George Glass Proves the Existence of God

George Glass Proves the Existence of God successfully scratches the itches to life’s biggest questions. Is there a God? Can God hangout later? What’s God’s biggest weakness? Will the Hungry Caterpillar show up? Is there anyone working on an Eyes Wide Shut musical?

Adelaide’s own George Glass brings musicality, absurdity, and plenty of blood in this exceptional one night only performance. Kicking everything off the band (Nic Conway, Pud Hamilton, Chris Nenov, Alister McMichael, and Ruby Gazzola) appropriately introduces themselves in an extremely religious fashion. The Garden of Eden. Eve is a man with balloon breasts of biblical proportions, Adam is a woman in a muscle suit, the forbidden fruit is, of course, an inflatable red costume with matching face paint, and the snake (a morph-suit) slithers its way on stage.

With an intro like that, you know that what you’re about to see is no Sunday service.

George Glass Proves the Existence of God is full of running bits that never grow old. There’s a cleverly instigated checklist at the beginning of the show that provides topics or thematic elements (e.g. baby, cake, pussy cat, tie him up and throw him in the River Torrens), a drummer with a small bladder, and a literal hotline to God. The back and forth tongue and cheek between the band is seamless and never fails to get a laugh, together inhabiting the stage as if it were their home.

George Glass is foremost a rock-comedy showcase. Boasting an array of original songs (that you can listen to yourself on Spotify right now) that are catchy, full of energy, and of course humour. Particular songs such as Detective Andrews, God Is Dead, Christ Likes to Eat Pussy, and Secret Song are the highlights and bring to mind the works of Jack Black and Kyle Glass from Tenacious D. Cohesively the band are multi-talented, switching between instruments throughout the show as each member has their moment centre-stage. However, the first two songs were a little hard to decipher. Whether it be some slightly muddled vocals or technical difficulty, the lyrics weren’t entirely comprehensible, but the band soon found their footing and from there on out it was crystal clear.

George Glass also effortlessly involves the audience in their religious escapades. Members are utilised to form Caterpillars (of the hungry variety), dispose of very incriminating evidence, and to create a crowd surf that more or less turns into a polite yet wholesome carry.

If George Glass Proves the Existence of God resurrects itself for another performance in the future, make sure you see it.

4 1/2 stars

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Words by Isaac Freeman

George Glass Proves the Existence of God‘s season has now concluded

For more information about George Glass visit his website

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SHAD WICKA – BACKFIRED

I’m not particularly well-versed in corporate office behavioral requirements, but I’d have wagered that posing next to the Prime Minister for a social media photo whilst holding a craftily-designed mug that had a certain word that rhymes with ‘punt’ printed across it probably falls outside the realm of what’s deemed acceptable. Really rather amusing though; I mean, who doesn’t like sticking it to The Man? I can certainly condone it. Unfortunately for Shad Wicka, when he decided he was going to take a stand for the everyman, the reality of corporate management tending to take a dim view of the great unwashed attempting to strike back reared its ugly head, and he found himself – rather unsurprisingly – with a  lot more spare time on his hands.

For Wicka it was even worse; he’d previously been offered a promotion to host a drive-time radio slot only a few days prior to his act of rebellion, and so he’d canned the lease, packed the car, and convinced his partner to follow him to Sydney. Leaving Cairns, he got as far as Mackay before he got the phone-call from upstairs informing him that they were choosing to take a different direction with the hosting position, and he was politely asked to leave through the door marked ‘do one’. Having to then inform his partner – who’d quit her six-figure-paying job in order to support him under the bright lights of the big city – was probably akin to liberally applying chilli to an open wound. Still, laughter is the best medicine, right?

Following on from his previous show Not Great (but not sh*t), Backfired continues that theme by being a bit haphazard. Bouncing between adjusting to the abrupt upheaval of his life and some random observations, Wicka clearly has a knack for being funny, and whilst his casual and comfortable demeanour is gleaned from years behind a microphone, being up on stage is a different kettle of Atlantic salmon, and this is where things tend to fall a bit flat. It probably doesn’t help that he’s at a venue that’s a bit DIY; required to announce himself and also do his own sound work, he probably even has to put the chairs out beforehand and clean up the empty glasses after. He takes the hits as well as the misses, and the funny parts are genuinely quite funny, but the see-sawing unfortunately detracts from what is otherwise a solid set.

3 / 5 stars

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Words by Mikey Della Porta

Shad Wicka – Backfired’s season has ended