[2015054] Sunglasses at Night: The 80s Apocalypse Sing Along Cabaret
Geraldine Quinn @ Garden of Unearthly Delights – Deluxe
11:15pm, Fri 20 Feb 2015
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a big fan of Geraldine Quinn… but (as I’ve also mentioned before) I’m a bigger fan of 80s pop music. That was my era, man… new-wave, electro-pop, concept pop, mainstream, I loved it all. Hey, there’s even SAW songs that I will staunchly defend.
So a show where Geri applies her talents to my beloved decade of songs, and encourages an audience singalong? Oh man, I was so there… as were a shitload of other people, as the Deluxe appeared to be bursting at the seams.
Accompanied by Matthew Carey on keys, Quinn (looking, it must be said, spectacular) belted through a bunch of 80s classics, whilst handwritten (and hilariously annotated) lyrics were projected to facilitate an audience singalong. And singalong they did – the vast majority of the crowd were totally up for the experience, with cheers of recognition for many songs, and lots of untrained enthusiasm in the collective voice.
Yes, there was a lot of chat about (and around) the songs, and it was all heartfelt and funny – Geri clearly is a serious fan of this material, but is lovingly able to objectively cut it to pieces. And Geri’s singing? Awesome.
Anyhoo, here’s (most of?) the songs that were covered:
- Total Eclipse of the Heart
- Gold
- Love is a Battlefield (so many jokes!)
- Sunglasses at Night (what a warmup!)
- Vienna
- 99 Luftballons
- Don’t You Want Me (so good!)
- Babooshka
Quinn also announced there would be a fancy dress competition, for which there were three contestants in the crowd; each were summoned and directed to strike proud 80s poses onstage. The worthy winner had even dug up his bright yellow waterproof Walkman!
I had so much fun at this show; it’s like it was cabaret made explicitly for me. The time absolutely flew by, and I was a little bit sad when it was all over… but utterly delighted to have been a part of these raucous singalongs, led by one of my favourite performers. Love love love.
(54) Sunglasses at Night: The 80s Apocalypse Sing Along Cabaret: Funtastic. Audience were totes up for it. I <3 Geri. #ff2015 #ADLfringe
— Pete Muller (@festivalfreakAU) February 20, 2015