Today I was on my way in to Fringe Central for a Welcome reception to people who donated money to the Fringe to ensure that art happens and then keeps happening (if you do this, like me, you are known as a "Friend of the Fringe" and that entitles you to disregard any altruism you may have and get discounted tickets which is, in itself, awesome) BUT before I could get there, I noticed a great number of people wearing Scotland rugby jumpers who looked too old to still be part of the University debating team (ever notice that? how uni types, often girls, wear rugby jumpers but have never played rugby or been to a game ever? yeah its weird that) were congregating in large numbers on the road near Murrayfield Stadium. As it turns out there was about to be a game of rugby between Scotland & Ireland, just like that, casual as you like. Because that kind of stuff happens over here all the time. So, with a couple of hours up my sleeve, I went and got myself a ticket. And some chips and gravy. And two bottles of cider. And a Scotland Rugby jersey. Because I can, that's why. And then throughout the course of the game, I drank two more bottles of cider and a can of the Famous Grouse. And then the traffic was so bad getting into the city after the game that I missed to Welcome thing altogether, which was probably a good thing or they would have thought I was a drunken rugby fan wandering in lost off the streets. Ah well.
I was actually more interested in seeing the next show on my list, which was a stand-up show called "Laugh or Your Money Back" that is part of the Free Fringe program. Playing to a very mixed crowd (ages and ethnicities varied), young Aussie Bonnie Davies tells us some tales of her life, about who she is and why she likes being "not dead" (as opposed to being "alive"). The show moves along swiftly and with lots of good laughs, with Bonnie taking in anything the crowd has to offer (which was frequent) and using it smartly. The show ends with a nice bit which includes the crowd selecting a crumpled piece of paper from a bowl that has a word on it that Bonnie then uses to do her next minute or so of material about, which works really well. There was a lot of good stuff to mention in the show but two bits that stand out for me were a bit about Skippy and a love letter to Google. A bargain at twice the price.
Next up (after a visit to the pub where I got called a "light-weight in the drinking department") I went to see the show I was looking forward to the most out of the whole festival - Deanne Smith's "The Best Deanne Smith Deanne Smith Can Be". This is one slick chick, I have read awesome things about her shows and they're all true. The show is hilarious, clever and is just so sharply executed I'm sorry I didn't see it in Melbourne earlier this year. She also uses the crowd well and last night unearthed some gold from a girl who said she had both a male AND a female partner - you could see Smith's eyes light up as the super-quick brain behind them fired into action. Her songs were a highlight for me as was a gag about an unborn child signing a greeting card. There aren't many stand-ups I will see twice doing the same show at the same festival but Deanne Smith is one of them.
The last show of the night had me standing in a very long line outside in the rain, chatting with a couple of Londoners about the shows I had seen that were worth seeing (this is actually how Festival works - word of mouth) while we waited to go in for the Axis of Awesome. They were only up from London for the weekend and were going from show to show seeing whatever was going but had actually booked this show in advance based on the "4 Chord Song" and other peoples recommendations. They wouldn't have been disappointed (actually they weren't, I ran into the guy in the toilets afterwards and he said they were great), the Axis put on a cracking, high energy show full of smart, funny songs and light banter where they get to pick on their keyboard player, Benny. The 4 Chord Song was a highlight and the song they did as an encore was great too, but the Boy-Band Song is a work of musical comedy genius and worth the price of admission alone.
An awesome day all round.
Daily Show Count : 3
Total Shows Seen: 12
Games of Rugby happened upon: 1
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