Criss Angel’s “Mindfreak Live” to Close at Luxor Las Vegas

By Scott Roeben, on December 22 2017

2 min read 20 comments

After a 10-year run that provided a smackdown to his legions of haters, magnificent lunkhead Criss Angel will close his “Mindfreak Live” show at Luxor in 2018.

Criss Angel’s “Mindfreak Live” ends its run, and sometimes strained partnership with Cirque du Soleil, on Oct. 28, 2018, according to reports.

Las Vegas Weekly’s Brock Radne was the first to share the surprisingly successful show is closing.

Angel’s show opened as “Believe” in Oct. 2008 to scathing reviews. Sorry, “BeLIEve.” Trust us, the weird “lie” affectation was the least of its problems.

While the removal of Cirque elements improved the show somewhat, production costs and declining ticket sales forced Angel and his team to close “Believe” on April 17, 2016.

A trimmed down “Mindfreak Live” opened May 11, 2016.

The revamped show didn’t exactly win over Criss Angel’s haters, but it allowed the show to continue through the end of his contract with Cirque du Soleil.

We saw “Mindfreak Live” and, beyond the random, pointless shouting of its star, we thought the show was reasonably entertaining. Angel seemed to enjoy himself, and his use of self-deprecating humor was refreshing given the annoying onscreen persona he’d cultivated on
the long-running A&E “Mindfreak” TV show.

“Mindfreak Live” also has one of the most impressive illusions we’ve ever seen in a Las Vegas show, a levitation that’s worth the price of admission. Yes, you know it’s wires, but that doesn’t take away from the sheer WTF of it all.

A 10-year run for a Las Vegas magic show must be deemed an unqualified success.

Back in 2016, it was being reported more than four million guests had attended “Believe” since it opened in 2008.

Because “Mindfreak Live” doesn’t close until late 2018, there’s still time to see it again if you’ve seen it, and to trash talk it if you never will.

In a ridiculously awful interview, Criss Angel has said he’s opening another show following “Mindfreak Live,” at another Las Vegas venue, and the cliche-spewing egomaniac reminds us all why he’s so easy to loathe.

Whether you love Criss Angel or hate him, he pulled off what many considered an impossible feat, a decade-long run on the Las Vegas Strip.

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December 22 2017 — 2 min read — 3 comments

20 Comments

Donna Williamson September 26, 2019

Never saw Chris's Angels show but despirately wanted to. Was dealing with my husband's cancer & financial costs. He has dealt with it in his own family. His generosity in helping other children with this horrible disease is admirable to say the least. I admire his passion, dedication and ability to endure the haters of this world. Jealousy makes people blind to the real truth. Alot of hard work has gone into his career. I Love him ❤️ and hope he keeps inspiring everyone to follow their dreams. God Bless
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Doug Bergman December 25, 2017

How is it possible that this story was not first reported on Vital Vegas?
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Scott Roeben" height="43" width="43">

Scott Roeben December 26, 2017

Or any, really.
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skeptic555 December 22, 2017

Couple thoughts: I have to assume MANY of the people hating on the show have never seen it. Kind of like Carrot Top (who was freaking AWESOME) - it just became a thing to do. Personally, I saw it in previews (and it was NOT a happy CIrque and magic mashup), and again after its first re-tooling/de-cirqueification. Never went back after the second re-tooling. It was not a great cirque show, and decidedly not a great magic show...but it wasnt NEARLY as bad as people would have you beLIEve. It was hurt by the douchiness of the performer, and the OBVIOUSLY piped in crowd noise, and - for a magic nut like me - the fact he stole a number of people's effects without credit or apparent permission. That's just not cool in the magic capitol of the world. Shame, really.
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Scott Roeben December 22, 2017

Thanks for your comment. D'oh, I meant to include the trick stealing in my story. He's a pariah in the magic community for those shady practices. They piped in crowd noises? Like applause? Laughter? I've never heard that!
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skeptic555 December 22, 2017

