Cindy bought us tickets to Stomp for a Valentine’s Day present.

I was familiar with Stomp, I saw it on TV long ago, and I thought I knew what I was in for and was excited for the show. The truck was outside.

Our seats were about as good as it gets. We were in row AA on the right. Front row. Nice job Cindy!

The stage was set up very simply. There was a backdrop with openings for the Stomp members to come in and out of stage, and a huge jumble of percussion items strapped in up on top.

See the brooms in front of the blue barrels? That was the first item that the show opened with. A tank topped muscle man slowly came on stage from off on the side and did some sweeping, then picked up a percussion rhythm and the show began.

The broom thing I seemed to recall, but immediately the ante was upped and the amazement began. The lead guy was joined by the rest of the “cast” and all hell broke loose. It was amazing.

What followed was a series of mind-blowing vignettes of percussive feats that were staggeringly brilliant. This was SO much more than I had thought it was going to be.

Following the brooms, the lead used just his hands and feet to create his rhythms and got the crowd into it with humor too. That was a part I hadn’t considered… humor. There was actually a lot of humor in the show.

They did bits with matchbooks, basketballs, shopping carts, lighters (you could smell the butane from our seats) and a host of other items, including… kitchen sinks. It was amazing. Even though the show is Stomp, I guess I wasn’t prepared for how much actual percussion was in the show.

At one point four of the cast were wired to the upper rigging and using those items to drum on as they swung back and forth. It blew my mind. The show is both for the ears AND eyes. I can’t even begin to really describe what went on at the show, I was in utter awe at the spectacle. I figured I would like it, but I ended up loving it.

Even though you weren’t supposed to take pictures, I have to say the thought never occurred to me to even get my camera out and take one, I was too engrossed in what was going on. It was crazy.

This was a show to remember.

Thank you Cindy!

In case you have never seen Stomp, I found this on YouTube from 2009. It is the full show and is very similar to what we saw. It doesn’t do the live show justice of course, the sound and the spectacle, but if you were on the fence about going or not, or if you don’t really know anything about it, you should check this out.

It is a week afterwards and I am still amazed by what I saw that night.

Easily one of my top 10 shows of all time.

Booyah.