In Bosco's Convenience
Possibly to make up for last nights lack-of-spending-money, tonight I once again ventured out to the Garden of Unearthly Delights, this time with JL for some shows she wanted to see - that I knew nothing about - plus another bonus one we decided to see because it was between the other two. All were on at Bosco's Theatre in the GoUD, so it's not like we needed to go very far. Certainly not at all inconvenient.
The Huckleberry Swedes - Bosco Theatre, Garden of Unearthly Delights, 6.30pm
This local Adelaide band are hard to classify, but the Fringe Guide calls them "an explosion of roots, rock, folk, soul, Americana, high country bluegrass harmonies, neo country dub bass grooves." So whatever genre you can put them in, there's no denying they're good! The mix of original songs with different styles and about eight different guitars (only three at once, mind you) plus mandolin, banjo and piano accordian for some songs give this band a great mix of sounds. Their singer, Troy Loakes has a great soul/blues voice, but he can rock it along with the electric guitars as good as the best of them. Definitely worth keeping an ear out for them in future. Check em out on MySpace.
Sammy J in the Forest of Dreams - Bosco Theatre, Garden of Unearthly Delights, 8.00pm
This was one wasn't planned by JL, but the poster and flyers made it interesting: "It's a musical. For adults. With puppets." - sounds like my cup of tea, given my love for Avenue Q. When I originally read of this act in the Fringe Guide, I figured it was probably going to be performed in the Forest of Dreams (Hurtle Square) but apparently that's just a coincidence of naming...
From the opening song ("Fuck Disney") you can tell this is going to be a rather subversive fairytale, and that it is. Poor sap Sammy J goes through a portal into the Forest of Dreams and after dealing with a sarcastic, irreverant (and hilarious) tree, befriends happy berry-picking forest 'creature' Farlo. Of course, as well as following a somewhat normal plotline as a lot of Disney fantasies, the swearing and sexual references make this definitely adults only... And of course, it has to do its piece to subvert the story by having Sammy's noble intentions fall into a big hole, definitely not your usual ending! Despite its irreverant tone, they still bring on the drama and make you sympathise with the puppet characters, so it's not as shallow as you might think. The songs are simple but enjoyable (with some way out there lyrics) and definitely fun. And best of all, this entire thing is performed by Sammy J and one other man, puppeteer Heath McIvor, controlling a whole barrage of characters with some very fast (and sometimes impossible) costume changes. Well worth it... catch it next week if you can!
Ali McGregor's Midnight Lullabies - Bosco Theatre, Garden of Unearthly Delights, 9.30pm
I was expecting a standup comedian, but maybe that's because I didn't ask JL beforehand who this act was - she's an opera-trained singer who can handle pop/rock quite well too with her powerful voice. She and her drummer (Ben Hendry) do a wonderful job on a range of weird instruments, most of all Ali's auto-harp, a kind of cross between a small (cherub-sized) harp and an accordian. After opening with a wonderful interpretation of "Seven Nation Army" (The White Stripes), things got crazier from there. The theme of the show is songs that keep you awake at night, or send you gently to sleep, and it's a great mix of pop song covers done in rather interesting styles, with an original song and a German classic Lieder thrown in for good measure. Highlights include the lullaby rendition of Sweet Child of Mine (Guns 'n' Roses) and one of the most unexpected 'stalker' songs - no, it's not The Police's "Every Breath You Take", but... well, I don't want to spoil the surprise :). Ali lets her opera voice shine through in a few songs too, which is also pretty awesome.
After these three shows, I had considered sticking around for the next Bosco show at 11pm - Scott Edgar and the Universe, which I knew reverancepavane was keen to see. However, having not seen it on the bill for that theatre, nor anywhere else in the Garden, I asked at the ticket office where it was... and it had been cancelled. I hoped my phone call/sms to reverancepavane reached him in time to avoid a wasted journey...
