Cirque du Soleil's DELIRIUM in Madrid

MadridMan joyfully witnessed yesterday's (Saturday, 6pm) Cirque du Soleil performance of DELIRIUM - created and directed by Michel Lemieux and Victor Pilon - at Madrid's Palacio de Deportes, near the GOYA metro station in the Barrio de Salamanca.

The seats were perfect; 6th row up from the floor in the middle section, allowing perfect perspective of the middle stage and the full-length screens to the left and right.

What an Audio-Visual experience it was!! The strobe lights, the projections upon thin, see-through films behind and (sometimes) in front of the performance was nothing short of spectacular.

The performance lasted roughly one hour and 40 minutes. During that time I looked around the full arena to see many people staring with wide eyes and wider grins. Totally mesmerized. This event is one which overwhelms the senses like no other I've seen. It stimulates the eyes with not only the action on stage but also the lights, the images, the colors taking place on the adjacent floor-to-ceiling panels.

THE MUSIC is largely live (listen to music clips HERE), performed by live bands and professional singers - many times the vocal artists were suspended by wires and floating above the action below. From the African drummers to the Rock Bands and professional singers it is an audio experience worth owning on any CD - or better yet, on DVD!

This Cirque du Soleil performance is not like other Cirque du Soleil performances I've seen in the past. DELIRIUM is much more "Performance Art" than "Circus Acts" - although a good number of acrobatics, body-balancing-and-tossing, hula-hoop spinning, and suspended-rope-spinning spectacles took place, all meshed together with surrounding visuals and adjacent activity.

Unfortunately for us, due to copyright laws and pre-show request that no photos or video be taken by patrons, I am not able to post any photos of Cirque du Soleil's DELIRIUM show here. You may go to their website at www.CirqueduSoleil.com for more Delirium photos and information.

I CAN, however, embed the following brief video (see below) for your enjoyment and to get a small idea of the scale of the DELIRIUM expeience:

If you have an opportunity to see the Europe-only show DELIRIUM in Spain be sure to try - but try soon as tickets sellout fast! More DELIRIUM tour locations and dates HERE. 2007 Spain tours dates are as follows:

Valencia, ES Feria Valencia	13 Dec. - 9:30 p.m. 14 Dec. - 9:30 p.m. 15 Dec. - 9:30 p.m. 16 Dec. - 9:00 p.m.
Barcelona, ES PALAU SANT JORDI	19 Dec. - 9:30 p.m. 20 Dec. - 9:30 p.m. 21 Dec. - 9:30 p.m. 22 Dec. - 6:00 p.m. 22 Dec. - 9:30 p.m.

From their website the following quote.....:

About DELIRIUM

An urban tale
With visually stunning tableaux in which music and projections meld together seamlessly, DELIRIUM is a contemporary urban tale, a quest for balance in a world increasingly out of sync with reality. Bill - the main character - is an ordinary man living inside a bubble, more and more recluse in a society where even relationships are "virtual," and where television and computers have become ubiquitous devices that isolate us from one another.

A delirious sensory folly
Everything in Bill's urban life further draws him into an imaginary, virtual world. On his journey he meets myriad characters that bring him little by little on the cusp of growth and change. He eventually learns to ground his energy into the real world. At the end of his voyage, Bill contaminates the people of his planet and enlists them in his quest for balance.

DELIRIUM is a delirious sensory folly where music unites space, individual and society in a world marked by solitude and isolation. The subtext of DELIRIUM is the notion that, in life, we must join together--escape our solitary cocoons--to survive.

Music in motion
Injecting new life into the 21 songs chosen among Cirque du Soleil's most memorable musical moments, DELIRIUM is based on a musical rather than an acrobatic structure--a first for Cirque du Soleil. Melodies, musicians and singers are the driving force of this show that features a series of tableaux made up of images ranging from prerecorded visuals to manipulated live feeds that create interactions between the artists and the audience. Featuring new texts in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese, the 21 remixed melodies mark a significant departure from the music Cirque du Soleil fans have come to expect.

The music of DELIRIUM--"urban tribal beats" that combine percussive driven pop and electronic music with melodious ballads and world rhythm sounds--take the audience on an incandescent journey into the musical realm of Cirque du Soleil and the aerial world of Michel Lemieux and Victor Pilon.