I’m a dad of a 3-year-old whose 2nd birthday party was Wiggle-themed, so you can rest assured that I was anxiously sitting at my desk, mouse hovering over the ticketmaster link in the sweaty seconds before sales for the group’s first US tour of her lifetime went live. Months later, here we were: she and Ali in their yellow bow-and-tutu combos and me lugging my camera gear, all of us equally excited to finally witness the spectacle of these international superstars live and in-person.
Hailing from Australia, the current iteration of this world-renowned children’s music group is in it’s 6th year performing together, but I would believe it if you told me they’d been doing this since they were children (that’s actually a spinoff series, but I digress). Through what had to be a grueling 90 minutes of acrobatics, singing, instrument swapping, costume donning and child entertaining, Anthony, Lachy, Simon and Emma Wiggle never seemed to break a sweat through their blue, purple, red and yellow outfits (respectively).
The Wiggles crossed the Pacific to kick off the Party Time Tour at the Paramount Theatre in downtown Seattle on Saturday, July 27th in support of their newest release of the same name. Their 17th album together, Party Time! is an excellent compilation of new tracks and fresh, Wiggly takes on some classics. It’s all of the regular high-energy stuff we’ve come to expect from the group, with a fun familiarity that promises to keep the kids engaged as well.
While we weren’t sure what to expect from their traveling performance, my family has been exposed to many a live recording of the group, as those videos made up a significant chunk of their first big series together Ready, Steady Wiggle!, which is nearly all of the Wiggly content we were able to get our hands on, aside from a couple more recent (and dare I say, Avant Garde) releases: Wiggle Town and Carnival of the Animals.
Turns out, they are nearly identical.
