REVIEWS
Music
2011
adampage.com.au
  • ADAM PAGE SOLO
    Cabaret Fringe Festival La Bohème 5 Jun 2010
    Review by Tony Busch
    Adelaide Theatre Guide
    Adam Page is what Fringe shows are all about... unexpected, quirky, clever and entertaining. The first reaction of this reviewer was to wish he had a better line in patter but as the show progressed, his larrikin quality became quite infectious and the delivery suited his performance perfectly.
    What is “Adam Page Solo”? Well it’s one musician who, through the use of sampled looped sound, foot pedals, vocal SFX and a range of unusual instruments, creates music on the hop with clever improvisations, tight harmonies and beguiling beats. He has the smallest electric guitar I’ve ever seen, an electrified ukulele that sounds like a bass guitar, an African thumb piano, a marvellous throaty sax and a flute.
    From these instruments, together with the sampled voices of members ofthe audience, table tops, chair backs and even a stubbie of beer, he creates jazz, reggae, the music of the Andes and even a tribute to Michael Jackson and a track from Radiohead.
    La Bohème is the perfect venue to enjoy the Cabaret Fringe, so go and see “Adam Page Solo” and relax with a drink for an hour of pure enjoyment.
     

    Adam Page Solo
    Hannah Silverman From:
 The Advertiser March 07, 2011

    PERFORMING among a playground of instruments, Adam Page creates musical brilliance from the most random of combinations - and the effects are delightfully surprising.
    In his one-man show, Page creates an urban symphony with such instruments as a bass ukulele, a digeridoo, beat-boxing and even his beard - to name a few of the more unusual - as well as orchestral favourites.
    Then, of course, there is his looping machine which knits the notes together in a way that really has to be seen to be believed.
    A highlight of the show is his "musical collage" where the audience is asked to shout three musical genres and Page spontaneously creates a piece that seamlessly marries them together.
    His musical talents are well complemented by his humour and off-the-cuff retorts, making for a great night out, whatever your musical tastes.
    4   1/2 stars
     
     
    FRINGE:Music – Adam Page Solo – La Boheme – 4.5K
    Kryztoff.com
    HAVE YOU SEEN ADAM PAGE?
    By now Adelaideans have no excuse. In fact, so many of us want to that his sold-out Solo Fringe shows at La Boheme had to be moved downstairs to accommodate more people. People of all ages, of all subcultures, and of all nationalities – an American musician touring for the Fringe waited out the front of La Boheme for hours in vain to get a ticket – want to see Adam Page, because the guy is so damn entertaining.
    And the people were not disappointed. Using loop pedals and instruments ranging from log drums to saxophone, from bass ukulele to an old suitcase organ, even his beard, Page showcased his incredible musical talent and inventiveness constructing songs that were as varied as his musical tools. He opened with a grooving jazz tune; mashed together Cats the Musical, Bluegrass and Metal; and ended with a beautiful solo clarinet version of Radiohead’s High and Dry. Plus, he’s just a super-cool guy. He’s funny, he down to earth, he’s energetic and he constantly interacts with the audience. Adelaide is lucky to have such a well-rounded, professional and entertaining performer.
    Kryztoff Rating 4.5K
     

    Fringe Benefits review
    Adam Page Solo
    Chris Brunner
    La Bohème is a funky little Cocktail Lounge cum Cabaret Bar shielded from the bright lights and bustle of Grote Street by thick velvet curtains; a perfectly intimate venue for Adam Page Solo –a one man multi-instrumentalist impromptu guru beat-box comedian with a wicked-cool beard.
    The greatest thing about Adam Page is that he doesn’t take himself too seriously. Although an immensely talented musician, it seems like he’s just messing around, and the resulting music is pure accident. In complete control of his loop pedals and army of instruments, Adam Page is free to invent. Although he admits to practicing a few numbers, many pieces required audience participation and were truly unique.
    He puts down tracks one at a time, gradually laying one on top of another until it feels like there’s a whole band on stage. He uses his voice, a keyboard, electric guitar, acoustic bass, clarinet, saxophone, didgeridoo, and his beard to create music that can only be described as… cool. I don’t know what it is but there’s definitely something cool about it. It’s sometimes kind of eerie, sometimes a little trippy, often funky, and even jazzy. Because he has so many instruments at his disposal, and because he is in complete command of all of them, the end product can be totally different one piece to the next.
    Despite being primarily a musical act, Page constantly interacts with his audience as a comedian. But the nature of the act, and its effect on the audience, is more that of a magician. Piling the tracks up on top of one another is oddly fascinating to watch, with the results always surprising to hear. The performance is a process of creation rather than the creation itself.
    It helps that Page seems to be a very nice guy, on top of being a great performer. I imagine one day he started messing around with a loop machine, and got so obsessed with it that he just couldn’t stop. Adam Page delivers a genuine and enthusiastic performance which makes for a rewarding and engaging experience for the audience. He even has a softer side, demonstrated beautifully by a clarinet rendition of Radiohead’s ‘High and Dry’, on which he finished the show.
     
