3 out of 5

On the one hand, it’s nice that Brown has stopped trying to implement some over-arching story behind his shows.  It can be nice to have a sense of structure, but once you’ve seen the variations of Derren’s shtick (sorry to amount it to that, but I say it as a fan), you can almost immediately sense the story for the piffle distraction that it is.  On the other hand, the removal of any kind of barrier between magician (or trickster or whatever) and audience has removed a sense of the mystery that would come bundled with Derren’s presentations.  He has purposefully fought for this role, though, in trying to be clear about his manipulations and what he does.  But it also means he can skirt by on a live show by doing some pretty straight-forward (not easy, just straight-forward) mental math and memorization tricks, which he has done a very similar fashion in other live and recorded shows; near the last twenty minutes of ‘Infamous’ is an extended version of this.  It’s almost a hilarious tease which seems to encompass the difference between old Derren and new Derren: he sets up all of these props on stage and you’re wondering how these things are possibly going to be involved… and then they end up being involved in a rather mundane fashion.  Of course he saves some shocking last moment revelations to leave you with, but we miss the ‘Tricks of the Mind’ or ‘Investigates’ Derren who’s willing to get a bit more devious with his tricks: this is the ‘Hero at 30,000 feet’ Derren who tells us that all of us bullied nerds will grow up to be heroes and the pretty people will have horrible lives.  It’s a well-intentioned message but an overly simplistic one – and unnecessary for his mostly grown-up audience.

Anyhow, this is me picking on a man who’s absolutely earned this level of comfort with his stage show, and Brown remains an amazing performer.  Even his flubs are entertaining.  He keeps things moving and knows how to balance showmanship with humor, all while winking and misdirecting us at the same time.  ‘Infamous’ is an average example of his madly impressive skills, yes, but average doesn’t translate to lazy or boring.  Derren’s just set the bar high for himself.  And I will absolutely take one average show every couple years just to get my fix.