| 27 August 2009
Spaces @ The Radisson
10-29 August, 21.45
Watching Otway and Barrett feels like you have traveled back in time, and taken a deep breath of fresh air. They belong to an era of entertainment which embraced unkempt, rough around the edges amateurism over the airbrushed clones that currently dominate the music industry.
Looking like a couple of old boys that have stumbled out of a village beer festival, this "parody folk group" have been together forever, and the wonderful rapport between the two men, rather than the music itself, is the foundation for the show's success.
Otway's boyish enthusiasm is constantly and hilariously quashed by the deadpan putdowns of Barrett, who describes their sound as "uniquely horrible". He's not far off.
The music is awful, since Barrett’s accomplished guitar playing is not nearly enough to drown out Otway's tone-deaf voice. But the show wouldn't be half as much fun if Otway was anything less than a total shambles. In one of the comic interludes between songs, he informs us that even his own mother tried desperately to stop him from joining a band, so concerned was she by his lack of talent.
Yet he refused to be cowed by such pessimism, and proudly announces to the audience that he and Barrett "have now been pop stars for thirty years", before proceeding to reminisce about all the "hits" they enjoyed earlier in their career. This is all clearly complete nonsense, but the mock insistence with which Otway tells it makes you admire his underdog character all the more.
In among the punk parodies (played with acoustic guitar), and the sight of Otway jumping around like a demented Mick Jagger, there is also some very successful music, most notably when the two use the entire poem "The Highwayman" to provide lyrics for one of their songs.
Otway and Barrett are both wonderful characters, and their ability to share their personalities with the audience is what makes this show memorable. Just not "the hits", unfortunately.
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