There’s nothing unusual these days about groups re-forming and touring with old material to bathe their fans in some sweet nostalgia. Doug Anthony All Stars (DAAS) have re-formed and are touring again but sweetness is not on the menu.
Old troupers may prefer to be viewed through the soft gauze of memory, trying to resemble their old selves but this lot relish in pointing up their acquired flaws and foibles with fantastic in- yer- face Aussie panache.
“Did Take That have an accident?” Original band member Tim Ferguson now has Multiple Sclerosis (“Why stop at one?” he asks) and sits on stage in a wheelchair, still in fine voice for the range of songs that he and front man the lippy ‘silver fox’ Paul Mcdermott perform.
Ferguson has the role of the Knowledge College where he randomly doles out facts like ‘people who wear purple have more than one cat’ and without a trace of being maudlin manages to remind us that ultimately we are but ‘buckets of ash’. And who better to remind us to “F*** the Fade out” than a man undeluded about his own mortality.
Leave your knee-jerk liberalism at the door as political correctness flies out the window faster than a bullet train leaves Tokyo in this gloriously rude, crude show that’s filled with crazy irreverence that is above all absolutely hilarious. DAAS are less ‘boundary riding’ and more boundary bounding.
Examples of DAAS artwork from 1989–1995 form a slide show before the opening bars of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ I Put a Spell on You herald comedian and new third part of this unholy trinity, Paul 'Flacco' Livingston, complete with painted curl on his bald pate, doing a ‘free’ comedy turn before the main event.
And what a warm up! He sets the tone, making up for his silence across the rest of the no holds barred show that naturally hurls a few well aimed swipes at their fellow countryman, Rolf Harris.
So what gives DAAS license to joke about a man in a wheelchair; about ageing; dyslexia; drugs; beyond the pale sex acts; porn; bestiality; to sing songs about Ebola, torture and guns? Answer? Shrewd intelligence and immense talent that DAAS have by the ton.
There are a few false ends to this unforgettable show but best was the brilliant and poignant co-ordination with their younger selves on screen singing a ‘farewell’ song. But mercifully, “The All Stars have returned!” And thank f*** for that!
Fringe run ended but followed by a five night run at London’s Soho Theatre in the Main Room starting on 16th August.