All you need is "Love"

(I was about to title this post "Yellow matter custard dripping from a dead dog's eye." But who needs that?)

Wednesday night, Cardgrrl treated me to a sort of late birthday present: We went to see "Love" at the Mirage. It had been at the top of my list of want-to-see Vegas shows since the day it opened.

It was all I had hoped for and more. Stunning, captivating, intriguing, overwhelming, creative, evocative. There is often so much going on at once that you can't even notice it all, let alone absorb, interpret, and appreciate it. But there are other times when the chaos is replaced with something simple and beautiful. I think I will never again be able to listen to "Something in the Way She Moves" without recalling the elegance of the white-clad trapeze artists gracefully flying overhead.

You can find reviews aplenty on the web, if you need them, so there's no point in me trying to describe the show. Besides, you basically already know if you want to see it or not. If you like Cirque de Soleil and/or you like the Beatles, you will want to see this thing. It would be a crime not to. If you're too young (or, I suppose, too old) ever to have caught the Fab Four bug, and the other Cirque shows leave you saying "meh," well, then, I suppose it's best that you walk on by. But you will be missing something truly special and spectacular.

"Love" has zoomed into the top five best shows I've seen since being in Vegas. The others are Penn & Teller, Elton John's "Red Piano," Ka, Blue Man Group, and Spamalot.

OK, that's six, but who's counting?

It is manifestly not the case (pace Lennon and McCartney) that all you need is love. But if you get some "Love," I think you'll be happy you did.