The Duke of York's Picturehouse Eurovision Party [BRIGHTON FRINGE 2012]

HEARING THE BEST (AND WORST)
OF EUROPEAN POP IN A BIG
CAMP, SAUCY EXTRAVAGANZA?


OOOH HEAVEN IS A PLACE ON EARTH.

The stage, screen and our camp compère.

What's It All About Then?
Event held on Saturday 26th May at the Duke of York's Picturehouse, Preston Circus, Brighton in honour of the Eurovision Song Contest 2012.

The event ran from 7:45pm until 11:00pm - with a compère providing humorous commentary and organising the activities during the show. These included an introductory  song and dance number, some jokes, a raffle, games during the voting interlude and dancing on-stage throughout.


On each audience member's chair, there was a goody bag containing - a Union Jack flag, some Love Hearts, a glow stick, a Eurovision score card, a pen and a condom. I put the condom to good use, mind you - it made an excellent balloon.

The on-stage dancing for the Russian Grannies was joyous

So Was It Any Good?

+++ Big Fun Event +++

The show was fun-packed - although not a lot happened until about 15 minutes before the TV broadcast, there was a whole load of things going on in the theatre to get the crowd excited. 


To begin with, there was a short dance with some gymnast ribbons (see picture - right) and the compère provided the vocals to Eurovision classic, Waterloo. This was vaguely Olympics-themed (the guys came out with Olympic rings and did athletic-type dancing, I suppose) and the compère had an Olympics-themed chair to boot - complete with the 5 rings and there was some laurel branches stuck on top.



The audience were really geared-up to participate too - there were 2 people dressed as Jedward, complete with twin matching shiny silver outfits - some dressed as the Turkish entry (complete with a rendition of the fabric boat scene) - one woman dressed as the Azerbaijani entry and "performed" on stage with a huge, inflatable microphone - one guy came dressed as the German pretty boy who did a live rendition during the real entry's performance!


It was all very good fun and interactive - audience members were actively encouraged to get down on stage and dance during their favourite entries - so the catchy dance tunes from Cyrpus, Greece, Sweden and Russia gathered huge crowds of fans cheering and boogieing on down!

+++ Toilet Humour +++
The main source of the toilet humour was the compère - a very confident and funny host who relied fairly heavily on insinuations about the acts' sexual preferences - which was entertaining enough for the most part.


As a side note, I went to the toilet at the same time as a guy in a full-over bodysuit who needed his friend to completely unzip him before he could use the urinal. From seeing the view from behind, I'd say that counts as toilet humour too.


Anyway, during the voting interval there was a round of audience participation - 4 lucky contestants got to play a round of "Penny in the Crack". In case you hadn't heard of it, Penny is a game where the contestants must take turns to hold a penny between their bottom cheeks and make their way across the stage - in front of 200+ people - and let it drop into a pint glass on the far end of the stage.


The four contestants made a damn good go of it - one guy perhaps being a bit overconfident and dropped it halfway - but most got the penny into the glass or near the glass. The audience roared with applause to congratulate these 4 brave souls for their embarrassingly-public show of arse strength.


So that was Round 1.


Next the host stepped things up a notch - now they were playing Picked Onion Up The Bum - where each contestant now has to (yes, you guessed it) carry a pickled onion fresh out of the jar and soaked in vinegar between their bum cheeks across the stage. 


One guy's strategy here was to suck all the vinegar off to make it more bearable - but then just ate that onion instead. He was given another to make the stage crossing. I felt most sorry for the 2 women in skirts and tights who had to complete the tasks but neither shied away from the task at hand and got their onions in on just missing the glass.


So that was Round 2.


Finally - and I bet the contestants were glad this was finally - came the Raw Egg Up The Crack round. This was a show of arse cheek control rather than strength (obviously) but the 4 were all admirable contestants for the finale. Luckily, none of them experienced the problems that the host warned them about during the game - such issues as "getting the egg in your vag" and "making an omlette in your arsehole". These were very funny and the crowd was really involved - cheering everyone on as they completed the last round.


Through a vote by way of cheers, it was the guy who ate the pickled onion who was voted the overall winner - Ant from Abergavenny! Well done Sir!

The guys playing "Penny in the Crack" - brave, brave people....

