JASON COLLETT, MARGARET ATWOOD WITH THE SADIES, RAE SPOON, TABATHA SOUTHEY, OPERATION SNATCH, LOWELL, ANNE WALDMAN WITH AROARA and REGINA THE GENTLELADY at Adelaide Hall, Thursday, December 19. Rating: NNN
Seven years into hosting his annual Basement Revue series each December, local troubadour Jason Collett is just as known for curating the variety show as for his own songs. And for good reason – the shows, featuring music, readings, and performance art, have become a local holiday indie-scene tradition thanks to their diverse surprise roster of guests.
Moving to Adelaide Hall Thursday night for a bigger show than its usual set at the intimate Dakota Tavern, the Revue still managed to offer up some genuine “you had to be there” moments amidst its now-familiar formula.
An affable and charming emcee, Collett kicked things off by recalling one of last year’s highlights: “After we had Ondaatje and Feist on the same stage, where do we go from there?” Well, you get one of the city’s most storied bands to back up its most famous author, apparently, with none other than Margaret Atwood stepping up to the mic to dryly quip: “Hit it, Sadies.” Improvising a spooky aural backdrop to Atwood’s darkly droll poems (referencing everything from a thriller writers’ convention to animals rising up against humans), the Sadies appeared as awestruck to be performing with the great writer as the audience was to be taking in the collaboration.
A hard act to follow, but Montreal-via-Calgary singer-songwriter Rae Spoon’s powerful pipes kept the crowd’s attention during their brief set, while American experimental poet/activist Anne Waldman all but stole the show with her highly theatrical “feminist epics,” with musical accompaniment by likeminded duo AroarA.
The Revue’s eclecticism is both its main strength and drawback: while the mashup of genres and disciplines is most welcome and sorely needed in scene-segregated T.O., the mix can be an uneven one.
If there was a point to Operation Snatch’s performance – dancing nude in gorilla masks in front of a slideshow of talking points about women in art – many of us missed it entirely seemed like a gimmicky ploy rather than genuinely subversive. And whoever thought it was a good idea to have a newspaper columnist do a live reading onstage needs to rethink that concept. (As might Arts & Crafts when they realize that another of last night’s acts, Grimes-lite synth-popster Lowell, isn’t going to sound as trendy in 2015.)
Luckily local diva Regina (aka Gentleman Reg’s drag-tastic alter ego) was on hand to round out the night on a high-kicking, strip-teasing, all-around-glamorous note. From words to wigs – that’s just the kind of show the Revue’s been known to give.
