We had a very special evening indeed last night, in the company of the fantabulosa
Fascinating Aida.
These ladies - founder Dillie Keane and almost-founder member Adele Anderson, appearing in this penultimate show in their London run with another excellent newcomer Sarah Louise Young (there have been several "third ladies" over the
almost 29 years of the group's existence) - have always been firm favourites here at Dolores Delargo Towers, and I personally have been dying to see them live for years. And here they were at last, in all their glory (well almost, as Dillie was suffering rather badly with a streaming cold)!
I
raved about the ladies' Silver Jubilee album back in 2009, and many of the songs from that particular album were featured, including (of course) their massive YouTube hits the hilarious
Cheap Flights (
"It's gone fungal." "I think you mean vinyl.") and
Dogging:
As we know,
Fascinating Aida leave no target unmauled in their satirical ditties, and from the opening number
CUNTS (Companies Using Nifty Taxation Systems), through
One True Religion (Is Me) (taking a pop at the Tantric/Feng Shui/mysticism-choosing middle classes), a song about using an orang-utan as a surrogate mother, and a beautiful ballad about taking your mum to Dignitas, to the excoriating finale of
Jesus Saves, But Tesco Saves You More, they certainly kept up the pressure.
"Fascinating Aida are operatic and jazz-trained female singers who out-satirise Rory Bremner and out-beguile Eartha Kitt. It's as though they're the love children of Freddie Mercury and Dawn French. Is that possible? Impossibly good is what it is."
Ken Russell
The true success of the girls' satire is of course the fact it is delivered with the finest harmonies and musicality. All three have an excellent vocal range and dexterity, admirably demonstrated in the very poignant (and surprisingly serious) ballad
Goodbye Old Friends, Adele's solo on her paean to a threesome relationship
Mr and Mrs and Me, and Sarah-Louise's own composition
One Night Stand.
Perhaps the most bizarrely hilarious moment of the whole evening was "P Dillie" and "da crew" half-rapping and dancing to their take on modern urban music,
Down With The Kids. We particularly loved their hilarious
Bulgarian Song Cycles (each taking a sideswipe at subjects as diverse as Paul McCartney’s marriages, Jeremy Clarkson, Tony Blair and Cheryl Cole).
With a back-catalogue such as theirs, the show would not have been complete without at least one number from their early days. I can't deny I was a tad disappointed it wasn't our house favourite
Sew On A Sequin, but they did a fantastic job on the classic
Lieder:
And, with two curtain calls including a section where the girls gave answers to all the predicted questions they always get asked, it was over...
An excellent show to start the season!
Fascinating Aida