At his recent showcase in Stadium Negara, David Blaine broke his earlier record of staying underwater, writes Dennis Chua
THE world’s most popular magician marked his maiden show in Kuala Lumpur with a record-breaking feat in a historical stadium, all in eight minutes and 36 seconds.
Illusionist and endurance artiste David Blaine, 41, ended his 90-minute magical showcase at Stadium Negara when he outdid his previous seven minutes inside a tank filled with water.
The New Yorker clocked seven minutes holding his breath under water in 2006, in an attempt to break the then world record of eight minutes held by Tom Sietas. But he showed signs of distress and had to be pulled out of the water tank.
This time, he was smiling throughout the feat, at Stadium Negara. He played happily with some angelfish and invited fans to crawl to the top of the tank and dip their feet into the water. A 20-something woman even jumped into the water, feet first, in an attempt to give the magician a little moral support.
When the digital clock on the stadium’s large screen hit the eight-minute mark, the 3,000-odd fans at Blaine’s show counted aloud, encouraging the magician to stay in the tank for a minute more. Alas, he winced after 30 extra seconds and gave assistants the “okay” sign to pull him out.
Nevertheless, everybody in the stadium gave Blaine a standing ovation as security escorted the towel-wrapped magician up on stage.
As soon as he took the microphone, he said: “Thank you Malaysia for making it a magical night for me. See you next time.”
Blaine’s showcase made good his promise upon arrival here on Sept 3, to “mesmerise Malaysian fans with magic”.
MESMERISE WITH MAGIC
Blaine’s show, which began at 9.30pm, was titled David Blaine Real Or Magic Asia Tour 2014, co-organised by LOL Events and Livescape Asia.
He was dressed in his trademark black T-shirt and trousers and greeted everybody with “Selamat malam Malaysia” (Good evening Malaysia).
He then called three men and three women to the stage, each holding a bottle of water, and showed them that he could drink one after another without pausing for long.
“I’m actually storing water in my belly,” he said with a cheeky grin, before stunning audiences by drinking a bottle of flammable liquid. Blaine then blew fire at his trademark DB logo and subsequently spouted several jets of water from his mouth to douse the flames.
“It’s a 20-year-old trick. Don’t try this at home,” he reminded the audience.
Blaine then called a fan, Flora, to the stage and asked her to sign her name on a card. He shuffled a deck of cards and magically made her name appear on the other cards. His next guest was a young man, Jacky, whom he asked to count 10 cards. Blaine then told Jacky to place one of his hands on his chest, before snapping his fingers to make a card appear beneath Jacky’s hand. Each time Jacky quoted a number, Blaine made a card with that number appear in his hand.
“It’s one my favourite card tricks, transferring cards from one person to another,” said Blaine.
With his next guest, Min, Blaine had fun with jigsaw puzzles. He gave her a box full of jigsaw puzzle pieces and asked her to pick one piece at random. Blaine then unveiled a colourful world map made from jigsaw pieces. It had one piece missing and Min was asked to place her piece on Peninsular Malaysia. She could not believe her eyes when it fitted in perfectly.
For his penultimate act, Blaine announced that his fate was in the hands of a young Malaysian couple, Dinesh and Jojo. He placed a sharp ice pick beneath one of three cups and instructed Dinesh to shuffle them.
Dinesh failed to “confuse” Blaine when the magician tapped the cup, which he believed was covering the pick. When Dinesh said it was not the right cup, Blaine proved him wrong. Blaine then asked a nervous Jojo to place the pick on his palm, and hold his wrist firmly while he pierced the sharp point into his skin. A doctor, Dave, was then called on the stage to witness the feat.
As the crowd gasped in disbelief, Blaine showed them that he had moved the pick right through his palm. Dave confirmed it, too. He then removed the pick slowly and, as soon as it was out of his palm, he showed everyone that there was not a wound in sight.
EXPERIMENTAL STUNTS
Blaine said his stunts were “all experimental and what you see is what you get”. His interest in magic began when he was 4 and he learnt his craft from various American illusionists over the years.
“I’m still learning. What inspires me are great stories, wonderful dreams, history, good friends and the beauty of life,” he said.
Blaine does a lot of research and reads scientific journals before performing dangerous acts. For his underwater feat, he trained with the US Navy.
Besides Blaine, the showcase also featured French hip-hop dancer Salah Benlemgawanssa and French magician Yann Frisch.
The tall and dashing Benlemgawanssa danced across the stage gracefully, showing off his “rubbery” hands, legs and body. He floated off the ground, limbo danced beautifully and contorted himself with gusto. In fact, fans remarked that he could easily be Dr Reed Richards of The Fantastic Four.
Meanwhile, Frisch’s act was laced with humour. He bounced three limes out of his mouth, and in and out of cups. The limes bounced off the floor when he threw them as well as reappeared out of his mouth and under the cups.
He had everyone in stitches. His facial expressions of constant bewilderment reminded them of Rowan Atkinson’s Mr Bean.
The show’s other entertainer was Todd Roberts, a witty American magician who stunned fans by eating a light bulb as if it was candy. Roberts subsequently took their suspense level a few notches higher when he drank a bottle of water to “digest” it.
BLAINE’S STREET MAGIC
Blaine first gained nationwide fame in 1997, with his television show David Blaine: Street Magic. In 1999, he was entombed in an underground plastic box underneath a three-tonne water-filled tank for seven days outside Trump Place in New York.
A year later, Blaine began a stunt called Frozen In Time. He stood encased in a massive block of ice in Times Square for 63 hours, 42 minutes and 15 seconds.
In 2002, a crane lifted Blaine onto a 30m-high and 0.56m-wide pillar in Bryant Park. He remained on the pillar for 35 hours. The following year, he spent 44 days sealed inside a transparent plexiglas case suspended nine metres in the air at Potters Fields Park in London.
Last year, he starred in a 90-minute TV special, David Blaine: Real Or Magic directed by Emmy Award-winning director Matthew Akers. It featured Blaine performing magic for Woody Allen, Robert De Niro, Stephen Hawking, Will Smith and Psy among others. y