The show was great!!! They had a little ceremony beforehand in connection with the Stars, Stripes, and Skates/ 9/11 Families Give Back Fund. Jeff something from the band 98 Degrees came out to sing the National Anthem, and then the FDNY pipe band came out to do a beautiful rendition of "Amazing Grace."
The intro was done to music from Ashanti... not my kind of music, but not that bad either. The guys wore white dress shirts and jeans. They all looked GREAT!!!! The girls had on bright colored dresses.
Stephan Lambiel (sorry if I just murdered the poor guy's name)... It was our first time seeing him live, and we were quite impressed!!! He was very enjoyable... and those spins... WOW!!!! His first number was instrumental... maybe one of his competitive programs for the season, and his second number, I recognize the music but darn it if I know the name. He was signing the song at times while he was skating... very cute. Seemed to get a bigger ovation after he skated then before, I don't think he's a very well known name, yet.
Kyoko and John... they looked fabulous as always. My sister, who like so many of us, thinks John is HOT... said "oh my God... he's even more gorgeous up close"... LOL. They skated to former SOI programs "Little Sister" and "Bed of Roses" both were very nicely done and well received. Elena and Anton... they were awesome too!!! They skated to "If I Could" which was absolutely beautiful... only had a small bobble on the throw jump, but they fixed it in retakes and then they did their Russian Folk music number (I know there's an actual name to the music, but the name escapes me right now).. they used it for 2004 SOI. The crowd really seemed to enjoy them tonight.... they were very good, as usual.
Caryn Kadavy... Caryn is so beautiful... very nice to see her in these shows. She skated to a song sung by Celine Dion but I'm 99% sure that I've heard Josh Groban sing it as well... just not sure which one... it's one of his french songs. If I find out which song it is, I'll let you guys know... anyway, it was a beautiful program. Her second program was done to music from Ashanti.... again, not my kind of music, but not too bad.... other than Caryn would've been one of the last ones I would've picked to skate to Ashanti... she is so graceful and this music is anything but that, she did a good job, though.
Alexei... Alexei got a nice ovation from the crowd, as usual. He skated to "Shout" from last year's SOI and a number that started with "Sway" not sure who was singing it, and then led into some instrumental stuff. He did his usual dancing and posing and flirting with audience... nice, but he's such a great skater, I wish he would concentrate more on SKATING in his programs. His jumps were all very well done.
Shae Lynn Bourne... WOW... she is very enjoyable to watch!!! Her first program was to "Feeling Good"... wasn't too fond of the music, I like the song, just not this version, but the program itself was great. Her second number was her Chicago number, which I believe she did on CSOI last season. She really had the crowd going.... what a fun program!!! At one point she shot the camera with a water pistol, and after she was done skating, the camera guy quickly dried off the camera lens.. LOL. Sarah... Sarah got great reception everytime she stepped on this ice... which we expected, since she's in her hometown. She looks good.... still not doing many jumps in her programs (I think she did 2 double toes in each program) but she still has her beautiful spins and a nice presence on the ice. Not sure what her music was, but I preferred the first program more than the second.
Last, but certainly not least...... TODD!!!!!!!!!!! I really wasn't sure what to expect as far as music... we were trying to guess what he would skate to on the drive down... we were WRONG... LOL!!!
For his first program, Todd skated to Let Me Entertain You. The costume was a little different from the one he used on tour last year. He was wearing a light blue shirt, and black pants. He looked very good.... he was doing triple toes... spins look great.. maybe a tiny bit slower than normal, but coming off his ankle surgery, I would expect that. He looked great!!!! Todd played a trick on us for his second program... he came out wearing the costume for Flamenco ... so I was like, OK.. that was a great program... I'd love to see that again!! Then the music starts, and I'm still expecting Flamenco... when all of a sudden I hear the vocal part of Il Mirto E La Rosa and then I finally realize what we're about to see.... LOL!!!! The program was very, very good. He did do a triple salchow during this program, along with triple toes... looks like he's on the road to recovery from his surgery.
Finale was done to music that I didn't recognize... the guys were dressed in black dress shirts and black slacks.. looking very good once again. The ladies had on sort of a cream colored dress.... very pretty. After the finale the skaters all went to center ice and took a bow, and then did sort of a lap around the arena.
There were only 2 retakes... one was Elena and Anton's throw jump from "If I Could" and the other one was one of Todd's triple toes from "Il Mirto"..... he had doubled it during the performance, and as soon as I saw it, I kinda figured we'd be seeing him for a retake. He was the first one to do the retake after the finale, so we had to wait a little while for him to change... Sarah said that Todd was a perfectionist, so he wanted to fix his program. To pass the time while Todd was changing, she did a little Q&A with some of the audience members. Todd finally came out, and did a beautiful triple toe on the first try!!!!!!!
It was a really great show... there really wasn't a program that I didn't like. They announced that the show would be on NBC January 22 from 4-6... definitely looking forward to seeing it on TV!!!
