Brighton Fringe 2010
Low Down
“German” parody rock duo who perform a mixture of comedy song and skits about their dysfunctional personal lives.
Review
Otto Rott and his dipsomaniac sister Astrid—an amusing, if slightly obvious, parody on The White Stripes—came onstage to a simple set-up of a mini-drum kit and guitar and brought a lot of loud, infectious enthusiasm. The crowd was welcoming and receptive, and the venue was surprisingly full for a Monday night.
On their “Robot Lion Tour” of the UK, the “Berlin-based” combo revealed—with deliberately ham-fisted comedy accents—“Zat zey hav been going through therapy” and there were some good gags based on NLP and Anthony Robbins. While the skits between the songs were amusing, they were definitely the weaker element of the act and also ran far too long.
A rather pointless quiz took place, and the performers interacted with the audience continually throughout the show. While Otto sang the pop-ballad, Straight-Edged Girl to an audience member, Astrid was swigging bottles of vodka—pantomime-style—behind his back. From then on the act slowly disintegrated as the animosities between the siblings were revealed and their tragic story unfolded, culminating in Otto calling off the gig. The show picked up at this point with Otto developing an emotional depth, whilst still remaining funny, but Astrid’s decision to remain in pantomime-style was a missed opportunity.
The dysfunctional couple work out their neurosis on stage, culminating in the cathartic 4:15 to Spandau and the inevitable Freudian reconciliation.
The highlights of the show was the Kraftwerk/synth-pop parody number, Ich Bin Nicht Ein Roboter (I Am A Lion) and Astrid’s orgasm-laden Oh My God, Yeah and the standard of musicianship was very high.
An almost inevitable technical hitch with the lights prevented the band’s requested “spooky” mood setting for one of the songs.
They finished off with the single Rock Bang with more audience participation, and amusingly encouraging the audience to contact any friends in Norwich or Bracknell to see the band–their next destinations.
Overall the show was quite amusing, but took some time to warm up and truly get going. However, this viewer was obviously in the minority as the audience whooped and hollered along with enthusiasm. More songs, less chat.
