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I just got back from vacation in Las Vegas. While I was there, I saw Champions on Ice for the third time, and went backstage! I will write a report on all of that, hopefully up tomorrow. I'll try to post my pictures tomorrow as well...I didn't take too many...this was the first time I watched Fields of Gold without taking pictures, other than opening and closing poses. Anyway, I have a lot to update from the week I was away (some will come tomorrow)! I finally have a report from backstage at the Las Vegas COI. Check it out! Since there are so many other reviews of the show online, I will post my review of all three shows I saw later on when I get a chance. I also posted my pictures from backstage, added pictures of Michelle from the Las Vegas show, and uploaded my pictures of other skaters as well. I also uploaded a digital picture of the photograph Michelle autographed. And guess what? Michelle ended right in front of us during the opening again...but this time I got a great picture of her! Yea...only took 3 tries, LOL. Check out my pictures from COI! On June 1, 2002, I attended the New Jersey (8pm show) stop of the Champions on Ice tour. This is the first year I have seen COI more than once. At some point, I hope to post something about the show, probably a review combining this and the Philadelphia show. I did get some very nice pictures this time (mostly with my digital camera), and I will be posting them soon. I could post my digital pictures right now, but I think I'll wait until I can scan in some of the pictures from our regular camera. I'm hoping to get the pictures up by early next week. Funny thing, during the opening, Michelle ended right in front of us again, and, of course, both my mom and I missed getting a picture of her again. Argh! Anyway, this time, Michelle wasn't perfect. I think that just about all of the skaters looked tired, most making some sort of mistake. I am glad they are getting about a week off now, so they can rejuvenate for the rest of the tour. Michelle got a nice ovation (and some people standing for her) during the opening and closing numbers, and before and after her Fields of Gold program, for which she received a partial standing ovation. I think the crowd was louder for her in Philadelphia, though. Even though Michelle fell on a jump (I think the toe), it didn't matter. That program is so wonderful, and she skated it so well. Her falling is not the thing I remember from the program. I am so happy to have seen that program 3 times, and could just watch it every day! I posted my pictures from Champions on Ice (both the New Jersey and Philadelphia stops). I was having problems with the scanner, so I think the digital pictures are better than the scanned in pictures. I may rescan the pictures later, but I think it was also a problem with the lighting at the show. Check out pictures from Fields of Gold and from the opening and closing numbers! You can send an e-card from Champions on Ice's site. You can send a picture of Michelle from last year's opening number, or a picture of Michelle, Sarah, and Irina. Pick one and send it to your friends. Check it out! On Sunday, April 14, I attended the 2002 Champions on Ice Tour in Philadelphia (the 7pm show). I haven't written a report yet, and I'm not sure if I'm going to write a full one of the show...we'll see. Michelle was wonderful. Some stood for her in the opening. Fields of Gold was wonderful, as always! I would pay to see the show just to keep watching that program. When she was announced, she got a huge roar from the crowd, one of, if not the biggest, of the night. While she skated, you could hear a pin drop. When she was done, she got a full standing ovation, the only one of the night. In the finale, she comes out last. After she skates her little part, she skates over to the rest of the skaters, and it's like they are all watching her. Maybe I'll more about the show in the next few days. I took pictures, of course they didn't come out well. At the end of the opening number, she was RIGHT in front of me, and of course, we didn't get that on film. *sigh* I will try to scan in my (good) pictures when I get a chance, hopefully soon. leon also attended the 7pm show of COI. He sent me the following mpg video files of Michelle in the finale. Both are 344k (Thanks leon!) It is confirmed that Michelle is skating to Fields of Gold on the Champions on Ice Tour! So, if you are going, you get to see this wonderful program live! She