Third annual Illuminate festival lights up Adelaide this winter
Reflections and projections will take over the city as the third annual Illuminate Adelaide winter festival begins.
Entertainment
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Lights and smiles will be beaming with equal brilliance at the opening of the third annual Illuminate Adelaide winter festival tonight (Wednesday, June 28).
The event runs until the end of July, with City Lights installations throughout the CBD and two major new displays by Canadian artists-in-residence Moment Factory.
Mirror Mirror, at the Illuminate Pavilion at Victoria Square, is a dazzling playground of interactive technology in which Moment Factory invites viewers to discover their own creativity through reflections and projections.
Illuminate creative directors Lee Cumberlidge and Rachael Azzopardi said Mirror Mirror “guarantees surprise and complete delight”.
Twin sisters Scarlett and Sienna Moon, 7, and their brother Max, 8, got a sneak preview inside the installation.
“My eyes were so excited, the colour and the lights are everywhere, and my favourite part was jumping on the flowers on the river as they floated past.” Sienna said.
After two sellout seasons of its show Light Cycles, Moment Factory is also bringing a its new multi-sensory digital art experience Resonate to the Botanic Garden, with six installations along a 1.7km night-time trail.
Cumberlidge and Azzopardi said their focus was to bring “world first experiences” to Adelaide.
Full program and tickets at illuminateadelaide.com
Clever Trevor is in demand
Drag artist Trevor Ashley is not only a showstopper – he can close an entire festival.
“I’m the last show of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival … so you need to be there, because you don’t know who is going to turn up,” the Australian performer says.
His late-night variety act Showqueen, at the Festival Centre Banquet Room on Friday and Saturday, will also feature songs by a cavalcade of special guest artists.
“It’s going to be a wild, wild night and a really special way to end your Cabaret Festival experience.”
Ashley is in demand all over the world, having just filmed drag singing competition Queen of the Universe with host Graham Norton in London, started work on a second season of RFDS in Broken Hill, and dashing back and forth to the Adelaide Cabaret Festival in between.
“I play the local town drag – because what else would I do?” Ashley says of his Flying Doctors series role.
In fact, Ashley is also a versatile male musical theatre performer who recently played the Pharaoh in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
For Queen of the Universe, Ashley had to fly 14 different, enormous wigs to London.
“So few people are in my position who get to do TV and stage all at the same time, so I’m very lucky that I get to do this for a living.”
Trevor Ashley – Showqueen, Festival Centre Banquet Room, June 23 and 24. Book at adelaidecabaretfestival.com.au
Cabaret stars swing from the chandeliers
Ali McGregor shares her golden 50th year with the Adelaide Festival Centre and will celebrate with her new show Fool’s Gold as part of this year’s Cabaret Festival.
The event, which opens with a variety gala at the Festival Theatre on Friday night, will continue with new acts each week until June 24.
Opera soprano turned comic chanteuse McGregor is one of nine former artistic directors who have programmed this year’s festival, with many also performing alongside a cavalcade of other national and international acts.
As well as performing Fool’s Gold at the Dunstan Playhouse stage on Saturday, McGregor will host the Late Nite show in the Banquet Room this weekend, her first Adelaide gigs in almost five years.
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“There is nothing like the warm, wine-soaked embrace of Adelaide Festival Centre when it is bustling with audiences getting their minds blown and hearts torn asunder,” she said.
“I am bringing a show that is extremely close to my heart … and I am excited to be amongst some of the titans of their craft.”
Among those titans are US sensation Broadway Barbara, The Cat Empire trumpeter Roscoe James Irwin, and local legend Anne “Willsy” Wills with Bob Downe in their show Adelaide Tonight.
Full program and tickets at adelaidecabaretfestival.com.au
Eminem rumours run hot in wake of Adelaide Oval tip-off
Adelaide’s rock ’n’ roll rumour mill – or should that be rap rumour mill – has been running hot with US hip hop legend Eminem the latest name on the list of potential tours.
An anonymous tipster called Triple M’s Rumour Mill Tuesday morning claiming promoters were already in negotiation with Adelaide Oval to lock in a show for “the end of the year”.
Now the tipster’s source is, apparently, a friend of a friend who works for a major ticketing agency, so take this news with a grain of salt if you wish, but there’s little doubt that the artist responsible for hits like Lose Yourself and Stan would be able to fill the Oval. Fingers crossed.
