It’s all good fun and there’s no denying the musical talents of the pair.
McGrath and Pope emulate specific rock and folk styles well; there’s a good Leonard Cohen style song called And I Wake Up and Philip Pope does a pretty good Dylan impersonation although at times he sounds more Kermit the Frog than Dylan. A highlight includes the referendum ripping Better Together Better Apart. Some metal performed in the style of Schubert is particularly inventive and fun. Another highlight for the audience is the I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here themed song, Get me to the Jungle.
It’ fun but tends to drag and then quite a few times, songs that are enjoyable get interrupted with a joke that nearly always has a hugely telegraphed punchline. It’s old school, old man humour that’s not aged particularly well. For younger audiences it’s a bit like listening to your dad and his mate make typical dad jokes and then being surprisingly good at singing songs. What’s more, the problem with doing silly funny songs in the style of great folk songs is that you tend to crave the smart lyrics that the folk sounds deserve and unfortunately the humour rarely delivers in that department. But then what else can you expect from a show that’s called Bridge Over Troubled Lager?
For some audiences, more the older ones than the younger, it’s all good fun and there’s no denying the musical talents of the pair. Just don’t expect anything particularly refreshing, that lager’s probably a Fosters.
