lit;
festival
MUSIC REVIEW Terry Neason - Love Bites!
*‘kirir
Terry Neason has the bounce and bunches of Baby Spice toughened with the dry delivery of Victoria Wood. Tonight she unfortunater also has bronchitis, and has come straight from attacking a bout of food poisoning. A compilation of vaguely amusing songs and poetry, the real warmth is in the seamless delivery of her earthy personality and voice. Effortlesst adaptable, it has a strangely vinyl quality, penetrating past the muffle with calm resonance. From smoky cabaret, to spinetingling Celtic, she shifts between styles with the smooth poise of Chris Isaak yodelling. She may feel like a Natural Woman, but thankfully she doesn't pretend to be anything else. (Judith Ho)
l Terry Neason - Love Bites! (Fringe) Observer Assembly (Venue 3) 226 2428, until 30 Aug, 8.55pm, £9/E8 (£8/£ 7).
COMEDY REVIEW Mitch Benn
*** Great truths of our times no. 312: comedians with guitars (particularly those of a semi-acoustic nature) are always emphatically shite.
So how do you explain Mitch Benn
then? A comedian (with guitar) who against all odds and much conventional wisdom, happens to be extremely bloody funny. Granted it’s far from maverick stuff, yet it's Benn’s simple, workable style which proves his biggest plus point, lending his songs and anecdotes an instant, accessible flow. An exception to the rule it seems. Though to paraphrase The Highlander, there (surely) can be only one. (Barry Mcpherson) I Mitch Benn (Fringe) Gilded Balloon (Venue 707) 226 2757, until 30 Aug, 8pm, £7 (£6).
THEATRE REVIEW
Pickled Onions Theatre Project 1*
You can honestly say that they're old enough to know better. Boasting 110 years of professional experience between the three of them, it’s bizarre to see these over 50 year olds embark on a piece as crackpot as this. Following the story of three singers lost in one of their own songs since 1965, it features a bumbling magician, a woman with a tree growing out of her head, a six-foot pantomime cockerel with a large clock and a man as a badly dressed woman. Whether there is actually a story behind the deluded dreamlike ramblings is
debatable, but there are a lot of cockerel jokes thrown in anyway.
Very eccentric. (Tracy Griffen) I Pickled Onions Theatre Project (Fringe) Pick/ed Onions Theatre Project, Hill Street Theatre (Venue 41) 226 6522, until 30 Aug, 9.45pm, £6 (£5).
THEATRE REVIEW Jason Freeman - Shiny Side Up, DirtyJide Down
*‘k‘k
There's no doubt about it, Jason Freeman is every bit as good-looking as he appears to be in his promotional material. But hey, looks aren't everything. Laughs are the name of the game, and Mr Freeman doesn’t
The World's Biggest Garden Party Hundreds of Free Previews from the
Best of the Festival, Ross Theatre, “;;;l?rinces St Gardens, 7th-29th August
association with Flux, tickets on sale.
on cable channel 90,lnternet and in London
“'i‘ffestiva I revu e - www.festiva l revue.com
V'Orbital
Godzilla
Nick Cave
QBT Scotland Presents
Popcom (bands) Homelands (club culture)
lnkle & Yarico
String him up: Mitch Benn
quite cut the mustard.
The wiry, instantly likeable chap’s
brand of humour is observational with dashes of the surreal. Starting with the relatively safe topics of Scotland and his previous jobs, Freeman then progresses to a diatribe on Anne Robinson, a ’spasming whore’, and police horses wearing Virtual reality headsets. But it’s not quite funny enough. It’ll make you smirk and even chuckle, but belly laughs are not to be had. (Dawn Kofie)
I Jason Freeman — Shiny Side Up, Dirty Side Down (Fringe) Jason Freeman, Pleasance ( Venue 33) 556 6550, until 30 Aug, 8.30pm, £9/f8 (£8/E 7).
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26 Aug 9 sep i999 Ill! LIST 41