With weird and wacky performers and a whole lot of (hopefully sustainable!) confetti, this event is sure to become a Brisbane institution.
'One Trick Pony Club' is The Tivoli What’s Golden’s brand-spanking-new bi-monthly event. It’s kind of like an open mic night, except for a wider range of acts. No tickets are needed, just the ability to line up for quite a long time because, if this opening night is anything to go by, 'One Trick Pony Club' is going to be very, very popular.
For its first showcase, 'One Trick Pony Club' had circus performers, sketch artists, comedy singers, ensemble dancers and salsa. The atmosphere was really lovely, it was very casual and almost celebratory. It was standing room only, but the front half of the audience ended up sitting cross-legged on the floor, cradling their drinks. It was almost like talent night at the coolest summer camp ever. People were very supportive and really wanted to enjoy the show. And enjoy it we did.
The first cab off the ranks was an ensemble dance performance, capturing the constantly changing stages of COVID panic we’ve all felt this year. In between the songs narrating 2020 were little voice clips of, for example, Annastacia Palaszczuk putting Queensland into lockdown. It was unclear if the dancers were all professionals, or if some of the better ones had roped in their mates, so it almost had a flash-mob feel. They were absolutely brilliant, ending on 'Praise You' by Fatboy Slim. The audience loved them.
Another dancing highlight was a Rio Rhythmics couple from Brazil who burned up the dancefloor with some amazing Latin moves, and another adored performer sang that all she wanted for Christmas was food, to the tune of the Mariah Carey classic. The show’s pianist got all us Gen Xers dancing and yelling with the Proclaimers’ “I would walk 500 miles” and a dude with a salmon on his head got the audience participating in the strangest absurdist set to ever hit The Tivoli. He and the woman who could spin 50 hula hoops around herself were both hits. There was only one weak performance, a skit show that had the audience cringing. As the MCs said at the time “boys’ private schools have a lot to answer for”.
'One Trick Pony Club' is set to be bi-monthly, and is well worth checking out with your mates. It’s a super fun night, with a real community feel. It feels like what the arts scene in Brisbane needs right now, so get out and support this new batch of up-and-comers.
