9:45pm 6 April, Powder Room, Melbourne Town Hall
Doc Brown, not his real name, used to be a rapper in the UK, toured with De La Soul, Lily Allen, Amy Winehouse, and Mark Ronson. Now he considers himself to be "unfamous" (rhymes with "infamous").
Through a combination of rap and stand-up, Doc Brown tells the story of his life to this point. Here are some answers to some pretty obvious questions:
- Yes, it only takes an hour to get through some 30 years of life.
- Yes, there is live and earnest rapping in a very intimate environment.
- No, it's nowhere near as awkward as one would think.
In fact, it's so different to awkward that it's actually really enjoyable. He comes on stage and starts rapping straight away and it's almost rewarding; He is so good at it that he commands the room from the moment he steps on stage.
He swaps from stadium-style rap performance to intimate story-telling mode so easily and gracefully that watching him is an absolute pleasure. The narrative lacks a certain amount of cohesion and the jokes are not breaking any new ground but Doc Brown's charisma carries the show. If he can get the other elements working he'll blow minds but in the meantime he leaves the audience with smiles on their faces; In that respect his job is done.
Written the next day, using a combination of Mars Edit and Textmate, after some much needed sleep and getting some actual proper work done.