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Wiggle Room: Aussie band is the hottest toddler craze since Barney, and it plays well in San Francisco
By Susan Young - STAFF WRITER If you've never seen a toddler mosh pit, you just haven't lived. Pacifiers get tossed and the arms go wild when the car-seat crowd meets The Wiggles, the biggest thing in the preschool world since Barney. The Rolling Stones, Grateful Dead, Eminem, Bruce Springsteen, Britney Spears ... these guys are hotter than J-Lo's famous Grammy dress. For those who don't know, ``The Wiggles'' are Australian song and dance men who have tapped into pure gold. Their wildly popular TV show airs on The Disney Channel, but they've also been seen on such series as CBS' ``Yes, Dear'' during the November ratings sweep period. ``I've never seen anything more popular than these guys,'' said ``Yes, Dear'' star Mike O'Malley during an interview last month. ``If you don't know about them, you just can't have any contact with young kids. Because all the kiddies know The Wiggles." Greg (yellow shirt), Murray (red shirt), Jeff (purple shirt) and Anthony (blue shirt) cavort on stage with their best pals Captain Feathersword, the friendly pirate; Wags the Dog, Henry the Octopus and Dorothy the Dinosaur _ the latter all actors dressed up in costume. Unlike other shows geared to preschoolers, there's no story to be followed, just a lot of singing and dancing, which made those gathered at the Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco on Sunday a bunch of happy folks. The Wiggles' current Wiggle Safari Tour has been a sellout everywhere the band has played. Although tickets are modestly priced around $20 to $25, people who missed out on tickets through the usual routes have resorted to going to Ebay or even scalpers to pay whatever it takes to get their little ones a seat. This may have led to a little Wiggle-mania right before Sunday's show. Parking is often at a premium on Nob Hill; even getting there 45 minutes early wasn't good enough to secure a spot in the Masonic parking lot, where gridlock reigned. There was even some road rage as a crazed mom in a blue SUV jumped out of the back seat and began screaming at people who were trying to make a left turn into the parking lot. A most un-Wiggly attitude, especially considering every car had toddlers on board. But once inside the intimate room, all that nastiness seemed to melt in the face of a group of friendly guys who could make Mister Rogers seem cranky. They whipped the crowd into a frenzy with a stirring rendition of ``Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport.'' Some of the diaper set seemed a little intimidated at first; after all, this was probably their first experience in a concert setting and right in front of them were the guys they see on a TV screen at home. How'd they get so big? And where was that glass between them and their Wiggly idols? But soon the wee folk accepted it all and began dancing in the aisles to such tunes as ``Play Your Guitar with Murray'' while the onstage adult ``Wiggle Dancers'' hopped around in Day-Glo, sparkly jumpsuits. When the kids heard the Wiggles' signature song, ``Do the Monkey,'' near the start of the show, the room went wild. And of course, the kids had to ``Wake up Jeff!,'' the character who often nods off and needs to be jump-started awake. The kids did the Wiggle hoe-down and danced to a tune that included some steps resembling a slo-mo ``Macarena.'' Of course, what show could be complete without the ever-popular ``Head, shoulders, knees and toes (knees and toes)''? The group did a fabulous job of mixing up their own creations with a few covers of old favorites. Anthony Field, Murray Cook and Greg Page, who met while studying Early Childhood Development at Sydney's Macquarie University, began writing children's songs as part of their study projects. They later enlisted Jeff Fatt, who played with Field in a band called The Cockroaches, to form The Wiggles. The band released their first album in 1991 and has been growing to a critical mass ever since. Their background with children allows them to know when it's time to get off the stage. The show runs just over an hour, a perfect amount of time for these kids. By the time the band wrapped up with a wonderful finale medley of hits, including ``In the Big Red Car We Like to Ride,'' the kids were just a nod away from nap time. But that didn't stop the crowd from lying down in the aisles on their backs, hands and feet waving while trying to stay awake for the end. |