So friday night was my first night at the fest with my original fest bud Sarah. Now, she'd had her bag stolen that morning, so was a bit out of it. We'd originally planned to go see Matt, Dan and Adam Rozenbachs, but Adam was sold out, so we reshuffled and ended up with Neil. Which i am eternally thankful for. He was amazing.
Now, we'll start at the start. Matt. Saw him last year, he told me i had to go shoot Britney Spears. It was good. On ball political humour. This year? hmmmm. He had a warm up guy. A warm up guy who was NOT funny. At all. I can't even remember what he talked about or even his name, hjust that he was not funny at all. Matt came out, and it picked up a bit. Starting with a war on Telstra, ending with observations about whether Barak can save us or not. He had some good bits, his observations about the "violence problem in Melbourne" were wry and funny. And you always known what side you're on when it comes to Team Outrage, or Team Calm Down. Matt made me laugh, but not enough to sustain me, or enough to declare it as hilarious.
Sarah and i then walked to The Forum to see Daniel Moore. Or Denial Moore. Here's an interesting thing to note. The Day Planner on the festival website says you can't do a 6pm show followed by a 7:15pm show. You can. You can walk from the Vic to the Forum, and buy the tickets to the forum show, easily. in like 10 minutes. Providing your 6pm show is like an hour long. Ours was 55 minutes. It was easy.
Daniel is in the Carpet room of the Forum. Its cozy. Hold about 30 people. Intimate would be a good way to describe it. There were about 10 people there when i saw Daniel. It was nice. He's nice. And not that pathetic "nice" but a genuine, down to earth, would love to hang out with him, kind of nice. He's a combination of my cousin Phil and Hamish Blake (not that that helps you at all). He has an intriguing approach, using a musician Emma Heeney for background music and the occasional song. It adds gravitas and mood to a show, that's not usually there. Like Matt, Daniel has some good moments and some that are a bit flat. Unlike Matt, Dan comes away likeable and genuine, not a performer. You can see the ADD pouring off him in moments, but thats not a bad thing, it just makes him more accessible.
Go see Daniel. He is honest and engaging and you'll enjoy it.
Finally, after much ruling out of people and over wedges at the Welcome Stranger, Sarah and I saw the word "Irish" and went for it. Neil is in the Council Chambers, which on its own is recommendation enough to see a show. Its an odd venue, stately and with amazing ceilings. You sit in the councellors seats.
Neil has a great show. He uses alot of his audiences stories and lives to weave into his own stories. Don't go if you don't like colourful language, he swears alot, but in an Irish Accent, you don't really notice so much. Stories of being thrown out of places, treating women right, having sex with really tall sweedish women. I laughed alot. Genuine, belly laughs. Most of which came from the approach he took with his audience. It felt like i could see him again and again and it would be a different show based on the audience that was there.
See him. He's the guy i'm pushing this Fest.
On a small note, can i point out to the girls who sat behind me at Neil, it IS NOT OK to take pictures of yourself during a show. Its rude. Like answering the phone rude. Or turning up drunk rude.
Don't do it.
Still on my list this fest:
Tim Minchin
Josh Earl
David O'Doherty
Adam Hills if i can get tickets for my parents and me (oh yeah, he's hardcore)
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