All good modern day festivals mark their beginning with a an opening celebration or party. This is something that Australia does well with our production crews and choreographers coordinating Olympic/Commonwealth Games openings the world over.
Perhaps playing it all a bit low key in comparison, the closest Adelaide Fringe got to a flying tram was postponement of protests regarding the extension of the tram line along King William Road just long enough to seriously party.
There was no inexplicable sighting of a duck either, though there was a large paper mache flying pig. Reflecting the Chinese year of the golden pig, and the thought that the Adelaide Fringe would ever become an annual event seemed as likely as pigs flying, the pig is the logo for this year’s event.
Complete with seemingly endless alcohol and food for all tastes. Many people came dressed to party; sure some were wearing nothing more than a motorcycle helmet and a pair of underpants, while others chose to don nappies or outrageous wigs and then there were the performers out to promote their forthcoming shoes.
Conscious that seating might be at a premium with such large crowds expected one couple fashioned their own furniture by combining lounge chairs and shopping trolleys.
Thinking back to when I was a kid this was missing a few things. To start with there was no fairy bread or pass the parcel, and they call it a party. Then there was the absence of someone crying inconsolably because “Life is unfair and I hate you all”. Sure there was a number of people kissing in the Garden, though unlike when we were kids the kisses were not quick and they were not hiding in order to keep it a secret. In fact it was the exact opposite – very public and very long…and slow…and wet… and did not necessarily stop with just kissing. I did not realise a tongue could get that far down another person’s throat.
Fireworks were used to mark the official opening of the Adelaide Fringe, unlike the opening of an Olympic Games or the commencement of a new year the fireworks were more like a pocket full of party poppers. Don’t get me wrong, they definitely punctuated the celebrations but people were not likely to be sitting up late at night or in the wee hours of the morning all around the world to watch.
The fireworks were late enough, and the crowd was happy and drunk enough that it didn’t really matter. To be honest they could have got away with a guy yelling “boom” into a microphone whiles he waved a sparkler in the air and it would have elicited the same result.
The Adelaide Fringe has finally cut the apron strings of its mother The Adelaide Festival and with its curfew finally lifted anything is possible.
The 2007 Adelaide Fringe runs until March 31st