Camille O'Sullivan Dreaming Edinburgh Fringe 2022 August 4th Review
Camille O’ Sullivan Dreaming is at Underbelly, Bristo Square – Cowbarn (aka The Reid Concert Hall) and this new show at Edinburgh Festival Fringe is one that is obviously pleasing Camille as much to perform as the audience are enjoying her performance.
This evening show was sold-out, and that was good for many reasons, but perhaps none more so than that Camille, like many other performers, is at her best performing to a full venue. Having said that though, this show, in her own words, was an intimate one with her enjoying being back in front of a live audience and performing songs by artists/songwriters that she simply loves to sing, and unlike some of Camille’s shows that I have been to in the past, this was a fairly basic stage set up, Camille centre stage, and Feargal Murray on keyboards.
There is always with any show/performance by Camille O’ Sullivan that element of the unexpected, never quite knowing what is going to come next (and I don’t think even Camille knows sometimes), and that element of surprise (good or bad, it does not matter) is what always make any show so interesting for me. You also have to be prepared for the fact that, once you come in through the venue doors, you are entering Camille O’Sullivan’s own private world, and here she sets the rules. Whatever world you have just left outside for an hour, 90 minutes, or whatever is simply gone and if you were in any doubt about that, the pink neon heart and glowing yellow bunny rabbit on stage should have been a give-away sign.
Camille O’Sullivan is a unique performer, a unique interpreter of songs with the ability to turn them into whole story worlds, to make you believe that she is actually living those songs, somehow inhabiting their essence on stage. This of course means that any cover of any song by Camille is often going to be very different from the original, and by default that means that some people will love them, others though may have other feelings. For me, Camille O’Sullivan can do anything that she wants with a song as it often means that her very individual approach to singing and performing them finds something completely new in both the lyrics and the music, and tonight’s performance was no exception to this.
There is always this illusion (at least in part) of chaos at any show by Camille, but although the final performance is always something almost alive, always changing, a bit like improvised jazz, the core of everything is very structured, and it has to be to work so well on stage.
It seems that Camille and I share a love for words and a love for writers who can paint pictures with words, tell real stories, touch real emotions, and we also seem to share a love of writers/performers who can do this, so this new show featuring songs by David Bowie, Jacques Brel. Tom Waits, Nick Cave (and more) was perhaps the perfect show for me.
There were more than a few highlights here for me this evening, but top of that list were probably Camille’s interpretations of “Rock n Roll Suicide” (David Bowie), “Port of Amsterdam” (Jacques Brel), Martha (Tom Waits) , “Famous Blue Raincoat” (Leonard Cohen) and “The Ship Song” (Nick Cave).
The set list for this show appears to be one with ever-changing surprises as Camille just has so many different songs that she wants to sing, and they are not all going to fit into one show.
Review by Tom King © 2022
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
This evening show was sold-out, and that was good for many reasons, but perhaps none more so than that Camille, like many other performers, is at her best performing to a full venue. Having said that though, this show, in her own words, was an intimate one with her enjoying being back in front of a live audience and performing songs by artists/songwriters that she simply loves to sing, and unlike some of Camille’s shows that I have been to in the past, this was a fairly basic stage set up, Camille centre stage, and Feargal Murray on keyboards.
There is always with any show/performance by Camille O’ Sullivan that element of the unexpected, never quite knowing what is going to come next (and I don’t think even Camille knows sometimes), and that element of surprise (good or bad, it does not matter) is what always make any show so interesting for me. You also have to be prepared for the fact that, once you come in through the venue doors, you are entering Camille O’Sullivan’s own private world, and here she sets the rules. Whatever world you have just left outside for an hour, 90 minutes, or whatever is simply gone and if you were in any doubt about that, the pink neon heart and glowing yellow bunny rabbit on stage should have been a give-away sign.
Camille O’Sullivan is a unique performer, a unique interpreter of songs with the ability to turn them into whole story worlds, to make you believe that she is actually living those songs, somehow inhabiting their essence on stage. This of course means that any cover of any song by Camille is often going to be very different from the original, and by default that means that some people will love them, others though may have other feelings. For me, Camille O’Sullivan can do anything that she wants with a song as it often means that her very individual approach to singing and performing them finds something completely new in both the lyrics and the music, and tonight’s performance was no exception to this.
There is always this illusion (at least in part) of chaos at any show by Camille, but although the final performance is always something almost alive, always changing, a bit like improvised jazz, the core of everything is very structured, and it has to be to work so well on stage.
It seems that Camille and I share a love for words and a love for writers who can paint pictures with words, tell real stories, touch real emotions, and we also seem to share a love of writers/performers who can do this, so this new show featuring songs by David Bowie, Jacques Brel. Tom Waits, Nick Cave (and more) was perhaps the perfect show for me.
There were more than a few highlights here for me this evening, but top of that list were probably Camille’s interpretations of “Rock n Roll Suicide” (David Bowie), “Port of Amsterdam” (Jacques Brel), Martha (Tom Waits) , “Famous Blue Raincoat” (Leonard Cohen) and “The Ship Song” (Nick Cave).
The set list for this show appears to be one with ever-changing surprises as Camille just has so many different songs that she wants to sing, and they are not all going to fit into one show.
Review by Tom King © 2022
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com