What a man. What a mighty good man! What a great way to spend the Australia Day evening. While Elder Park in central Adelaide teams with some 16,000+ spectators just beyond the theatre doors, Adam Page bounds onto stage in The Space Theatre at Adelaide Festival Centre. He begins his hour-and-a half show with little preamble. A short introduction then straight into assembling a track, one instrument at a time, in front of an eager, (satisfyingly large) Saturday night crowd.
Page adds drums, electric piano, saxophone, beat-boxing and mini-electric guitar samples, layering the concoction until a soundscape emerges as rich and as full as if he is accompanied by a tight five-piece. Magical? Yes and it’s all in the hands of just one talented musician, his well-honed sense of timing, one SM58 vocal microphone, and foot-operated loop and effects pedal units.
Throughout his set, Page demonstrates his formidable improvisational musical talents and sprinkles the in-between moments with signature, self depreciating banter. Sweaty, bald, slightly pudgy and with the slogan of his New Zealand-branded t-shirt obscured by a long, wispy, two-tone beard, he’s humble, honest, and good with the crowd, while his mesmeric music-making speaks for itself. Volumes.
For a mostly off-the-cuff show this is top-class. Page himself professes to be from the Beat movement and it’s hard to explain his style on paper, save for the fact that it’s highly entertaining. Every time he makes music it’s like watching a cooking show; one where only some of the ingredients come pre-prepared and, as the end result emerges, the audience is left marvelling whether it resembles anything like what the ‘chef’ intended.
Page’s delivery encourages the audience to engage, at times to heckle, and become gradually more responsive. This reviewer took great delight in stealing glances at the interested crowd. As the show progresses we are explored, made to feel intimate with each other and the performance. It’s a rare treat.
Calling for genre suggestions from the audience at one point, Page assembles a track of ‘disco, dub-step and slide-guitar’ all rolled into one. It’s not pretty but it is impressive. A testament to his knowledge of many musical styles.
As if beat-boxing and playing a menagerie of instruments aren’t enough, Page gets delightfully distracted mid-improvisation and launches into a mash-up comprised of well-known power ballads from the musical Les Miserablés(‘Sorry, I saw Les Mis last week…’) replete with rousing multi-vocal choral accompaniment. This reviewer was in stitches.
Barrelling on, our host whips out a two-tone flute, introducing the unusual instrument for its Australian debut. Custom made by flute maker Todd Chaplain in New Zealand (the Adelaide-born artist’s new adopted home) this magic piece of wood can be made to create esoteric, ethereal melodies capable of arousing goosebumps – in the right hands of course – with lashings of loop pedal.
Page ends his set on a serious note (pun intended); an instrumental saxophone rendition of a song he describes as one of the ‘prettiest songs ever written,’ Radiohead’s ‘High and Dry’. It’s melancholic, moody and downright good. Before leaving the stage, Page thanks us, his audience, and the Sessions program, part of the Adelaide Festival Centre’s summer music season. It’s a program focused on delivering live music from local and international touring bands ‘in a relaxed club atmosphere’ and the reason Adam Page is performing in Adelaide once again.
Bring it on.
Rating: 4 ½ stars out of 5
Adam Page
Sessions 2013
The Space Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre
26 January
