Edinburgh Fringe review: Axis Of Awesome, Vida Loca Las Vegas
Aussie musical trio Axis Of Awesome are full blown YouTube stars and they make no pretenses about where a good chunk of their audience is coming from – but their consistently excellent live shows have earned them a following away from the web.
Bursting on stage one by one to Katy Perry’s “Roar”, high fiving their way through the crowd, it’s clear that the boys love what they do and that the audience is in for a fun hour.
There is no shortage of bombast throughout the show in this great venue, which allows the Axis to put on their usual big effort and showcase despite this being a festival run.
Trios are a very difficult and delicate thing to get right, particularly in comedy, so as a musical comedy act the Axis really do deserve an immense amount of credit for their on-stage chemistry. The straight man role is shared around, as each member is able to flex their individuality and indulge in some brilliantly silly time in the limelight.
Sometimes the humour in the banter can be a bit repetitive and old hat, but as it’s only a bridge between each entertaining track, this is fairly innocuous. For the most part though it’s a treat to watch the three squabble, taunt and generally have fun with each other.
Material is equally distributed throughout the three, whereas the vocal talent is very much supplied by the lead Jordan backed up by keyboardist Benny. Lee’s involvement in songs is his stellar guitar playing and his excellent and well-timed comic relief.
As for the songs themselves, all the hits are here, if fans came for the YouTube track list, they got it. What they also got, was a great raft of new material, tackling subjects from the iPhone to an outstanding Game Of Thrones inspired effort.
The band’s musical ability is key to their success; so many parody artists and musical comedy attempts flop after their moment in the sun. Axis’ ability to write great music that is more than listenable and to merge songs and styles together effortlessly shines through.
This is brilliant fun and a treat for all comers. It’s a unique performance and one which will please long-time fans, casual YouTubers and new fans with fresh eyes and ears.
Date of live review: 8 August 2014 @ Gilded Balloon