    18/03/11 Timber and Steel
    Adam Page
    Monday- Moreton Bay Stage. WOMADelaide.
    Adam Page is no great secret in Adelaide; he’s a local legend. His beard isn’t the only thing that defies belief. New audiences often find themselves dumb founded by the sheer range of instruments he’s able to utilise so masterfully.
    Adam Page is a looper - a musician who uses live loop recordings to build layers of sound into a composition. The technique is a fine art, and very few artists can actually do it well. For Adam Page, I’m sure that learning to loop was really the only viable option he had if he wanted to get the chance to play all the instruments he’d learned to wield in front of an audience.
    Adam looked like a jubilant child as he made his way onto the Womadelaide Moreton Bay Stage on Monday afternoon, and who could blame him. Womad is the festival that inspires local musicians to reach their potential. As a man that learnt his craft in Adelaide, you could see it written all over Adam‘s face that his dreams were coming true right before his eyes. Adam's weapon of choice is no doubt the saxophone, but he is more than proficient in an arsenal of others including clarinets, flutes, ukuleles, bass ukuleles, keys, throat singing, hand percussion, glockenspiels, banjos, melodicas, vocal percussion, and even his beard to the extent that his music is so ridiculously empowered with possibility that he can literally create compositions that fall into any genre. His Womadelaide set ranged from Calypso to Ska to Folk to Jazz to Funk - and went down remarkably well with the large, seated audience. It was fantastic to watch this musician, who has really put in the hard yards to perfect his art, finally get the chance to perform on the grand stage he so thoroughly deserves instead of the front bar at The Exeter. In saying that, you just know that two of Adam's most valuable assets, his character and charisma, have grown from sheer life experience, which I’m sure includes a large chunk of playing in pubs and bars.
    Adam will soon be moving to New Zealand. May I say on behalf of Adelaide - good luck, your music and overall presence will be missed, and please come back to Womadelaide next year.
    Rip it up 12/03/10
     
    Adam Page Solo
The Wheatsheaf Hotel, Tue Mar 9
    Who needs a band? Definitely not bearded multi-instrumentalist Adam Page, whose cracking solo performance continues to be one of the must-see shows of the Fringe. This year’s show raises the standard again, with instruments ranging from the obvious saxophone and bass guitar to the less conventional toothbrush, mixing bowl and egg-beater. Sampling and looping musical fragments, Page quickly produces enough samples to pull off such feats as a captivating and highly entertaining rendition of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Dropping many of the gimmicks of the past, Page’s frenetic live improvisation is interspersed with engaging and highly amusing banter as he showcases an incredible and precocious talent. The show’s a lot of fun and the range of styles and instrumentation is breathtaking, leaping effortlessly from pumping and phat to elegant and beautiful and back again. A show that gets better every year; once again not to be missed.
    
Final word: Phat.
Troy Foster
     
     
    Rip it up - 08/03/11
     
    Adam Page Solo
La Boheme – Upstairs, Fri Mar 4

    Presented in a perfect venue, Adam Page improvises songs and soundscapes using a looping pedal to layer snippets played on an array of interesting instruments. To demonstrate that this is improvised he asks the audience to name three different musical styles and proceeds to quickly construct a musical collage using the suggestions offered. He discovers     The Advertiser critic in the audience and makes up an amusing song about him. New noises are available to him tonight as a result of having a cold and he is quick to incorporate them. He uses his now remarkable beard as a percussion instrument. To show that this is not simply all gimmickry he closes with a beautiful version of Radiohead’s High And Dry on clarinet. What stands out in this show is the incredible musicianship and sense of rhythm of the performer, and the huge amount of fun he and his audience are sharing.
    Final Word: Aaaaawesome!
 Adrian Miller

    EllingtonJazz Club, Perth
    04/04/11
    Drum Mediamagazine
     
    Adam Pageand Sir Thomas
     
    Jazz clubsare great for a couple of reasons; they are the perfect environment forintimate gigs, they are full of punters who really are there for the music andeveryone's always on time. Hence at 7.30pm, an almost full house was there toenjoy the intimacy of Sir Thomas' show. After some initial problems with themixing and levels, the set moved into a seamless blend of down tempo tracks,good banter and thoughtful lyrics. There is a notable surge in music currentlytowards live production through pedals and effects on stage, and Adelaide'sAdam Page is brimming with this kind of stage trickery. Armed with a tenor sax,flute, small guitar, cowbell and voice, Page creates live (and obviously wellrehearsed) tracks that take the audience on quite a diverse journey. Theability to loop melodies and layer them with perfect harmonies mixed with somevery tight beat boxing gives Page the ability to sound like a full band.Bluegrass, hip hop and jazz were just a few of the musical genres covered inwhat can only be described as one of the more diverse shows Perth has seen thisyear. The highlight of the night: a song based on the sounds of a beard. Soundweird? Yep, it is. Google it.
     
    Baron Gutter