--- Wouldn't want to be German ---

All the camp, silly, cheesy and dance acts got some great reception - but some countries didn't even get a chance before the big boos started. In particular, I wouldn't have wanted to have been German going along to support my country due to the loud booing from across the audience as soon as they were announced!

It was a shit act though - bored the pants off me so much that I may have chosen to boo - but to get such a vocal negative reaction from the mention of the country? 

Surely there's more worthy "boo" recipients in the competition? A small smear on an otherwise amazing night.

The rush on the stage during the Swedish act's encore.

Conclusions

The Eurovision Event was as suitably big, fun and camp as you could wish for.


There was plenty of humour and energy throughout the show from both the host and the audience - seeing everyone get involved added to the evening's entertainment.


A brilliant show - I think I'll have to get dressed up for next year's party!


FULL EUROVISION 2012 RUNDOWN

#Eurovision2012 #Moldova 
Weirdest dance of the evening but that mare me like them. That guy must've been on some STRONG drugs...


#Eurovision2012 #Ukraine 
Cheesy dance tune plus men in pink skirts? I'm in love. Probably not a winner though


#Eurovision2012 #Serbia 
Not quite sexy or quirky enough to work. Even ponytail pipe guy couldn't prevent the #yawn on this one. Next please


#Eurovision2012 #Ireland 
Say what you will about #Jedward - they're in their element during #Eurovision. But they're still utterly shite.


#Eurovision2012 #Macedonia 
Nightwish FTW! Pales in comparison to... yep.... here they come.... it's #Jedward


#Eurovision2012 #Malta 
Generic catchy tune. Foot shuffle dance. Fingerless gloves & silly hair. Classic #Eurovision. Bit of a flip too. Nice


#Eurovision2012 #Germany 
Has just led to a round of boos. Sexy man got some interest. Bland song and performance though. Major #yawn


#Eurovision2012 #Spain 
Very intimate dancing on stage @DukeofYorks. Song reminds me of Leona Lewis' cover of Snow Patrol Run. 
Nice finale though.


#Eurovision2012 #Turkey 
Eurocamp gay fantasy meets Borat. More than a little turned on. Wave those capes, bitches! Boat with cloak scene recreated on stage by some drunk revellers @DukeofYorks. Amazing stuff - @DukeofYorks love it! 


#Eurovision2012 #Sweden 
The dance is bizarre (and why the boob grabbing?) but daaaamn that was catchy. Could be a winner #Eurovision


#Eurovision2012 #Greece 
@DukeofYorks Crowd going wild for Greek Shakira. Booty shaking & bass normally goes down well. My booty is a-shaking


#Eurovision2012 #Denmark 
Too much like a crap pop song. Bimbo meets Sgt Peppers look could take off though. Xylophone solo! Mind blown! :-)


#Eurovision2012 #Romania 
This is more like it! Great outfits, dancing and a song you can boogie to! Love it! #Eurovision


#Eurovision2012 #Azerbaijan 
We have a parody performance complete with giant inflatable microphone here @DukeofYorks. Crap otherwise


#Eurovision2012 #Norway 
Justin Bieber will get a few votes. Totes thrown on for the gay crowd though. Shamefully love the campness :-)


#Eurovision2012 #Estonia 
Gary Barlow's singing is pretty good. Loads of wolf whistles here @DukeofYorks. Can see why. Phwoar.


#Eurovision2012 #Italy 
Not too bad. Now everyone quickly back to her dressing room for a quick line. Oh wait, that's NOT Winehouse.


#Eurovision2012 #France 
Good gymnastic shite but song ain't too inspiring. Flailing dress FTW! Go #Gaultier!


#Eurovision2012 #Cyprus 
At least you can dance to it. Live striptease here on stage @DukeofYorks! Could win points for sexy dancing ladies


#Eurovision2012 #Iceland 
Not a great song or performance - still prefer #RussianGrannies and #thehump!


#Eurovision2012 #Russia
#RussianGrannies were AWESOME! #BakeMeACake for the grannies! @StarlightRu #DOUZEPOINTS for grannies or #thehump #Eurovision
#RussianGrannies have swarmed the stage. @DukeofYorks
 Big support here!