The rumour comes on the back of a confirmed tour from 50 Cent, who’ll roll into the Entertainment Centre on December 4 for his The Final Lap Tour, Get Rich or Die Tryin’ – 20 Years Later.
Other rumoured Aussie tours include Bruce Springsteen, who last month told Sirius XM Radio that “we’re eventually going to get to Australia and New Zealand”, along with superstars Beyonce and Taylor Swift.
Here’s hoping Adelaide is included on all of those itineraries.
Celebrating 50 years of our Adelaide Festival Centre
It was the first multipurpose arts complex to open in an Australian capital – four months before the Sydney Opera House – and now it celebrates 50 years.
Chief executive Douglas Gautier said the Festival Centre had been “the heart of the arts” in SA since its opening in 1973.
“On our golden anniversary we look back at our rich past and ahead to our future with great pride,” Mr Gautier said.
It was 50 years ago to the day, on June 2, 1973, that Adelaide Festival Centre officially opened its doors with a concert performed to a full house in Festival Theatre.
Prime Minister at the time, Gough Whitlam was in attendance to officially open Festival Theatre and declared “the Festival Theatre will be a great source of great pride to the people of South Australia and the City of Adelaide. … It will also, I believe be an inspiration to the whole of Australia.”
On Friday the Adelaide Festival Centre marked its 50th anniversary with a special all-star South Australian line-up on the Festival Theatre stage, followed by a party with cake, cocktails, live music, DJs and dancing.
Friday night’s concert was held 50 years to the day that the Festival Theatre was opened by then Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, with the centre’s other venues completed at later dates.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was among those to pay tribute to the centre’s anniversary and “the power of culture to strengthen society”.
“Happy birthday Adelaide Festival Centre, long may your curtains rise,” Mr Albanese said.
The gala concert was hosted by singer Libby O’Donovan and featured artists associated with the centre’s own five festivals: DreamBig, Cabaret, Guitar, OzAsia and Our Mob.
First Nations artist Katie Aspel said she was honoured to represent her community through music at the event.
“My first memory at Adelaide Festival Centre was singing in the choir as part of the Primary Schools’ Music Festival. It was amazing,” Aspel said.
Frontman Dave Gleeson quits The Angels: No way, get …
By Nathan Davies
Are we ever gonna see his face again? Well yes, just not with The Angels.
The Angels singer Dave Gleeson, who’s fronted the legendary Adelaide band since 2011, is handing over microphone duties.
The band, famous for hits like No Secrets, Take a Long Line, Shadow Boxer and Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again, announced that drummer Nick Norton would be stepping out from behind the kit to take over frontman duties while Gleeson concentrates on his original band The Screaming Jets as well as his radio DJ duties.
Gleeson famously stepped into The Angels lead singer spot following the illness, and eventual death, of Doc Neeson – widely considered to be one of the most entertaining frontmen in the history of Australian rock ’n’ roll.
He soon won over the band’s hardcore fan base with his energetic performances, and has spent the last decade juggling Angels and Screaming Jets duties.
“It has been a blast and an honour to sing for The Angels,” Gleeson said.
“Being a part of such a legendary legacy will always be one of my great achievements. To have made music with John and Rick (Brewster) and the late Chris Bailey has been nothing short of awesome.
“To the fans, my heartfelt thanks for accepting me into the fold over the last dozen or so years. With The Screaming Jets on the eve of a new album release, and my national Triple M commitments, it’s time to move on. John, Rick, Sam and Nick will always hold a special place in my rock ’n’ roll journey. Rock on and see youse on the road.”
Founding member and guitarist John Brewster said the band and Gleeson remained “the very best of friends”.
“We are so grateful to Dave for everything he’s done for the band,” Rick Brewster added.
“He’s been our front man for 12 years, sharing hundreds of great gigs and good times. And now, with his increased commitments, we totally understand his need to move on.”
John Brewster said Norton was “an incredible musician and a great singer and songwriter”.
“He obviously knows the songs like the back of his hand and the fans already know and love him, so he’s the perfect fit. We can’t wait to hit the road.”
Gleeson’s final show as front man of The Angels will be at the Gympie Music Muster at the end of August, with his final two Symphony of Angels shows taking place in Melbourne on June 23 at Palais Theatre and Adelaide on June 30 at Her Majesty’s Theatre
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