Great day today. Somewhat risky decisions paid off!
That there Circolombia is a bit of a crowd-pleaser, isn’t it?
In other news: My city feels like mine again.
Ahhhhh – a decent night of sleep, I thought… wrong. Security alarms on a nearby building went off at 7am. Not pleased at all.
I’m really not sure what I thought of the Anderson/Kronos gig yet. It was all so odd to me…
So – after getting to bed at around 4:30am this morning, I was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed awake at Laurie Anderson’s performance of Duets on Ice at 10:30am. And then I decided that, on top of being TiredPete, I should engage in a feat of planning that would normally scare me silly – hey, any day that requires two cab rides and still results in me rolling up to a show late is clearly the result of over-optimistic “planning”.
The Festival Opening Night cocktail party was a classy affair – despite being a “VIP” event, the Festival crew still saw fit to let me in, giving me just enough time to neck a couple of glasses of Croser before Sylvie started. And again during the interval. And the food… delicious!
It was, most certainly, a Festival Day today. Three Festival shows, plus an opening party for Barrio (which feels much more open and communal as a result). The cocktails as just as I remember them… delicious.
Once upon a time I’d never have given up shows for a party… apologies to any shows on my Shortlist that were in the 10pm-to-midnight band.
Short and sweet: go and see Skeleton. Only the second show ever that I’ve felt compelled to give a standing ovation to. An astonishing piece of contemporary dance.
Let’s face it – this isn’t the change of weather that anyone wanted, is it? It’s far less “welcome change” than “irritating”.
Something I forgot to mention yesterday: I very nearly witnessed a full-on brawl in the queue for Limbo – and I certainly was in the middle of much verbal tussling. Apparently the (efficient!) decision by some in the line to not walk the length of a line-loop (instead opting to wait until the loop returned to them… you know what I mean) angered – and I mean angered, in all its irrational glory – a group further back in line who threatened with language like “if you don’t fucking move, we’re cutting in fucking front of you.”
Really? Really?
Things escalated as the group waiting started needling back, pointing out – with, uh, inflammatory language of their own – that nothing was going to change the other group’s ability to enter the venue… but anger and reason aren’t the best of friends, are they?
So – that’s one of the “biggest” Fringe shows out of the way, and pretty bloody good it was, too.
Sad to see a batch of shows finishing up, with their performers disappearing. Great people, one and all.
Another “quiet” Monday that was full of gold, all discovered during a Bakehouse Binge.
Dad finally left hospital and went home today, which meant that the usual (minimum) two-hour chunk in the middle of the day that I used to spend with him is now free for Festival activities. Such as, for example, writing – I’m over fifty shows behind at the moment.
Of course, I inadvertently used the extra time this afternoon to doze on the lounge.
Today yielded a collection of those “I’m not sure I liked it, but I’m glad it exists” shows. Which is, to me, what the Fringe is all about :)
What a glorious night to sit on the lawns at the Fringe Club, just chatting and drinking. Sweet :)
Aaaaah – what a great day. Tons of variety, lots of movement, and a sizeable “fuck you!” to my liver.
My fiftieth show of the year, the Zephyr Quartet’s CD Launch at the Wheaty, was gorgeous. For some reason it felt like a relief – almost like the last show of the season! As I sat there, mesmerised by the music, I could feel myself physically unwinding.
I had the “delight” of reading Friday’s ‘Tiser while I visited Dad in hospital today; I was genuinely surprised at how disappointed I was with its Fringe section, especially the sad lament about how some reviewers couldn’t get into Leo without their tickets. So, let’s just attempt to cover the issues (in a post-Fringe-Club-closing drunken state):
You know what I did with my media pass tonight, rather than try to barge my way into a show? I went and hung out with artists. Bought them drinks, talked about tons of stuff. Had some off-the-record fun. But mostly just revelled in the presence of these creatives, told them how much I loved what they did, and just tried to be nice.
Just sayin’.
After an early start, a midday matinée, and a hospital run, I was most certainly not in the mood for a theatrical evening. Hence: wall-to-wall comedy!
I’m starting to get a little concerned about the lack of event posts I’ve been cranking out (or, rather, not cranking out). Hopefully I’ll start to ramp that up a bit next week…
Fringe Club.
I’m supposed to be at a matinée at my old school in eight hours. Oh dear.
Oh yeah, now we’re in the swing of things. 2am finish, with a hospital visit tomorrow morning after likely being woken by construction noise next door, and followed by a matinée. Cruisin’.
The great thing about tonight’s Rhino Room Late Show was the discovery of Nick Capper – a quirky style, something different, and bloody funny. If his show wasn’t already on The Shortlist, it certainly is now.
Also: Anthropoetry. It’s poetry over live looped music, it’s funny and political and human, and it’s absolutely brilliant. Easily in the Top 5 so far.
Ugh. Late starts, and soon-to-be-finished runs, caused me to bail on a show in the middle of this bracket, leaving only three for the day. That’s no way to shorten a List!
It appears that Tuesday is the new Monday; not even the lure of Cheap-Arse Tuesday can lure in crowds on nights like this.
Wow. What a great day! Remember when Mondays used to be all, like, devoid of Fringe shows? And then you have days like this, where everything you see just brings forth the gold…
Those first two shows listed above? I unreservedly recommend them. The next two? A reserved recommendation – I sure had a lot of fun in them, anyway. I’m still trying to figure out whether Nellie White has stumbled upon a new style of apparently unassuming delivery; whatever it is, it totally works!
Awww yeah. Now we’re getting into the groove of things.
I managed my first ticket snafu today, too. Silly Petee, you really must double check session times when booking tickets. Still, that little fuck-up led me to see Sullivan and Bok earlier than anticipated, who – despite the audience of two (the other of whom used to live in my building! Adelaide!) – put on a cracker of a show.
Mind you, with a breakfast of a Boost Juice and a late lunch of mojitos, it was always going to be a good day…