We are back guys! Your favorite ice skating nerds, here for round two. If you don’t know who we are, leave this article, go read our other piece on olympic figure skating fan favorites, vote on our poll (vote Ilia Malinin please), then come back. Go ahead, we’ll still be here waiting when you’re done. Did you read it? Okay, great, now we can focus on this article. Now, as many of you know, we kinda love watching ice skating (just a little bit), so the moment we saw that Stars on Ice, the performance with the American figure skating olympians, was coming to the Prudential Center, we jumped on the opportunity, and thus began our story today.
The first test of any event like this is the process of buying the ticket, AKA, The Ticket Trials. I’m sure you’ve all heard the stories before, cautionary tales of endless queues, seats sold out in moments, prices so high you have to sell your firstborn for a chance at a seat. Because of these horror stories, I’m not ashamed to admit I was more than a little bit nervous about the whole process, but I was pleasantly surprised! Honestly, the hardest part of the entire process was getting my friends to agree to go and identifying which section maximized visibility while minimizing price. Once we got all of that sorted, it was a simple matter of clicking some buttons, inputting my parent’s credit card information and signing up for emails for the rest of my life!
While we were wandering around aimlessly, trying to find our seats, we meandered past someone who was directing people to their seats. She seemed to notice our obvious confusion and pointed us in the right direction. This was a pretty good way to start the evening and set the tone for a very helpful atmosphere the whole night. I will say, I didn’t understand why the food servers were so determined to make sure not a single bottle cap was unaccounted for. I get that at hockey games people might try to throw stuff around but guys, this is ice skating we’r
e talking about; I don’t think the fans are that rowdy. Other than that, everyone was very helpful and polite, even the other fans. I was shocked to find that everywhere I looked, organized lines were being formed instead of people just shoving to get to the escalato
r, bathroom, or food stall.
The food provided in this venue was decent but a bit overpriced for a couple of broke teenagers like us. In this venue, different foot courts have different prices, so you must be cautious about where you choose to eat. We were able to save 3 whole dollars in a location on the second floor, which is much better than the 20 dollars worth of chicken tenders and fries on the first floor. Outrageously, each bottle of water was 6 dollars, and it came without the caps. (we demand our caps back!) Though we left that night with empty wallets and nothing but loose change in our pockets, the quality of the food itself wasn’t all that terrible. The fries were warm
and soft and had a strong potato-ey flavour, plus there were enough chicken tenders to share between the three of us and keep our stomachs slightly content. The pretzels that we purchased as snacks were salty (in a good way) and chewy. And the best part? Three tiny plastic swords that I will not be elaborating further on.
Now, here was the most controversial part of the night, the merch. Usually, the merch is the peak of the experience, the “cherry on top” of an already good show. You never know, maybe one day, when I come across them again in a dusty old box in the attic, these ancient artifacts might just become a family treasure for generations to come. I’ll be able to recall my experience to future generations, beginning with the words “Back in my days…” and they will roll their eyes at me. Okay, that’s besides the point. Anyway, this is what it should have been like, but in reality, the merch was a complete disappointment. In full honesty, we spent all our money on chicken tender and fries so we barely had enough money left in our wallets in the first place. However, when we finally reached the front of the line, our jaws dropped at the price of these merch. A thin piece of paper the size of an index card for the price of 20 dollars felt a bit absurd for us. Signed or not, we would’ve been able to get another box of chicken tenders and fries with that kind of money. Though, I won’t lie, the pictures on the post cards were pretty cool; I just don’t think it was worth the money. The designs on the tote bags and t-shirts were plain and in a single color, black, so in the end, we slipped out before the cashier could notice our lurking.
Okay, I don’t care if I sound like an over-protective fun-killing old person, the entire venue was a fire hazard. First off, the stairs to get to our seats were really steep and poorly lit, and the flimsy guard rail did little to quell my fears. Once the show actually started, the lights dimmed even more, making it far too easy to trip and tumble down the stairs. Finally, at the end of the performance we had to wait for like seven hours (okay fine maybe 20 minutes) to get all the way across the food court, down the escalator, past the merch stand, and down the steps to freedom. If a fire had started, or some other emergency occurred, we would’ve been burned to death one hundred times over before we got to the door.
Now, we get to what you all actually wanted to read: the actual ice skating. We each picked our favorite performance of the night (although it was definitely hard to decide which of the amazing routines was the best) and we are very excited to share them with you.
Picture this for a second, the lights are low, a song intro begins to play over the speakers, the whole crowd recognizes it at the same time, and the cheering starts before you even know who is on the stage. Then, the lights get brighter, and you see Ilia Malinin standing in the middle of a spotlight. “
His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy”.
The second I realized what song it was, Lose Yourself, by Eminem, I grabbed my phone from my bag and frantically hit record. He did a fast-paced, exciting routine, before the music seamlessly transitioned to Jump Around by House of Pain. During this segment, he did not one, not two, but THREE BACKFLIPS IN A ROW, far surpassing my expectations and making the crowd go absolutely crazy. While the routine itself wasn’t very technically difficult, other than the backflips, the dramatics and artistic expression was truly a testament to Malinin’s skill, making any routine a masterpiece.
Jason Brown’s performance, however unexpected, got the crowd up on their feet, no matter how young or elderly. His show was comedic, light-hearted and didn’t have me sucking in my breath every time he took a leap of faith. I subconsciously began to clap to the beat of the jazz tune while I watched him skate with a wide smile on his face. It might’ve honestly been that light-hearted feeling that made me so immersed in his performance but with its humor came gracefulness. His carefree expression as he bounced around the ice was the kind of genuine emotion I hadn’t seen before in other skaters – you could just tell he really loved being on that ice. Though the dramatic bits of acting in the routine made the crowd chuckle, the speed in his spins and jumps were what made it most impressive. He didn’t only do cool moves but let the audience enjoy it as much as he clearly did, and that’s what left a lasting impression on me.
