A few weeks ago, myself and some friends decided to go to the Joe Power show when he was in Cork. We were curious to know what went on at such events, so we purchased a cheapo voucher and headed along to his show in the Metropole Hotel last Friday night.
The audience was quite large: maybe as much as 200 people. It was a mixed bag of people, old, young, men and women. Certainly more women than men with more older people in attendance.
Joe started late. One of his first questions to the audience was whether any of them had been to a psychic show before. Very few people in the audience had been to one.
Joe got stuck in straight away, happening on one of the most serious of subjects imaginable: suicide. The manner and some circumstances to do with the death were discussed with family members. A troubling line of questioning, to say the least. When he was done with this, he asked the father if he had been to hospital or had some trouble down below? When the answer was negative, he told him he might need to go.
Joe then went to other members of the audience, some of whom were responsive to his questions, some less so. Here are some brief (low) highlights:
‘Anyone shot down? Planes?’ he asked, possibly forgetting that few enough Irish people were involved in WWII. (He counselled the audience member not to go on a plane).
He discussed divorce problems with another person and what their sex life was like.
A fire in the house? Yes – 40 years ago. ‘We can go back as long as you want’.
‘Why are there 3 people buried next to each other? A young boy or young man? ‘No, just two – mum and dad’ ‘You’ll probably find I’m right by the way. You might need to look back’.
‘Just to let you know he’s around and he can see what’s going on’.
Brought up some private family issue where a family member went to prison for a while.
Told one man he might be getting 18 months in prison in the future.
Told another man he should get tested, maybe for bowel problems. ‘Get the missus to check around’.
What also struck me was how much stuff he just got completely wrong. Lots and lots and lots of questions never hit their mark. If the questioning wasn’t going anywhere he would simply move on as if it didn’t happen. My top marks on the night went to the people who made his life difficult. One woman blanked him completely, so he quickly moved on – indicating that the reading wasn’t for her. There were a few others where his questions went nowhere.
He would leave his questions deliberately vague, so he’d ask if it was father, or father in law. Dates like 26 or 19 were converted into people’s ages if it suited. Wigs (he asked a lot about wigs) became hair extensions. Because many of the subjects were older, he touched on health issues such as cancer, diabetes and hospital visits, or lifestyle issues such as losing weight, pigeons and gardening. As if willing him to succeed, many of his respondents made his life easy. They would try to answer his vague questions on numbers and hair and accidents with something that happened to them, even though this often had nothing to do with the deceased relative. In this way they were able to connect to him despite the fact that the overall narrative was confused, mixing things happening today with something concerning the death.
Almost always, he would simply say vague things about the dead people, like “he’s looking after you” or ‘he misses you a lot and thinks of you’. I’ve written about this before, but grieving is a process which often involves letting go. I don’t think psychics help this process at all, because the underlying message is that they are still there, still watching. Such talk does not help people move on.
This is what passed as Friday night entertainment. Banality, sadness and voyeurism reigned. There were a lot of cheap laughs at the event, but they were often at the expense of the people involved. We are not entitled to be given this kind of window into their lives. People deserve more privacy than this. Professional counsellors, not public psychics, are a far better solution for such problems.
My advice? Next time there’s a psychic in town, save your money or go to the pub. It’s a better use of your time and money.
Passive Impressions 
Reblogged this on Cork Skeptics and commented:
We visited Joe Power’s psychic show in Cork over the weekend. Here’s what we learned.
Reblogged this on Donncha and commented:
Out of morbid curiosity to see how a psychic works a crowd I went to see a psychic called “Joe Power” last Friday night with friends. Colm gives a good account of what happened, although he forgot to mention the often used phrase, “Your mom says hi btw”.
What I found most unsettling about that first hit, was how he got there. He asked the audience if a particular surname meant anything. The father of that poor man who committed suicide raised his hand, and things progressed. There was an audible gasp from the audience but I was utterly disgusted. Joe’s team had obviously done their research.
After the intermission Joe got back on stage, and seemingly forgetting the start of the show, asked about the same surname. Four hands went up from the same family as before, and Joe mumbled, “Oh, I’ve already been with you” before moving on.
By the end of the night he was leaning on the water table at the back of the stage looking down all the time. The table was covered in a cloth and just above the level of the audience. Between “hits” he’d return to the table for a drink of water spending five seconds or so with his back the audience. I’d love to know if he had notes written there or a hidden screen with updated information from a member of his staff.
My heart goes out to those who are desperate in their grief to connect with a dead relative. This “snake oil salesman” exploits that.
Wow this is really awful, couldn’t agree more. Disgraceful, totally insensitive and exploitation of private family matters. Gross.
I think some people went to see this guy precisely because they wanted him to talk about their tragedy. The thing is, he provided no explanations to them. Just, “he’s sorry” or “he’s doing well”. I’m wondering how that is meant to help them. I could even see how it might set them back.
Yes, I can imagine that, and it is even worse then that their tragic stories get as you said, such a ‘banal’ response. Grr. Glad u put up this post may help others from falling into the same trap! 🙂
I wonder how many people who attend these shows take them seriously, who really think that the psychic is in possession of an extraordinary portal of knowledge – the ability to communicate with dead people. Probably very few, I suspect. My hunch is that what is happening here is a willing suspension of disbelief for entertainment purposes similar to that adopted by attendees of the theatre or the cinema. For an hour or so they are part of a shared experience where the whole focus is on dead relatives and friends and this may well provide an element of catharsis as well as entertainment. Just like good theatre, except in a very low-brow, unsophisticated form with a good dollop of chicanery thrown in.
In the cold light of day I think that most attendees will know that the psychic’s messages from Dad, Aunty Mary, Uncle John, etc., assuring them that they are just fine in the hereafter and the like are meaningless. I assume that there was no specific information obtained “from the other side” that would help an individual in a concrete way. For instance: “Aunty Mary says that the Will that could not be found is down behind the back of the wardrobe in her old bedroom”. I don’t think people expect to hear such falsifiable statements, and nor would they want to. Again, people are not there to learn facts – they are there to feel better about themselves, to emote, and to have a few laughs.
I remember asking some women I worked with why they went to fortune tellers. I explained how such charlatans operated, how cold-reading was done, but their response was: “yes, you’re no doubt right, but it’s good fun and it makes us feel good”. None of them ever bothered to keep track of the predictions about their futures; that wasn’t the point. They liked the hocus-pocus with the reading of palms or cards and to be told that they would meet a dark-eyed handsome man and have several children and such. It was sheer fantasy akin to reading a soppy novel or watching a romantic movie.
We can condemn the likes of Joe Power and his ilk for all we like, we can point out the utterly unscientific nature of their claims and the fact that everything they do can be easily replicated by professional illusionists like Darren Brown and Keith Barry without any of the supernatural mumbo-jumbo, but people will still flock to them because they go to be entertained, not educated.
At the Tallagh show in Dublin last night. Awful terrible show. When he got things wrong ( and that was a lot ) he told the person they were wrong. Funny suicide was Joe’s starter again, replay on Cork? Don’t waste your money even on the discounted price to see this fraud! Made me very angry last night.
Dublin show last night much the same. Awful experience. When he was wrong and he was regularly wrong, he just said no I’m right it will happen! TV3 were doing an interview pre show and that was disturbing as it made a semi real feel about his credibility. He a sham and I felt so sorry for the people who wanted bit comfort and were used for cheap laughs and bad showmanship!
Thanks Phil. It’s a terribly sub-par show. That’s a bit worrying that TV3 might be trying to boost his celebrity.