It was fairly apparent after the first re-tooling that people were largely sitting and applauding politely, but you could hear raucous cheering at a level not commensurate with the crowd size... or reaction. Similarly, If you've ever sat front row at Copperfield (whose show is truly excellent) the ushers come thru and tell you that David "might do an extra thing at the end IF there is a great reaction - so be sure to jump up and start a standing ovation - everyone else will join in!" It's just insulting.
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Scott Roeben December 23, 2017

Amazing. Hadn't heard that! Classic.
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skeptic555 December 23, 2017

What Criss is expected to do is LICENSE the illusions - or, were he better liked personally - ask for permission to use someone else's invention and/or intellectual property, which is often granted if the original inventor is no longer performing it. If others have appropriated his material - and I have not heard that claim - that still doesn't make it right for him to do so. There has to be a reason so many refuse to work with him. I don't love the way DC interacts with any audience member (women and non-english speakers especially), but his worst illusion of all is that hair hat on his noggin. Dude has hundreds of millions - that's the best toupee money can buy?
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Manybar Goatfish December 23, 2017

The ultimate travesty will occur when Copperfield walks onto the stage with a toupee fashioned after Criss Angel's dirty mop.
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Bouldersteve December 23, 2017

Despite all the advancements made in cosmetic surgery today"s toupee is no better than the ones from the seventies. No different than putting a dead squirrel on your head.
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Vegasallen December 23, 2017

While I haven't see the latest version if Angel's show, I did see BeLIEve. EVERY illusion in the show I saw was done previously by other magicians. That includes the 2 or 3 variations of Houdini's Metamorphosis. Also the disappearance from the stage and the reappearance in the audience was ok but performed by a whole bunch of people. So at least in the performance I saw, there was nothing to steal from Angel since nothing was original.
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skeptic555 December 23, 2017

We are mostly in agreement here. Some moves - which are different than manufactured, marketed or sold effects - are in the public domain. That's different from replicating a trick in the working repertoire of a Cyril Takayama, for example. A number of years back, my parents were on a cruise, and saw a magician "that did a thing with masks!" Knowing I was a magic fan, they bought his VHS tape (yes, a LOT of years back). It was NOT McBride, but it was pretty much his act, beat for beat. I contacted Jeff, and mailed the tape to him. I don't know if he pursued it, but I got a nice package of signed McBride gear back in the mail as a thank you. Teller famously copyrighted his "Shadows" bit as a pantomime, and later won a lawsuit (at considerable cost, i'm sure) when someone copied it. This has been endlessly debated, as you know. No easy answers, other than of course the nearly universe agreement that Criss is not, in fact, very popular or very respected as a performer or a person.
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Scott Roeben December 26, 2017

Well said.
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Misslaydj January 12, 2018

carrot top is BEND OVERRRR FUNNNYY. Real TEARSSS funny!!!
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Mako10 December 22, 2017

10 years already?!??! dayyyum, i remember watching his TV show. just googled it...he's 50 years old. damn he looks good.
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Bouldersteve December 22, 2017

After 10 years anyone who wanted to see it has seen it. Diminishing returns at this point. Even good shows cannot last forever.
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Michelle September 14, 2019

Not everyone has seen him that wants too. Sometimes circumstances change your mind. I did not even think about him for years. Our of sight, out of mind.
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Michelle September 14, 2019

He has been a passion since I was young. I met a man named Geoff Byrd that took up my mind until I realized how much I was missing. :-P
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MikeJenkinson December 22, 2017

I'm gonna say it: I saw his Believe show and really liked it. And I make no apologies for it.
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Scott Roeben December 22, 2017

Only saw the most recent version, but it wasn't bad at all. It's hard to change the perception of the early disastrous version once it's out there. First impressions and all.
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Criss Angel’s “Mindfreak Live” to Close at Luxor Las Vegas

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