#Eurovision2012 #BosniaHerzegovina
 How's that piano still playing!?! No skirt ripping? Wind machines? #yawn #nilpoints


#Eurovision2012 #Lithuania 
From blindfolded magician to Michael Jackson! Amazing! Loving that one! #Eurovision


#Eurovision2012 #Albania 
Getting mocked here at @DukeofYorks but the girl's got some lungs on her! Love the Star Wars outfit!


#Eurovision2012 #Hungary 
Leather-clad but bland. Nothing we haven't seen before on #Eurovision. Not a scratch on #thehump


#Eurovision2012 #United Kingdom
Gotta love #thehump!
Good singing but not too great a song or staging. May not get too many votes though.

Feel free to post comments or contributions to improve the experience!
Any images in this review were taken by Brighton Games Trader.

St. Ann's Well Gardens Spring Festival [BRIGHTON FRINGE 2012]

FANTASTIC FAMILY FUN DAY OUT.


ENOUGH SOUNDS, SHOWS AND STALLS TO KEEP MOST PEOPLE HAPPY FOR AN AFTERNOON.

What's It All About Then?

Free festival held on Saturday 19th May at St. Ann's Well Gardens as part of the Brighton Fringe Festival 2012. 


The festival took over most of the park for the day, with a large variety of dance, music and activities on offer. Big thanks to Friends of St. Ann's Well Gardens for helping to put together such a fine assortment for the Spring Festival.

So Was It Any Good?

+++ Family Variety +++

Kids and families were clearly worked into the equation from the start - there was plenty to keep young children and adult children happy all day. With a "Kid's Rave" playing hits from the likes of Michael Jackson, a skate park with a few ramps to show off your skillz, a play park complete with climbing frames, plus plenty of stalls with face painting and kids toys.

All of the performances in the festival were child-friendly too - plenty of bright colours and cheery sounds to keep the young ones entertained. This left parents free to take in the glorious sunshine and the fine food and drink that was available.

+++ A Big Song and Dance +++
The music and dance at the festival were all brilliant. The majority of the photos in this post are of the Brighton School of Samba, who danced and paraded around to a drum company's beats. Both the wonderfully-colourful dancing and the pounding drums were amazing - I couldn't get enough of their vibrant energetic performance which lit up the park for around half an hour. 




Towards the back of the park, there was a stage set up where several bands played. I was only able to stay and watch the band shown in the picture on the left - who had a slightly prog/rock sound that was very enjoyable. The singer had a nice voice too - except when she felt the need to scream wildly and flail around for a while. It seemed a bit noisy for the serene park atmosphere, but the rest of their set was good. To add to this, Brighton's resident dancing dude added some visuals to the music (see bottom picture).

+++ Stalls A-Plenty +++

The stalls and stands that dotted around the park were a credit as well. With foods ranging from falafel to waffles, from pakoras to pancakes, there was something for everyone. Veggies were catered for in the curries, stir fries, cakes and snacks - and meaties had some local cooked meats to be getting on with. 


On top of that were plenty of things to buy - arts and crafts, books, clothes, cosmetic and loads more - I didn't have enough money on me to get all the stuff I wanted!


Then there were stands set up for fitness and martial arts - with some demonstrations that you could get involved with if you fancied running an assault course or getting in the ring with a karate expert! I didn't try these myself (strangely enough) but it was great to see so much going on - and the public certainly seemed to love it too.

This dancing dude really rounded off the festival nicely.

Conclusions

The Spring Festival was a bright and fun
day out - made even better by the wonderful sunshine!


With so much going on, my only complaint would be that I didn't have the time or money to enjoy it all!


Can't wait until next year!

Feel free to post comments or contributions to improve the experience!
Any images in this review were taken by Brighton Games Trader.

Brighton Must-Sees [BRIGHTON FRINGE 2012]

JUST A QUICK RUNDOWN OF THREE COMEDY ACTS THAT WERE SHOWN FOR FREE AS PART OF THE BRIGHTON FRINGE.

Host - Dec Munro
The Thursday 17th performance was warmed up by Dec from Test Tube Comedy, who tried to get the audience in the right mood by informing us that the plan for the night was to "Say 'Hi', high five and then start with the public sex". As I turned up for this event with my mum and brother, you would imagine that this would lead to embarrassment. Thankfully, my family aren't too shocked by humorous insinuations of incest - so a bit of incestuous banter made the room chuckle uncomfortably. 


Dec got the audience is a cheeky, positive mood and made us feel engaged in proceedings - setting the stage for the first act to really knock us out, yeah? Hmmm...


