The first session of the close-up gala opened with the fast pace magic of Chris Priest.

Chris opened with his Master Coin routine, which incorporates a coins across sequence, coins vanish and reappear and it culminates in the production of a giant coin from mid-air.

Chris’s Proton routine is sponge-balls with a kick, sponges appear and disappear along with a visual d’lite sequence. Finally Chris finished with a multiple selection card routine.

Nathan Kranzo was on next, he had a card selected and then did one turn round, and when he turned back he had his keys, mobile, money and the selection all without using his hands, a very visual opener. Nathan finished with two card routines, a card at any number, and a triumph routine where he shook the cards up in a bag and showed they had turned all the right way apart from the selection.

Marc Paul showed us his prowess with a deck of cards, starting with a sequence of card changes, and then moved into mind-reading, with a thought of card revelation, and another, very direct, card at any number. His slick presentation of Steve Ehlers Three Card Revelation was followed by a strong revelation of a chosen symbol and name.

Kostya Kimlat was the final act for this first close-up gala session. He opened with his variation of Band Slam which ends with a four-of-a-kind revelation. His new version of the Culligula Triumph using two selections was very strong, and finally he finished with a Jumbo Card version of the murder mystery story effect he had recently published in MAGIC magazine.

Thom Peterson’s lecture was very practical and enjoyable, highly entertaining, all good magic that can be made up with readly available everyday objects.

Thom opened with his Ring in Kinder Egg trick, followed up with some excellent routines including Chappy a torn card in Chapstick with some good work on the torn corner principle and Don’s Card Stab based on a Don Alan idea.

Thanks to the generosity of two members of Hull Magicians’ Circle, Michael and Sylvia Harrop I was able to place two golden tickets into the draw, and amazingly my name got pulled out to be one of the 12 to attend this masterclass. Along with my friend Andy Lewis, and a small select group we were spirited away to the boardroom to sit down and spend an hour or so in Kostya’s company.

This basically was a masterclass on the cull, but Kostya took his time to point out all the little nuances, and details, on timing, finger position, tips on control and outs, that can only be learnt from the years of practice that Kostya has had with this move.

He showed a number of items from the Roadrunner Cull volume 2 DVD which he has for sale on this tour, including a great one-card cull. Finally Kostya finished the masterclass by showing some applications of the cull.

All in all a fantastic hour that really helped me and the other participants get a grasp on this move that Kostya does with what can only be descibed as grace and ease!

The first competitor in the close-up competition was Alan Mylecraine. Alan was very funny, starting out with a colour changing rope and then a great card to impossible location. A card was selected and the corner torn off, and then the card was vanished, only to appear in a back-pack shaped like a bear, in which was a mini R2D2 inside of which where a nest of eggs, which produced an Easter Chick holding the card, and the corner matched perfectly, all accompanied with Alan’s frantic patter. Alan then showed his routine for the finger chopper, and finally his variation on Simon Aronsons Shufflebored.

The second competitor was Allan Clarke. Allan had some really novel and great ideas. His first effect had a spectator pick the only card with ‘Pick Me’ on the back. Then Allan had a bunch of cards handed out, so each spectator got one card, and then he divined the cards. He then attempted to predict the Lottery, this was a really good take on an old number force, using the word LOTTERY to arrive at a total, which was predicted in advance. Finally Allan had someone write down a colour, which he divined by picking the correct colour marker from the table.

The third competitor Ken Johnson showed a lot of tricks, he tended to rush through them which killed the reactions and applause. His opening trick was an invisible dye tube which allowed him to vanish and reproduce a silk. He then rattled through a dice bomb, copper and silver coins across, a signed coin vanish to perspex box, and finally he showed a small finger puppet rabbit which vanished.

The fourth and last competitor was Derek Gustard, he started with a Cups and Balls routine, which for me was slightly too long and laboured, but it was obvious that Derek had worked hard thinking about his routining and scripting. A Wally Boyce Just Chance with Knitted Ropes saw Derek keep his £20. Finally he finished with a card revelation where he cued the audience into the spectators selection with a giant card stitched inside his jacket.

Nathan started with a very funny magicians only gag using the old silk vanish. Nathans coin work is immaculate and his wishing routine is a three coin production using fire and incorporates a three fly routine and a vanish sequence.

Nathan then showed his take on the haunted deck using the loops. His voodoo card is an easy version of a steranko plot where the chosen card ends up bent and burnt. Finally Nathan showed Diction his booktest using a small pocket dictionary. A great opening lecture with some commercial magic.

Richard Morrell is reporting live from The Northern Magic Circle Convention this weekend. you can see all his photos and read his reports right here