FESTIVAL MUSIC | Previews & Reviews
LOKI, THE SCOTTISH RAPPER: POVERTY SAFARI LIVE Uncompromising rap and spoken word ●●●●●
‘This is a trigger warning for working class people,’ says Darren McGarvey, otherwise known as Loki, ‘they're selling juice with bits at the bar.’ Yet the rapper from Pollok in Glasgow, working class himself, seems firmly in his comfort zone here, performing to a large audience of mixed age and sex. They may or may not have been getting what they expected – given his star has risen significantly in the last few months thanks to the success of his Orwell Prize-winning memoir Poverty Safari and his reinvention as a cultural commentator of straight-talking insight and accuracy – but they were certainly getting what they needed. Poverty Safari Live is a rap and spoken word show telling the
story of a working class Glasgow boy with a middle class girlfriend at university, and the alienation and threat he feels in her world. It’s also a piece of first-person polemic from McGarvey himself, who notes wryly that he has to annotate his character’s blunt edges – particularly the homophobia – in a way middle class writers don’t have to (‘I'm a rapper, so no sophistication is assumed’).
He rails against the notion of social mobility being possible from a position of extreme poverty, confronts the difficulty he initially experienced in coming to terms with contemporary feminism, and – not forgetting we’re at the Stand – makes it all darkly funny; ‘I’m invisible to London . . . I’m Warrington in human form.’ The voice McGarvey has found for himself is one for our times, and sorely needed; uncompromising in his quest for basic decency across class borders, but humble enough to know that our opinions should fluctuate in the face of others’ lived experience. Before you see any knowing political shows by men in expensive suits this year, see this one instead. (David Pollock) ■ The Stand’s New Town Theatre, until 26 Aug (not 15), 5pm, £12 (£10).
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CHOIR OF MAN Relentlessly upbeat pub singalong ●●●●● PREHISTORIC Visceral punk rock theatre from Australia ●●●●●
Welcome to the Jungle: a pub packed with sensitive manly men, with beards and/or ponytails, who can't help bursting into song. Good looking and rugged but in a safe cuddly way. The set features a working bar as they pour pints for a few lucky punters (and reward anyone dragged on stage to be serenaded up close and personal). There's a cheesy, slightly cringey intro to all nine members of the Choir of Man and this mythical bar that remains untouched by time.
Their set veers wildly from Guns n' Roses (you can
guess what track), through Katy Perry ('Teenage Dream'), Adele ('Hello') and Queen ('Somebody to Love). Singing over a backing track with added live piano and guitar, a few gags and some simple choreography, it’s a well-polished affair that manages to make this seemingly random mix flow seamlessly. There's not quite a narrative, more a theme of brotherly love and bromance. It's also impossible to deny they have decent voices best showcased on an a cappella rendition of Sia's 'Chandelier.' CoM know their audience and embrace the cheese
for an unapologetically populist show and it's hard not to be worn down by their relentless energy and slick stagecraft. (Henry Northmore) ■ Assembly Rooms, until 26 Aug (not 13), 8pm, £15–£17.50 (£14–£16.50).
82 THE LIST FESTIVAL 8–15 Aug 2018
Brisbane was the heart of Australia's punk scene in the closing years of the 1970s. The city bore distinctive conditions for the genre's rise – with the state of Queensland under the oversight of authoritarian premiere Joh Bjelke-Petersen, Prehistoric reveals a hidden history of illegal gatherings broken up by badgeless cops cracking heads and stealing takings.
Melbourne-based theatre company Elbow Room's production is thrilling, a piece of gig theatre in one of the grimiest and most atmospheric rooms in Edinburgh, a perfect space to hear cathartic, guts-out punk thrash. The cast playing rebellious punk group Pink Monkeys are excellent: Grace Cummings as middle class girl gone rogue, Rachel Privilege; Sahil Saluja as musically skilled Australian-Indian kid Nick Everything; Brigid Gallacher as the charismatic and fiercely committed Deb Station and Zachary Pidd as disturbed working class drummer Pete Fender. The quartet are mismatched but united in their need to cast off the restrictive norms placed upon them, and as their infamy grows and the costs and physical risk to them escalates, a loud and furious portrait of visceral nonconformity erupts. (David Pollock) ■ Summerhall, until 26 Aug (not 13, 20), 9.15pm, £10 (£8).
P R E V I E W DEAN OWENS Singer lets the audience choose his setlist
With seven albums of signature Americana behind him, as well as records with his old group the Felsons, Leith-raised singer-songwriter Dean Owens finds it hard to make up a setlist for his shows. ‘So I thought I’d let the audience do it this time,’ he says, referring to the concept behind this year’s Hatful of Songs Fringe gigs. ‘I’ve been encouraging people to message me via social media with their requests, I’ll put them into one of my many hats and draw them out during the show.’ Currently receiving praise in places like Mojo for his
latest album Southern Wind (recorded in Nashville with producer Neilson Hubbard and guitarist / singer- songwriter Will Kimbrough), Owens’ work skilfully blends youthful influences like Aztec Camera and Elvis Costello with his adult Americana heroes, from Gram Parsons to Tom Petty, Hank Williams to Elvis Presley. ‘In terms of kindred spirits, I guess I relate to the classic singer-songwriters most,’ he says. ‘Anyone who’s ever put a sweet, sad melody over some chords . . . I’m never happier than when I’m listening to some misery.’
So how many songs can his fans choose from? ‘As many as I can get in there,’ he says. ‘I guess I might need a big hat! (David Pollock) ■ The Stand’s New Town Theatre, 11, 14 Aug, 10.30pm, £14 (£12).