Mike Sheer
The first act was a young Canadian guy who begun with more crude and controversial jokes to make the audience a little uncomfortable. These focused on hatred of Jewish people (the comedian describing himself as Jewish - and hating Jewish people too), jokes about Canadians and Americans and hints at darker jokes as well.


Sadly, the room didn't warm to these themes - I don't think anyone was happy laughing along too much about Jew hatred and the Canadian/American stuff was a little lost on us (is there some sort of tension there?).


The set wasn't helped by a Brightonian heckler with an Irish accent - so the comedian tried to make jokes based on his accent - to which the heckler kept knocking him back with "I'm from Brighton, you jack ass". Yeesh.


Nick Purves
The second comedian described himself as a boarding school kid and sported a very posh accent. Luckily, he was able to joke about his upbringing in a way that made the crowd laugh - his anecdote about a schoolyard disagreement over "Lord of the Flies" that turned to fisticuffs made the majority of the tough room giggle.


He managed to hold his own through the fifteen minute set, going through other events in his life in a lighthearted fashion - including overcoming his speech impediment which he described in humorous scenes which were very amusing to watch. A good performance. 


Sajeela Kershi
The final comedian was a woman who described herself as coming from a posh town in Surrey but was raised with Asian Muslim traditional values. Her humour was quite centred on issues surrounding the Islam faith, such as her dirty fantasies about Allah sucking on a pork sausage and her experiences as a child... with Elton John.


Sajeela was a confident and talented performer - she took charge of the room as she walked on and got plenty of laughs with her outrageous humour. Getting the audience involved too - she accused one gentleman of coming to her home town solely for dogging purposes. Niiiiice. 


She was possibly the most popular act of the show - providing laughs throughout and showing off her skills as a great comedy storyteller. Highly entertaining.

A nice sneak preview of some of the acts who have bigger shows during the Fringe - I'm not sure how many of the audience would have paid to go and see the full acts but they were certainly a good laugh in fifteen minute slots.

Feel free to post comments or contributions to improve the experience!

Eccentronic: We Won't Rock You [BRIGHTON FRINGE 2012]

CHEESY SPECTACULAR WITH 
BUNDLES OF CREATIVITY AND 
TONS OF GEEKY CHARM.


ALTHOUGH NOT THE HIGHEST QUALITY
PRODUCTION YOU'LL EVER SEE
THE ABSURD ENERGY CARRIED IT OFF.

This is John making and handing out cheese toasties during the show. Yes he did.

What's It All About Then?

Free comedy show held on Saturday 19th May at the Caroline of Brunswick pub as part of the Brighton Fringe Festival 2012. Eccentronic are made up of John Callaghan and Ms Hypnotique.


Described as "a zesty melee of electronic musical mash-ups and oddball humour" featuring songs about "...time-wasting, socks and visiting the Welsh town of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch".

They moved around so much that it was very difficult to get any decent photos of them!

So Is It Any Good?

+++ Geeky Thrills +++

This was an exceptionally geeky show - and that is meant as a MASSIVE compliment. Starring a guy who quotes one of his biggest influences as Timmy Mallett and a gal who rocks out in a corset playing the theremin, this show is a stadium-filling show-stopping musical masterpiece... condensed into an hour-long slightly-corny pub-back-room show.


Featuring musical nods to Queen (obvs), N.W.A., Electric Light Orchestra, Pet Shop Boys, Sisqo, Pulp and Black Lace - all worked into songs concerning cheffing, coming "Straight Outta Trumpton" and the overwhelming desire to make cheese toasties. Which they then did while on stage. And passed round to the audience. Totally awesome.


The song about the Welsh town - Llanfair-whatsit - was equally brilliant. While sounding like a gimmick, they did actually manage to write a chorus that featured the name broken up into chunks in a sort of Kraftwerk fashion (something like Llan, Llanfair, Llanfairpwyllgwyngyll etc.). To round that off, there was a Welsh guy in the audience who gave us a fluid demonstration of how the name sounds in the native accent - to a huge round of cheers from everyone else!

The subtitles for the song about that Welsh town - maybe as a prompt for the band?

