Reggie Watts @ The GovernorHindmarsh, Adelaide (17/05/09)

Tue 19th May, 2009 in Gig Reviews

CHECK OUT ALL THE PHOTOS HERE.

One loop machine, a wide vocal range, absurd comedy, diverse characters, and a big head of hair: this defines the talent of American Reggie Watts that Adelaide was treated to on Sunday night.

Adelaide’s leading facial hair focused rock band The Beards took to the stage for a short set to warm up the crowd on this particularly cool May night. The hirsute four-piece opened with their feel-good anthem Born with a Beard. The crowd was significantly smaller than their final fundraiser gig at Jive for their trip to Alaska to play the opening night concert for the 2009 Beard and Moustache Championships, which they have now travelled to at the time this is published. They finished with crowd favourite If your Dad doesn’t have a beard; You’ve got two Mums before passing over the gig reins to bearded counterpart Reggie Watts.

Reggie Watts entered the stage to a booming introduction from Johann Beardraven from The Beards. The crowd’s small size was disappointing after Watts’ sellout season during the Sydney Festival earlier in the year. His appearance on the stage was met with no real fanfare and he got straight into his unique storytelling ramblings before humorously checking that all the cords were in the right spots. Reggie Watts is a one of a kind performer as he blends stand up comedy and improvised music in diverse styles. Reggie’s music was produced by the use of his wonderful voice, layering his ten-octave range of singing and beat-boxing with a loop machine to create quick catchy tunes. He occasionally complemented his masterful voice with quick fingers on a grand piano.

A skilled impersonator, Watts presented the first of many characters as a science professor starting a lecture about physics, accompanied by an astronomy based backdrop. Other characters that appeared during the set included a high-pitched gossiping female, a BBC reporter, and a perfect imitation of Bill Crosby.

A Reggie Watts concert is certainly unpredictable as he uses musical improvisation and comedy to weave through varied subject matter. During this Gov performance Reggie’s absurd ramblings dabbled into such diverse subjects as science, gaming culture, the end of the world, politics, why women wear man-style underwear, and global warming, whilst weaving in as many mispronounced Australian references as possible. The general consensus of the crowd was awe and amazement as Reggie led the audience on wildly swinging tangents. The only downside with Reggie’s performance style is that some of the jokes can be missed due to the fast pace and his sometimes hard to hear deep voice. The highlights of the almost 2 hour long set were a ballad performed on piano entitled acapella, and a hilarious hip-hop song that incited the audience to shout along to the chorus of f**k s**t stack. Reggie Watts is a performer with the perfect blend of comedy and improvised music that leaves him in a league all of his own. Catch him if you can!

CHECK OUT ALL THE PHOTOS HERE.