03Apr2006

Review: Fest

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“Bass play­ers are ten a penny, but a good wit is hard to find”, David Gilmour has said of Grammy Award win­ning Guy Pratt, and what’s true of bass play­ers is dou­bly so for Fringe com­edy shows. So thank God Pratt’s taken time out from his duties with Bryan Ferry, the world’s smoothest Geordie, to regale us with his life as a sought after musi­cian in My Bass and Other Animals. It’s a tricky bal­ance to strike, shar­ing anec­dotes about David Bowie and Michael Jackson with­out sound­ing like a smug toss­rope. Luckily for us Pratt doesn’t even get close, com­ing across as the world’s coolest uncle, his deliv­ery warm and assured, if lack­ing the final pol­ish of vet­eran stand-ups. He has every rea­son to brag, he’s seen some pretty out-of-hand stuff over the past quar­ter cen­tury. As if that wasn’t enough he has an effort­less skill with the bass that leaves the audi­ence with no choice but to clap wildly after every mini-per­for­mance he treats us to. Sure, com­edy aimed squarely at the Q crowd is never going to change the world, but how often do you get to hear a first-hand tales about Madonna’s idea of a wake-up call (“Time is money and the money is mine!”) the hered­i­tary insan­ity of the Womack soul clan, song­writ­ing with Jimmy Nail (the world’s sec­ond smoothest Geordie), or Michael Jackson’s unortho­dox approach to audi­tion­ing prospec­tive band mem­bers? What’s truly refresh­ing is that Pratt is no music snob, at home with the finest in disco and funk as much as his more “seri­ous” gigs with the likes of Pink Floyd and Roxy Music. He clearly loves his work, his boy­ish enthu­si­asm endear­ing and infec­tious. Ultimately a fas­ci­nat­ing glimpse behind the rock n’roll cur­tain, rather than a hour of full-on funny, this is undoubt­edly an hour well spent for most, if a lit­tle incom­pre­hen­si­ble to cer­tain age groups. If you don’t know your Duran Duran from your Steely Dan, you might be in a wee bit of a pickle. For every­one else, get your­selves front row tick­ets to the cosiest sta­dium show in town.

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