Harlem Globetrotters, Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham - review

Being a cameraman for a Harlem Globetrotters show must be hell. They don't keep still, they don't play fair and half the time they aren't even on the court.

Basketball's premier show is back on a world tour and, like other huge American sports entertainment franchises, is loud and proud.

Lights, bangs, shrieks, music, smoke. We've got it all. And the basketball hasn't even started yet.

Part sports match, part pantomime, we cheer the heroes, boo the villains and shriek with glee every time a ball passes through a hoop.

It is important to emphasise here that you don't necessarily have to be a sports fan to enjoy this. Sure, a couple of references may fly over your head. But these are in the single figures.

In fact, if you have youngsters you can do much worse than see these guys let loose. Everything is done for their benefit. The histrionics, the crowd participation. Youngsters spent almost as much time on the court as the players did. They were involved in games, trick shots and slapstick comedy moments and each left the rectangle with a beaming smile and a new gift to treasure.

Some of the routines were brilliant. The Globetrotters' captain Hi-Lite at one point challenges a refereeing decision and demands to rewind the footage for an action replay. They rewind brilliantly, before pulling out a much lighter beach ball for a 'slo-mo' replay.

At another point half the team head out into the audience searching for a baby so they can thrust it aloft in a copy of that infamous opening scene from The Lion King while Elton John's Circle Of Life rings in our ears.

The skills of the two smallest members too – the ironically named Too Tall and the sole female TNT – have to be seen to be believed, matching agility with speed to try things that if I attempted would result in a basketball ending my potential to ever have children.

But in truth, perhaps we were 20 years too old to see this. The slapstick waned and the shrieking grew tiresome. And, if we are being honest, we had expected more rehearsed trick shot routines such as when players combined to lift Too Tall for a slam dunk. If it makes any sense, there was too much actual basketball going on.

The skill was impressive and the spectacle fun. But maybe, if you aren't looking to entertain young ones for an evening you might want to look elsewhere.

By Leigh Sanders