Comedy / britpop
Attention Britpop fans: Marc Burrows is taking us back to the 90s
With Oasis, Blur and Pulp all returning to major stages in recent months – not to mention other runners and riders such as Gene, The Verve, Ocean Colour Scene, Shed Seven and Echobelly all touring again – Britpop appears to be back, 30 years after its heyday.
Not for the first time, comedian, musician and award-winning author Marc Burrows has tapped into the cultural zeitgeist with his nostalgic and celebratory Edinburgh Fringe hit, The Britpop Show – which is embarking on a major UK tour.
Described as a hybrid between a TED talk and a comedy show, Burrows explores “the rivalries, personalities, chaos, culture and questionable behaviour that defined Britpop and helped reshape British music and identity in the 1990s”.
Unfolding through the lens of his firsthand experience of interviewing many stars of the era, he revisits the “freedom, swagger and fun” of Britpop, as well as its later descent into “excess and identity crisis” – charting what happened “once the party was over”.
Marc Burrows channels Oasis
For Burrows, who decided to swap London for Bristol in recent years, his upcoming date at Bedminster’s Hen & Chicken Studio feels like a homecoming in more ways than one.
“Long before Britpop took over”, he notes, “Sarah Records put the city on the indie map, and in the late ’90s Bristol was where the indie dream went to a cooler, darker place with Massive Attack and Portishead.
“It’s a city with an impeccable live music pedigree. That blend of indie spirit and genre-bending history makes Bristol the perfect spot for The Britpop Show. But it also helps that I live here, and it’s always nice to do a gig I can get a cab home from!”
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The Britpop Show with Marc Burrows is at The Hen & Chicken Studio on March 27 at 8pm. Visit www.thecomedybox.co.uk for tickets, and follow @20thcenturymarc for updates.
All photos: Marc Burrows
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