LIMERICK magician and escape artist Steve Spade’s gigs vanished overnight when COVID-19 struck Ireland, however the birth of his son during lockdown has been the trick that has kept him going through the pandemic.
Spade has wowed celebrities from Rihanna to rockers Metallica with his mind-blowing magic, but when “work dried up” last year, 12 months following the death of his beloved father, he considered packing it all in.
“Dad’s death was hard, because he was a massive inspiration, and he always helped me with my stunts or my ideas, and when you don’t have someone to run through things like that with, you kind of doubt what you are doing a little bit, but I feel like he is still guiding me,” said Spade (36).
Covid-19 was a blow he didn’t need and he soon began to struggle under the “new normal”.
“Artists and performers were totally overlooked by the government, it’s been difficult in my own game, much-like singers and bands, who are looking for some kind of guidance.”
“It’s not easy, you know, Covid has definitely been a learning curve for a lot of people, trying to adapt to it. There are times that you do doubt what you do, but I’m in a niche here in Ireland and I’ve proven myself.”
Hearing other entertainers sharing their personal battles because of the pandemic has helped, he explained.
Opening up about his own personal battle over the pandemic, he said: “I heard about Nathan Carter going through depression, and I suppose it can easily creep up on you, because, if you’re so busy and you’re always working on projects, either passion projects or financial projects, and that’s all you know, and then all of a sudden there’s nothing, then what do you do; you can’t just pretend its not happening, if the work just dries up.”
The birth last February of Spade’s first child, Michael, who he and his partner Elaine named after his late father, has been a blessing: “All of a sudden the work dries up, projects dry up, and everything goes to a standstill and you kind of ask yourself what’s going to happen.
“I’ve been lucky in one way because my son was just born and I’ve been able to spend the first four months of his life with him, whereas normally I’d be concentrating on working on a project and that’s been a blessing, totally.”
Aside from his new parenting duties, Spade has been co-presenting a magic podcast Deceive Reality with fellow illusionist David Peace, from Cork, interviewing some of the “biggest names” in magic.
“We try to reach out to performers that have been in the same boat as ourselves, including those on the international circuit, because it doesn’t matter anymore if you are a part-time magician or a headline Vegas act, we have all been sitting at home waiting for all this to blow over,” added Spade.
While he “can’t perform large open air events on Zoom calls” he is hoping to capitalise on the phased return of outdoor gigs.
“I’m raring to go, I feel like everything was paused and it’s like a rebirth now. I’m looking at it developing my career on a global scale now because of the contacts in the magic world that I’ve made during lockdown.”
Over the pandemic he was made an honorary member of the UK Association of Escape Artists, and he describes being indoctrinated into the Global Escapology Organisation (GEO) as “a huge moment” in his continuing career.
He is planning more daring escapes, much like ones he performed prior to Covid, but that are sure to be even more dramatic.
Last year he escaped from a mobile home rigged with explosives while locked in chains moments before the mobile home exploded. He has survived being plunged into the River Shannon while locked in a box, and he has lived to tell the tale of being almost burned on a stake on the grounds of the medieval King john’s castle in his native Limerick.
“I’m looking forward to getting back to doing what I do best, which is the dangerous stuff,” he jokes.
“I just want to get back into it, I’ve been talking to the crew and we have so many different ideas about what we want to do, I really just want to push that envelope.”
“I’m willing to all sorts of stuff, so if people have an idea of if a company wants to challenge me with whatever it might be, if it was worthy enough, I’ll accept it.”
