Whimsical Tricycle - Around The World In 80 Hours

PJ O'Brien's Irish Pub
Tues 13 March
until Sat 31 March


Folk music is a genre that can be kind of hard to describe; you just kind of know it when you hear it. But if there's one feature that is undoubtedly essential, it's having a sense of empathy with the performers, of caring about the music that is so often based on their own life experiences. With Whimsical Tricycle, a duo consisting of guitarist and songwriter Kieran Butler and violinist Michelle Wilson, this is not hard. From the moment they get on stage, you feel like getting to know them better.

The show consists of a series of very personal songs detailing chapters from the lives of the recently married pair, both good and bad. Each song is prefaced with a little story about how it came to be. Butler does most of the talking, and this is just fine; he has a gentle larrikin persona that comes across very well, and frankly his jokes and asides are better than the material of a few of the comedians I've seen so far.

The songs themselves sound, well, pretty much like a guitar and a violin played very well. The lyrics are a little on the simplistic, rhyming ditty side, but no worse for that. They sound like the perfect thing to listen to on a long drive, or to have on for a quiet night at home. This duo are certainly whimsical, though I won't spoil the story of why the show's called 'Around The World In 80 Hours'. Set in the very charming upstairs room of PJ O'Brien's, this act is something a little different at the Fringe and definitely well worth your time.

Henry Nicholls