was introduced as simply, "America's Own .... Michelle Kwan". In the opening number, where the skaters come out to different pop songs, Michelle comes out during "Here Comes the Sun." She is the last skater that comes out in the finale, which is to "America the Beautiful" and "Battle Hymn of the Republic." According to Janice's review, in the finale, "Michelle spirals out at the crescendo of the music." Check out Traci's pictures from the Lakeland, Florida stop of the tour, including Fields of Gold, as well as this picture of Michelle in the opening number. The Champions on Ice Tour started April 3, 2002 and runs through August. You can find a complete schedule on COI's website. I haven't seen any reports yet, but according to Thursday's USA Today article, Hughes replaces Kwan as ice show's closing act,Michelle is skating to Fields of Gold on the tour. There are some other interesting notes in the article. For example, Michelle just got a dog named Tofu, a Maltese/Poodle mix. Check out a picture of the adorable dog! I will be attending the show in Philadelphia on April 14...can't wait! During the San Jose stop of COI on Saturday, April 28, 2001 there was a small presentation for Brian Boitano, because it was his last time skating on tour in his hometown. Different skaters gave Brian mementos to remind him of his time on tour. Michelle was the last skater to come out and give him a memento. sgfan posted a review of the show on the MK Forum, with the following about Michelle's presentation: (Thanks sgfan!) Also, from the article "Boitano Ending Touring Career", here are some exact quotes from the presentation: Check out the following pictures from the ceremony, from COI's site:
I went to 2001 COI on April 8 in Philadelphia. If you haven't already, be sure to check out my review of the show. You can just jump right to what I thought of Michelle's program, if you want. I also was able to go backstage after the show, and I was able to briefly meet Michelle. I got my pictures back today. I haven't had a chance to scan in most of the pictures yet, but I will try to do it sometime this week or this weekend. I have scanned in these pictures of Michelle from backstage:
Be sure to check back later for more of my pics from backstage, and my pictures from the show! I have all my pics up from COI now. Check out all the backstage pics, pics of Michelle from the opening and closing, and my pictures from her program, This Time Around. Also, check out a scan of the printout of my site that Michelle autographed, and my backstage pass. The 2001 Champions on Ice Tour started Friday, March 30 in Orlando. Janice posted her review of the show on the MK Forum. Apparently, Michelle is skating to "This Time Around" by Linda Eder. Janice said that she wore a fuchsia dress, while another poster said it was specifically her Worlds dress. Jenny has typed up the lyrics to the song. Check them out! (Thanks Janice and Jenny!) I attended 2000 COI on April 9 in Philadelphia. I was away this weekend, so I wasn't online since Thursday. So, I didn't know what Michelle was going to skate to. She skated to a new program, "The World is Not Enough" by Garbage. I'll add more about the song to my program information section tomorrow. Check out my review of the show. Lots of 1999 COI pics are online! Check them out:
Julie sent me this. (Thanks Julie!) I have a little tidbit about Michelle. As I was travelling home today from a long year at college (with a ton of stuff in my backseat!), I was listening to a Detroit Red Wings playoff hockey game on the radio. Well, since Champions on Ice is there in Detroit tomorrow, they had an interview with Michelle! She said that she was there with Elvis Stojko and they were just taking a break from tour, since they had the night off. She also said that skating on tour was great, and she was having a fun time. I don't really remember exactly what she said, but I think she ended up saying something about the Red Wings and the Anaheim Mighty Ducks...It was kind of cool - so I thought that you'd like to know! :) Karen attended the COI show in Buffalo, the show that was taped for the TV broadcast. Here's what she said about it: (Thanks Karen!) I just wanted to let you know that I attended the COI tour on April 20 in Buffalo, and they did the broadcast for ABC from here. It was amazing watching how they do all the camera work. Peggy Flemming is so small. The show was amazing. They said they added extra skaters to make it great for TV. I'll have to check who. Elvis got the