield, Murray SawChuck, the variety show at the V theater in the Miracle Mile Shops, Shin Lim and Colin Cloud, KA, Mad Apple, Love, Carrot Top and Banachek. Lots of the magic acts were dark.

Consider that his father actually did work at Area 51.

His reviews of later have kind of been poor from the laity as well.

He still sells tickets.

I saw his show not too long ago, and I agree with a lot of your thoughts. David is not very engaging or likable on stage - he REALLY seems to be doing something that he doesn't enjoy too much. In the show I saw, he got impatient with an audience member when asking for random numbers.

The alien routine was not my favorite routine, but I still thought it was okay. From a magician's point of view, it was impressive, but I can see how a lay audience would just laugh at how corny it was.

David must be a tough taskmaster as a boss. His crew never seemed happy - only stressed. There was a point where one of his male assistants handed David the wrong object, and David flashed him a look that was not too kindly, to say the least. I was sitting in the very front and had my hat sitting on the ground, and one of the assistants came by and told me (in a very unfriendly way) to pick it up and not put it on the ground again.

Still, the magic was nothing short of great. The effects you mentioned were all spectacular to me - especially the car appearing around the audience members. I've seen David probably a dozen times through the years, and his shows always leave me with a special feeling that I never get from any other magician.

Reading this makes me glad I got to see him live a couple of times back in the early 80's when he was up and coming. Those shows were great, and he was very into it. Even got to meet him after the show and he signed my Tannen's catalog featuring him on the cover. I still have it, you think it's a collector's item now?

I wonder why he bothers still doing it if he's really not into it. Not like he needs the cash....

Ron,

It's unfortunate to hear about the stress and unfriendliness among David's stage crew. I thought I was the only one noticing how depressed and angry his crew looked. It aligns with what I heard from someone who worked on the stage crew about the challenging work environment with David and upper staff.

Does anyone know what David wears under his shirt? It looks like a bulletproof vest lol. Does anyone have insights on this or know what the heck he is wearing under his shirt.

I saw that a number of years ago when he was walking through the casino. I thought we were going to see the flying because he had on the harness. Nope. Just a frail older gentleman trying desperately to hope it is still 1992 or so.

I believe he is wearing a back brace.

And a padded shirt.

Does anyone know what the current set list is for David's show? I saw it about 5 years ago and was wondering what was changed, taken out, or added.

Lol… Danny, I’ve flown a LOT of celebrities (Currently including Piff) and no flying harness is that bulky!

Yea I know what you mean. It was the first thought as he was walking past. The harness would have actually looked better!

There just seemed no other rationale explanation. This was a while ago also. Maybe 20 years ago. I’d have to think for an exact date. But him being frail and aged wasn’t a prominent discussion.

Totally agree with OP. There are a couple of impressive productions in the show but "phoning it in" is an understatement. And the email prediction is pretty obvious and dated. His heart didn't seem into it at all. Maybe start taking some days off???

David has been in Vegas for well over 20 some years. As far as I know he and his crew still work seven days a week and take time off in small segments. Last time I saw the show it was fantastic but perhaps David was just trying harder since he knew I was there.