list.co.uk/festival Reviews | FESTIVAL MUSIC
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SAGE FRANCIS AND B DOLAN PRESENT: STRANGE SPEECH, FAMOUS DEVELOPMENT Sharp hip hop spoken word and poetry ●●●●●
Underground rappers and brothers-in-beards Sage Francis and B Dolan bring the heat and street spirit of the New York spoken word scene to a yurt in George Square. Seasoned performers and activists, the pair launch into a packed hour of polemic poetry that combines a fierce love for the revolutionary legacy of hip hop with sharp insights into the personal and political.
Although Strange Speech, Famous Development is their debut show together, and their first at the Fringe, the two poets have been contemporaries for years and that friendship shows. Their repertoire of poetry, songs and storytelling works a little like a performed conversation – two poets sparking off each other’s tangents and ideas to form a kind of dialogue, rather than performing a pre-ordained set.
They pivot between hindsight on high school to the commercialisation of hip hop and commentary on post-9/11 paranoia with finesse and black humour, but no two shows will have the same content as the two develop and fine-tune over the course of the festival. (Sam Bradley) ■ Stand in the Square, 558 9005, until 27 Aug (not 15, 22), 1.40pm, £14.
MASSAOKE The ideal end-of-night singalong party ●●●●● Picture the scene: you’re alone on stage, wailing and flailing about to the closing bars of ‘Life On Mars’, and from the corner of your eye you watch your Tinder date wander off into the night, disgusted by your inability to stay on key. Despite the devotion of her flock, karaoke can be a cruel mistress.
STRANGE FACE: ADVENTURES WITH A LOST NICK DRAKE RECORDING Moving story about an extraordinary year ●●●●● What you won’t get out of Michael Burdett’s show is to hear the titular lost Nick Drake recording. But, after an hour of storytelling that travels the length of the country and draws the audience into one man’s passion, you won’t mind.
Well, it doesn’t have to be that way. At the Fringe, Burdett recounts his tale of a year spent
all singers are equal, because they’re all singing at the same time. With a live band, lyrics projected onto a big screen and a party atmosphere, Massaoke is the ultimate singalong club. A late night free-for-all group karaoke session led by an indomitable band of musicians ready to lead their crowd in vocal heroics, Massaoke is an ideal way to end a festival night. With special guests each night to spur you on, the setlist provides an indulgent tour through pop history. There are obvious choices in the band’s repertoire and that detracts a little from the voyeuristic fun to be had from watching the Russian roulette involved in a solo karaoke session. While their closing brace of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and The Proclaimers’ ‘500 Miles’ may have been predictable, Massaoke is a hell of a closing act for any given night at the Fringe. (Sam Bradley) ■ Gilded Balloon Teviot, 622 6552, until 28 Aug (not 15 & 16, 22 & 23), midnight, £6–£12.50.
photographing strangers as they listened to an unheard recording of ‘Cello Song’. Years after accidentally coming across the recording in a skip while working at Island Records, he began a photography project (despite not owning a camera) to explore Drake’s legacy years after his death. A slideshow plays as Burdett talks, displaying the
photographs he captured on his journey – with a cast ranging from two-year-olds to 96-year-olds, from tackle shop workers to past life regressionists and from Tom Stoppard to the Mighty Boosh (pictured) – as they hear the recording for the first time. The images are intimate, often breathtaking. Burdett aims to show Drake’s legacy as an icon for the depressed isn’t as bleak as it sounds and beauty can be found, randomly, anywhere. This moving hour is testament to that. (Kirstyn Smith) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 29 Aug (not 16), 3pm, £8.50–£11 (£7.50–£10).
PIANOMORPHOSIS – WILL PICKVANCE A masterful performance from a virtuoso player ●●●●●
There are points during Will Pickvance’s follow-up to Anatomy of the Piano where no words are necessary, where the dexterity and inventive fusion of songs both classical and popular say it all. His performance is a singular blend of virtuosity and humour unlike most others. We say most, because there are overtones of a more reserved and typically British Chilly Gonzales here. The tousled Pickvance is suited and sitting at a crumpled old leather armchair, a little too low and slouchy for his piano- playing position, his tone midway between educational and raconteurish. At other points you wish for him to start chatting again, to find a break in the relentless, dizzying flow of notes he's hammering out. This is what being a prodigious player in the 21st century looks like, you feel; late evening at the Fringe, in a darkened cell of a room under the dim light of a standard lamp, telling stories of being the house pianist for the rich and famous at Skibo Castle. He was there to provide background to seduction, well paid to ‘administrate the notes’, whereas now we have to take it on trust he knows all the output of Paul McCartney because if he plays more than a few notes he’ll be billed.
Yet Pickvance gets around that problem with masterful ease.
It might be said that he plays the music of others throughout, but really it’s his own improvisation on a theme which is the star of the show. The opening bars of ‘Day Tripper’ are repeated and added to, moving off in breathtaking new directions, as are the works of Mozart and Beethoven (‘any way you play those notes, it’s like he’s in the room with us,’ says Pickvance of the latter), leaving the impression of an artist trying to connect a highbrow demand for quality with a populist need for amusement. (David Pollock) ■ Summerhall, 560 1581, until 28 Aug (not 15, 22), 8.30pm, £12 (£8).
11–18 Aug 2016 THE LIST FESTIVAL 75
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