This time last week, the annual Blackpool Magic Convention took place over a weekend in the wintery breeze of Blackpool. Each year, the world’s largest magic convention is a big fix in the magician’s calendar, offering a huge selection of lectures, shows, workshops and special events by some of the biggest movers and shakers in the world of magic.
The Lancashire town grows in popularity every third weekend in February when 1000s of magic enthusiasts and attendees make the pilgrimage to the northern town, usually arriving the day before the doors open to the historic Blackpool Winter Gardens and the grand Opera house. We made our way there on the Thursday, leaving Essex at around midday and spent roughly 5 hours zooming up to the North of the country to our final destination.
We checked into our accommodation on arrival and then prepared for the excitement ahead! The convention spanning over 3 days is crammed full of magic, including over 100 magic dealers in the huge dealers hall: magic shops, suppliers, and inventors all demonstrate and sell their latest wares, from card tricks to grand illusions and all the latest in magic invention and technology. You could easily spend hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds in just a couple of hours as there are so many tricks and props to look at and potentially buy, I fell into the spirit and spent the most I’ve ever spent at a magic convention, mostly on one prop that makes a table vanish anywhere.
A big part of the convention is the evening gala and one man shows: due to the size of the crowd, the shows are repeated twice each night. The Friday night gala show featured a mixture of different acts from around the world, ably hosted by one of the best UK ventriloquists Max Fulham.
Saturday night offered The One competition, with the biggest prize money for a magic competition offering £30, 000 to the winner. The acts were chosen from some of the finest magic acts in the world, including the UK’s own Taylor Morgan who presented his beautiful floating balloon act and current FISM world champion Simon Coronel who performed an impossible link of cut playing cards and a ring. The crowned winner was Robin Deville, who presented an act seated at a table and transforming from one character to another Jekyll-and-Hyde-style, whilst performing impossible card magic.
The final night of shows was given to grand illusionist Rick Thomas, a Las Vegas performer who continually tours America with his incredible show. He last performed at the convention 20 years ago and created a stir with his choice of spectacular illusions.
Either side of these were one man shows including recent Britain’s Got Talent magician Jack Rhodes, who was a stand out highlight for many, plus Las Vegas singing impressionist and ventriloquist Terry Fator who added a bit variety away from all the magic.
Another big component of the convention are the workshops, talks and lectures. Some of the top names in magic and the allied arts gives their thoughts on the performing arts by sharing their favourite tricks, routines, effects, thoughts and ideas. There is also the opportunity to buy lecture notes, books and products at the end of these sessions.
I was very fortunate to have been invited to present my lecture for the first time at the convention: I first attended the Blackpool Magic Convention in 1996, so I was honoured to be part of this years line up all these years later.
My session was at 2pm on the Friday in the Foyer Hall: I was excited and nervous beforehand and slightly worried no-one was going to turn up! However, there was a queue of people waiting to come in when the doors opened which gradually filled up the room. I made sure to enjoy it, as it was an experience I wanted to both remember and appreciate and I made sure there were special moments that people would remember, such as making a dove appear when they least expected it.
Now, you have to understand… it’s very hard to fool a room full of magicians, especially when you’re explaining everything that you’re doing up to that point, so being able to hit a moment where you surprise everyone in the room is not easy. However, it is extremely gratifying when successful and it felt fantastic to achieve this at the largest magic convention in the world! I absolutely loved it and one almighty tick on the magic bucket list.
One of the best parts of the weekend is the social side, catching up with friends old and new, whom you may only see once a year at the convention.
So, until next time… a huge thanks to Russ Stevens, Russ Brown, Guy Barrett and all the organisers and volunteers at the Blackpool Magic Convention.
Next year the convention runs from 19th – 22nd February, tickets go on sale April 2025.