+++ Fun-Filled Blitz +++

The show was energetic from start to finish - the performers "bigged themselves up" in such a humorous and bombastic fashion that the audience came round to them very quickly. They then broke into a song about frying that involved a frying pan to the face (nice!). Before the show was finished, there had been several costume changes, a variety of styles and instruments, an in-depth analysis of the workings of musical comedy and just the right level of audience participation so as to make it enjoyable inclusive.


They had down moments, the slow-tempo version of Thong Song played with a minuature hand barrel piano added a nice change in pace while still being hilariously funny. The last few songs were a middle class rap - with some very bad ("bad" bad - not "good" bad) street dance moves - and a audience-based version of Agadoo/Itsy-Bitsy-Teeny-Weeny-Yellow-Polka-Dot-Bikini that rounded off the evening well. 


We were then asked what final number we would like: a cleverly worded piece by John that artistically wraps up the show or a Queen-based number from Ms Hypnotique that has a grand-finale feel to it?


We actually went for the first one - obviously the audience was like me - they actually really got into the witty, geeky parody writing and wanted one last cheeky, cheesy tune to close things. It was indeed satisfactorily cheesy and it was fun to watch as they performed a fairly complicated canon piece...  fairly badly. We all laughed our socks off because of that though.

--- Slightly Quality Issues ---

So just to offer some constructive feedback on where I think it could have been improved - the volume in the room was a bit offset so that the electronic backing tracks often drowned out whatever jokes were being made by the performers. People near the front laughed a lot but maybe they could hear the performers directly. Further back you could hear faint mumbling and a lot of synth for some numbers. 


Another point is that some of the singing and theremin playing was a little too crap to be funny at points - big long notes wailed off-key and theremin floating loosely near the tune they were trying to emulate (so during one song I had to guess where we were in the tune because it was nowhere near). When they asked a member of the audience to try the theremin - and a randomer just fancied giving it a go - the noise produced was actually slightly better! Ah well, this may have been that on the tracks where Ms Hypnotique was playing the theremin that the speakers setup made it difficult to hear her part - but it was often distinctly wobbly at points.

The rap numbers were good... I think.... but very hard to hear.

Conclusions

This show was great fun -
 they cheated me out of my entry fee though:
they did, in fact, rock me.

The atmosphere was spot-on but perhaps the sound system could be improved upon. 

The show didn't take itself seriously and the guys just went all out to provide a jolly good laugh. Nice work.

Feel free to post comments or contributions to improve the experience!
Any images in this review are taken by Brighton Games Trader.

Special - Sunday, Monday, Happy Days - 20/05/12 [DAILY DOSE]

SUNDAY 20TH MAY 2012 - DAILY DOSE

Today's DAILY DOSE is a bit of an update on what's been going on recently and what is coming up very soon.

There's been so much going on that I've got plenty of stuff that I want to review, with virtually no time to actually review it all!


As mentioned in earlier posts, at this time of year in Brighton - where I currently live - the BRIGHTON FESTIVAL and BRIGHTON FRINGE take place. There are literally hundreds of acts taking place all across the city for the majority of May - so far I have seen: several bands, comedians and sketch acts, dance acts, circus skill performances and dramatic pieces... and there's loads left to come!


As this is a special time of year - and as I love to hype up this wonderful festival season - I am devoting the next week or two to mainly festival reviews. There won't be any daily doses for this coming week - as I just want to get reviews of these great contemporary acts posted.


I've still got plenty of game, TV and music reviews coming up too - so to make things easier I've got a rough schedule for the next few days here (more details to follow).


TODAY - 9PM ONWARDS
PUSH [FESTIVAL]
WE WON'T ROCK YOU [FRINGE]
JACK WHITE - BLUNDERBUSS [CD]


MONDAY 21ST - 8PM
TROLLEYS [FESTIVAL]
BRIGHTON MUST-SEES [FRINGE]


TUESDAY 22ND - 8PM
BARRICADE [FESTIVAL]
ST. ANN'S WELL GARDENS SPRING FESTIVAL


WEDNESDAY 23RD - 8PM
OTHER VARIOUS LITTLE ACTS


THURSDAY 24TH - 8PM
WORLD OF GOO [ANDROID]
RADIANT DEFENSE [ANDROID]
GAME OF THRONES - SERIES 1 [TV]
BRUNO MARS - DOO-WOPS AND HOOLIGANS [CD]

Feel free to post comments or contributions to improve the experience!