AHHHHHHHHH! So I have surfaced from my pit finally in order to keep you all updated on last night’s festival shenanigans. Dinnae say I’m no good to you!
Spangled Cabaret kicked off the festival in chaotic style last night and I have to say, it was a good ‘un! Possibly the best Spangled so far, if I may be so bold to say so.
The Rio Café on Hyndland Street was packed as we watched Spangled regulars Miss Leggy Pee and the Creative Martyrs, Marquee de Saw & Bert Finkle (videos below) as well as wee Dolly Tartan (making her Spangled Cabaret debut). We were also treated to Festival Director Louise “Over-achiever” Oliver (Hi Lou! x) being frankly bullied into going onstage to say a few words about the festival. She was utterly charming and fabulous of course… and yes she’s my boss so I have to say that. But I mean it too. Comes from the heart, y’know?
ANYWAY, back to the show. This Spangled Cabaret introduced me to Das Kaputte Kabarett who performed some alternative versions of ‘Cabaret’, ‘Wilkomen’ and ‘There’s A Light’ (from Rocky Horror). Oh and ‘Gimme, Gimme, Gimme (A Man After Midnight)’ by ABBA. Here’s a wee video of the latter:
My personal highlight and the act which brought the whole place to its feet was Frisky & Mannish. I have never seen them live before but I am thrilled to say I’ll get to see them a bit more this week because they are nothing short of cabaret genius! With their clever re-workings of well-known songs scattered with popular culture references, they had everyone in hysterics. An absolute hoot, I could watch them for days!
Lucky for those of you reading this who weren’t there, I filmed their set. It’s fuzzy and dark but you mostly need to hear them to appreciate them. There’s more on the Glasgow Cabaret Festival YouTube account but to get you started, here’s their take on lovesongs:
Hilarity over, our booth – consisting of Team GCF Chris Gorman, Frodo McDaniel, Louise Oliver, Dolly Tartan, Parma Violet (an honorary member as she’s more Team Candy Box) and myself – got back to the important business of posing for ludicrous photographs. The fruits of our labour can be seen below.
The next blog will be on The Picture of Dusty Limits (limited tickets still available folks!) which I’m looking forward to tonight.
‘Til tomorrow…!
