Adam Page – Chairman Of The Beard: Looping Good Fun at Royal Croquet Club – Adelaide Fringe Review

Royal Croquet Club - Ukiyo, Wed 24 Feb Adam Page is a master at using loop pedals to create fast-paced and zany entertainment. Loop pedals have become an increasingly popular way for solo music acts in particular to layer their sound. But some take too long to get it all happening. Not so Adam Page! Page takes the tiniest of phrases from a table full of percussive instruments, from guitar, bass and keyboards, and somehow mashes it all quickly into a coherent stew full of infectious beats. His secret weapon is an enormous sense of fun! Highly improvised, the success of each piece depends on where he draws inspiration from in the moment. Often it comes from someone in the audience, with mixed degrees of success. The masterstroke of this evening, given that he has called the show Chairman Of The Beard, is to have a viola player from the ASO, who happens to be in the audience, play his beard with a bow. He picks someone from the audience, asks their name, and turns the name into a riff on the loop pedal. So the formula may be there, but the result will clearly be different every night. There is a serious moment as Adam uses the loop pedal to accompany himself on a soulful saxophone rendition of Radiohead’s High And Dry; a reminder that Page is first and foremost an outstanding musician. But this breaks the flow of the show, and Page has a stand-up comic’s ability to gauge an audience and know how to keep things moving. The end result may not turn out to be memorable art, and you probably wouldn’t want a CD, but if you want your evening to include an hour of fun and improvised mayhem the Chairman Of The Beard comes highly recommended. Suitable and appealing to all ages. Adrian Miller Adam Page - Chairman Of The Beard continues at Royal Croquet Club - Ukiyo from 8pm until Sun 6 Mar. Book at FringeTIX on 1300 621 255 or adelaidefringe.com.au. Click HERE to purchase your tickets.