Instead, JL and I wandered down to see Northern Lights which I'd seen last night - but she hadn't seen it yet. So we took another look at the wonderful art on the buildings, so that was pretty awesome.
More Fringing on Tuesday :)
The Huckleberry Swedes - Bosco Theatre, Garden of Unearthly Delights, 6.30pm
This local Adelaide band are hard to classify, but the Fringe Guide calls them "an explosion of roots, rock, folk, soul, Americana, high country bluegrass harmonies, neo country dub bass grooves." So whatever genre you can put them in, there's no denying they're good! The mix of original songs with different styles and about eight different guitars (only three at once, mind you) plus mandolin, banjo and piano accordian for some songs give this band a great mix of sounds. Their singer, Troy Loakes has a great soul/blues voice, but he can rock it along with the electric guitars as good as the best of them. Definitely worth keeping an ear out for them in future. Check em out on MySpace.
Sammy J in the Forest of Dreams - Bosco Theatre, Garden of Unearthly Delights, 8.00pm
This was one wasn't planned by JL, but the poster and flyers made it interesting: "It's a musical. For adults. With puppets." - sounds like my cup of tea, given my love for Avenue Q. When I originally read of this act in the Fringe Guide, I figured it was probably going to be performed in the Forest of Dreams (Hurtle Square) but apparently that's just a coincidence of naming...
From the opening song ("Fuck Disney") you can tell this is going to be a rather subversive fairytale, and that it is. Poor sap Sammy J goes through a portal into the Forest of Dreams and after dealing with a sarcastic, irreverant (and hilarious) tree, befriends happy berry-picking forest 'creature' Farlo. Of course, as well as following a somewhat normal plotline as a lot of Disney fantasies, the swearing and sexual references make this definitely adults only... And of course, it has to do its piece to subvert the story by having Sammy's noble intentions fall into a big hole, definitely not your usual ending! Despite its irreverant tone, they still bring on the drama and make you sympathise with the puppet characters, so it's not as shallow as you might think. The songs are simple but enjoyable (with some way out there lyrics) and definitely fun. And best of all, this entire thing is performed by Sammy J and one other man, puppeteer Heath McIvor, controlling a whole barrage of characters with some very fast (and sometimes impossible) costume changes. Well worth it... catch it next week if you can!
Ali McGregor's Midnight Lullabies - Bosco Theatre, Garden of Unearthly Delights, 9.30pm
I was expecting a standup comedian, but maybe that's because I didn't ask JL beforehand who this act was - she's an opera-trained singer who can handle pop/rock quite well too with her powerful voice. She and her drummer (Ben Hendry) do a wonderful job on a range of weird instruments, most of all Ali's auto-harp, a kind of cross between a small (cherub-sized) harp and an accordian. After opening with a wonderful interpretation of "Seven Nation Army" (The White Stripes), things got crazier from there. The theme of the show is songs that keep you awake at night, or send you gently to sleep, and it's a great mix of pop song covers done in rather interesting styles, with an original song and a German classic Lieder thrown in for good measure. Highlights include the lullaby rendition of Sweet Child of Mine (Guns 'n' Roses) and one of the most unexpected 'stalker' songs - no, it's not The Police's "Every Breath You Take", but... well, I don't want to spoil the surprise :). Ali lets her opera voice shine through in a few songs too, which is also pretty awesome.
After these three shows, I had considered sticking around for the next Bosco show at 11pm - Scott Edgar and the Universe, which I knew reverancepavane was keen to see. However, having not seen it on the bill for that theatre, nor anywhere else in the Garden, I asked at the ticket office where it was... and it had been cancelled. I hoped my phone call/sms to reverancepavane reached him in time to avoid a wasted journey...
Instead, JL and I wandered down to see Northern Lights which I'd seen last night - but she hadn't seen it yet. So we took another look at the wonderful art on the buildings, so that was pretty awesome.
More Fringing on Tuesday :)