[2013152] Geraldine Quinn – You’re the Voice: Songs for the Ordinary by an Anthemaniac
Geraldine Quinn @ La Bohème
8:00pm, Sat 16 Mar 2013
I love Geraldine Quinn. Love her love her love her. I think she’s got an awesome singing voice, an even more awesome wit, and I’m dead jealous of her hair. Why she isn’t a mainstay in Adelaide during Cabaret season is beyond me – she’d be a perfect fit for the major CabFest, I reckon, and would sell out a CabFringe season easily – as demonstrated by the sell-out crowd tonight.
But she’s had the odd patchy show in the past… sure, the trademark Quinnisms have always been present (except for, maybe, The Divine Cabaret), but occasionally her shows haven’t quite gelled. So, when she strutted out wearing an Australian flag, buffeted by a wall of music, I was thrilled by the opening… but a little voice in the back of my head wondered whether she could keep it up.
Short answer: yes.
Based on her love of the classic anthems of the eighties – of course You’re The Voice was a driving force! – Quinn belted out an hour of rock anthems which were a continuous, glorious ascension. Epic ballads, excursions into glam, and a magnificent eight-minute rock-opera all impressed musically, but they were all coupled with lyrics that celebrated the ordinary – ordinary people, ordinary events. Stuff we can all identify with.
And so we wind up with songs about drinking, cross-country road trips, sleazy pickup merchants, growing up in the country, and teenage backyard parties. And Festival Rhapsodical, the aforementioned rock opera that covers a plethora of musical styles… and every part of the artist’s Fringe Festival experience.
I’m struggling to recall a dud moment in the entire show, I really am. Her songs are still wonderfully entertaining – catchy tunes, sweet melodies, and harmonies with her backing tracks (only a few wide-eyed, fierce nods to her tech tonight!) – and if anyone was born to sing rock anthems, it’s Quinn. Seriously, she would have outshone Meat Loaf on Bat Out Of Hell. Even the slower songs in her set compensated for their pace by doubling down on the humour.
So… yeah. I still love the Quinner. And this show was just brilliant.
(152) Geraldine Quinn – You're the Voice: Songs for the Ordinary by an Anthemaniac: brilliant. Just bloody brilliant. #ff2013 #ADLfringe
— Pete Muller (@festivalfreakAU) March 16, 2013