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Gud Paul McDermott, Cameron Bruce & Mick Moriarty Nova Cinema 2 Until Sun 14 March Gud are good. It's that simple. A mix of songs, entertaining on-stage banter and towering stage presence, Gud had the potential to be self-indulgent twaddle but the sheer energy of the performances and the wit involved easily overcame my initial reservations. By the end of the show - an incredibly tight medley of popular songs outlining the entire Iraq crisis - the entire audience (bar the girls swilling the Bailey's Minis) was hankering for some more. Paul McDermott (ex DAAS and Good News Week) was the tight suited front man about town, Cameron Bruce, keyboards (Dave McCormack & The Polaroids) played between laps of the audience and spewing trenchant criticisms and one-liners while Mick Moriarty (The Gadflys) was relegated to the role of stoner guitar God. They were tight, they fed off each other brilliantly and they had fun that, seemingly effortlessly, had the audience in the palm of their collective hand. Harmonies were strong and the sound was generally good, except for Moriarty who was a tad muffled at times. The show followed the format of a cabaret; big introductions and a fair bit of on-stage preening with seemingly classic tunes belted out with enthusiasm, audience participation and irreverence. They are clearly unafraid of improvisation and seemed often to makes things up to suit the night and the audience - Bruce proved to be quite a master of the enjoyable rude ditty. The non-stop movement reinforced the cabaret nature of the show with dancing (sleazy gyrating then) from McDermott and Bruce adding another level to an already fun filled show. Song titles included Free The Sheep, "even Nelson Mandela got his own cell" and Stand By Saddam giving an indication that no subject was too precious to satirise or parody. If there was a disappointment it was that they failed to introduce the songs even after often lengthy but amusing background to the tune. The songs themselves are jam-packed with comic goodness and pointed social comment. They claimed that we were about to witness Solid Gud, and for once the advertising proved spot-on. I enjoyed it immensely. |
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