Sal Valentine and the Babyshakes
Central Lakes Trust Crystal Palace Tuesday, April 4
Tell Me My Name
Central Lakes Trust Crystal Palace
How to Keep An Alien
Lake Wanaka Centre Wednesday, April 5
REVIEWED BY: NIGEL ZEGA
In the dim, dark ages before digital devices, even before television, families and friends played parlour games like charades and spin the bottle, and tested each other with perplexing riddles.
As with many things, the answers were always blindingly obvious only when you knew them.
So the audience at the premiere of Tell Me My Name at the Crystal Palace was given a choice. They could listen to Bill Manhire's sung riddles with or without the answers in front of them.
Either way, Hannah Griffin's gloriously clear delivery, supported by pianist and composer Norman Meehan and violinist Martin Riseley, was a perfect vehicle for Manhire's sublime skills with word pictures and rhythms, hinting at clues but leaving listeners guessing.
Hauntingly beautiful melodies made for a marvellous meld of music and musing - an exquisite festival gem.
At the Lake Wanaka Centre, Sonya Kelly faced a riddle without an easy answer: How do you prove you're in love?
How to Keep An Alien is her laugh-out-loud love story of trying to get a visa for her Australian partner Kate to join her in Ireland.
Kelly's a born comic story-teller with perfect timing, and most of her hilarious show is non-stop one-liners mixed with magical business, aided and abetted by Paul Curley.
It's refreshingly original and a real tear-jerker - but they're almost all tears of laughter.
Don't miss How to Keep An Alien.
The previous night saw the Palace sold out for the fun and funky Sal Valentine and the Babyshakes.
Four fine horn players, three versatile vocalists, a rock solid rhythm section and keyboardist packed the stage for a driving, jazzed-up performance full of energy and infectious enthusiasm.
The band knows when to free its strong soloists to innovate, when to slow things down and when to build them back up, and when to kick off the shoes and get the crowd dancing.
Big sound, big impact.
