For my first Festival show this year, I entered the world of V.I.P, a musical trio who perform high energy songs with plenty of jumping around the stage. Each member has an alter-ego which they play on stage. This is all explained to the audience in their theme song which opens the show. Paul plays the part of “Vanity” who’s a pretty boy completely obsessed with himself, Simon plays the part of “Insanity”- the hyperactive guy and Naomi is “Profanity”- the potentially violent one. They maintain these personas during the show and the interaction between them is highly entertaining.
They are an extremely tight musical trio. The majority of the songs were accompanied by only Paul’s guitar playing, but for some of the slower numbers, Naomi got behind the keyboard. They took turns singing verses for most of the songs with the other two joining in for the almost “footy chant” chorus.
The songs themselves mainly covered topics of societal issues and popular culture. We were treated to songs about giving mobile phones to the homeless, David Hasselhoff (complete with an audience sing a long) and Simon’s psychotic imaginary friend. There was also a mini Rock Opera about the Church, the State and the Judiciary. They were able the avoid the potential of some of their tunes becoming one joke songs by adding a slightly unexpected twist at the end. The verses were packed full of info which were delivered at quite a rapid pace, so you needed to pay attention if you were to catch all the jokes.
There’s no mistaking that this trio are heavily influenced by The Doug Anthony Allstars. They have a similar faux anarchic attitude, the “Paul McDermott high kick punctuation” and even have fantastic hand painted jackets. It’s almost like being back at the National Theatre in the late ‘80s! It’s good to see that the tradition of chaotic (only in appearance but still in complete control) musical performance is continued by this talented trio.
For booking details go to VIP