Banquet Room, Festival Theatre Adelaide
Standing room only. Well at least that's the effect that the producers were after when they virtually emptied the banquet room of it's cabaret style seating, leaving half the audience scrambling for the few remaining chairs scattered round the room. Sadly the opening number didn't relieve much of the anguish of finding a vantage point to enjoy the show, as the volume was excessively loud and distrortion made it impossible to decipher the lyrics and uncomfortable to hear.
Despite the start, the volume levels did improve occasionally and the French pop-rock style group soon had the audience swaying and hopping to their unique blend of music/noise. Instruments included cello, bongos, keyboard, guitar and percussion, as well as one interestingly popular song comprised mostly of kazoo and squeeling! The two lead female singers share most of the songs and softened up the audience with their sweet French accents in between. Fans of the band may have been dissapointed by the sound quality, but generally Nouvelle Vague seemed to be enjoyed by a majority.
Paul Rodda