biggest ovation because Buffalo/Canada are so close to one another. Michelle actually fell!! But, otherwise, she was gorgeous! And, after the show we got to stick around for any skaters who made a mistake during their performance. They came out and did their jumps again after the show. So we got a bonus. Alexi Yagudin had to try his jump twice, Nicole - 4 times (she was cute about it and got a lot of applause), Todd - 1 time and Maria - I'm not sure. Michelle came out and did hers once and singled it. She also did it without her music. The commentator said maybe she'd like to do it again with the music because her humming wasn't loud enough the first time. She laughed and did it perfectly the second time, and even gave us an added jump. Overall, it was extremely entertaining!! My pictures from COI are up! Check out pictures from the opening and finale, and of her new program, One More Time. Also, I scanned in the pictures from the advance order form I wrote about in my review. Finally, I scanned in an ad for COI that with the same pic of Michelle that is in the COI program and order form. Blake e-mailed me this: (Thanks Blake!) This is just a guess since I haven't seen Michelle's new exhibition, but from what I've read, the song sounds like "One More Time" by Laura Pausini on the soundtrack from "Message In A Bottle." Grace has just confirmed it! She found the lyrics to the song, and it's the one I heard. Check out a real audio clip of the song from Jenny's page! I had a great time at COI Sunday! Check out my review of the show. Just want to read about Michelle? Check out how she did in the opening, and her program. Also check out the finale. I took lots of picture, and they should be up soon. Just wanted to let you know that I got my pictures back, and I was really happy with how they came out. I will try to scan them in tomorrow or Wednesday. I hope they scan in OK! Becky sent me her report from the Columbus, Ohio stop of COI on Jan 22. This is the show that was taped for TBS's broadcast. (Thanks Becky!) I just got back from the Columbus, Ohio Champions on Ice Show where I saw Michele skate live for the first time. She sure didn't look like she had an injury as was rumored. She skated her Carmen number and hit everything perfectly. She also skated her East of Eden number and it was beautiful with only one mistake. She singled her double axel. Since this was taped for television by TBS they had her come out and do that part of her program again and of course she hit it just fine. When the TBS crew stopped her music after the part they needed to retape, the audience kept yelling for Michele to come back and skate more and I couldn't believe it when she came out without hesitation and skated her East of Eden program over again for the people that stayed. She smiled the whole number through and kept thanking everyone and waving to the audience afterward. It was a great show with all the big names there - Brian Boitano, Katarina, Dorothy Hamill, Oksana, Victor, Usova and Platov and all the rest of the cast. Also from Blades on Ice Newsbriefs (about the Winter COI Tour): This year's cast includes: Brian Boitano, Oksana Baiul, Dorothy Hamill, Victor Petrenko, Rudy Galindo, Punsalan & Swallow, Elizabeth Manley, Surya Bonaly, Jozef Sabovcik, Tonia Kwiatkowski, Philippe Candeloro, Marina Klimova & Sergei Ponomarenko, Isabelle Brasseur & Lloyd Eisler, Oksana Kazakova & Artur Dmitriev and special appearances in certain cities by Katarina Witt and Maia Usova & Evgeny Platov. Michelle Kwan will also skate in the televised show. The schedule for the 1999 Winter COI tour has been released. Michelle will be on some, but not all stops on the tour. The Winter tour never comes near me (boo!), but, if you don't get the Spring/Summer COI, the Winter tour usually comes near you! Michelle will be on the Winter COI tour! She did it in 1996, but this year, only pros did the winter tour. I guess next year is different. Also, as a promotion for the TV showing of this event, TBS is allowing you to ask several of the skaters, including Michelle, a question! Check out how Michelle did on all the stops on the COI tour. Check out Michelle Kwan on the COI 1998: Audience Comments. If you want to read reviews of the full show, go to COI Reviews. Mine is there, too! I just got back from 1998 COI (the 2pm show in Philadelphia). Michelle was wonderful!! Check out my full review. Also, check out my pictures! Last updated January 14, 2003 Back to News / Past News on Michelle Photo © Jay Adeff |
