I kicked off the school holidays by taking my four year old boy and six year old girl to the Wiggles Concert – The Apples and Bananas tour at the Aotea Centre in Auckland. The legendary performers pulled out all the old classics; Fruit Salad, The Wheels on the Bus, Simon Says, This Little Piggy and Big Red Car, to name a few. But the Wiggles themselves have morphed since we’d first met them. Lachy is now the sleepy purple Wiggle, (“Wake up Lachy!”) and there’s a new girl Wiggle in yellow, called Emma. The red Wiggle is Simon, and the Blue one is still faithful Anthony. Of course there’s Wags the Dog, Dorothy Dinosaur, Olly Octopus and Captain Feathersword.
I’m liking
I’m liking the addition of the girl Wiggle, Emma. They needed a new drawcard and she is it. She has loads of energy and spunk, and is great at Irish dancing and ballet. She somehow even looks amazing in that terrible shade of yellow. The kids are obviously liking Emma too. Little girls have come dressed as her, and the audience wave adoring signs at her as she moved through to greet people. One brave little boy Travis even proposed. She let him down graciously: “Maybe in thirty years?”
I liked the way they tried to incorporate Auckland, the concert location, a number of times. And the Little Piggy who went “wee wee wee all the way home” (dashing across the stage on a scooter) was actually, we were told, on his way back to Whangarei.
Things that made me go hmmmm
I was hoping the new brown Wiggle, Robbie Rakete, who I’d seen on television news, would make an appearance, so I was a little disappointed when he didn’t. But I doubt the kids would have been. There was little for any kid to be disappointed about – they probably didn’t even notice the problem with the Big Red Car. It was obviously inflatable and must have had a tiny leak at the back section as it kind of drooped a bit to the rear. Not a biggy. Actually, kind of amusing.
The conclusion
The Wiggles are still legendary performers, and little ones still love them. My kids had a blast, despite being some of the oldest kids there. You can’t go wrong with The Wiggles, so I’d definitely recommend the concert. The performance was over an hour, which is quite a long time for young whipper snappers, but they didn’t have to sit still. Obviously they were welcome to, well, wiggle.
