EDINBURGH 2023: Review: JAZZ EMU'S PLEASURE GARDEN, Assembly George Square Studios, Underground

The concept of Jazz Emu’s Pleasure Garden is quite simple. You are invited by Jazz Emu (played by Archie Henderson) and the band The Cosmique Perfectión to their Pleasure Garden, quoted to be “a luscious, verdant Arcadia that veritably throbs with life” (it’s actually in a car park but hey, you take what you can get at the Fringe!).

It’s more of a concert than a theatre show, with the audience standing throughout in a club-like setting. Having already seen Jazz Emu: You Shouldn’t Have and fallen in love with the egotistical performer and his music, I decided to give Pleasure Garden a try. 

The Cosmique Perfectión is a great band made up of the talented Joel Phillips (drums), Angie Prasanti (bass), Nicky Green (keyboard), and Sofia Grant (keyboard and vocals). Each of the musicians is given their chance to shine in the songs, particularly Grant who is given a gorgeous solo that causes Jazz Emu to fall in love with her on stage. The band works well with Jazz Emu and they are clearly having fun together on stage, laughing and working through some technical issues. 

The band played some of Jazz Emu’s hits including my personal favourite, “True Meaning of the Season,” an incredible song about Jazz Emu’s desire for the holiday season to be returned to its pagan roots, including ritual sacrifice and horse heads. Another song, “My Brothe,” pokes fun at scammers, creating an email sent to Jazz Emu with lyrics including the typical scammer grammatical errors like “And I like give it all to you / My brothe.” A highlight of the night was the incredible song “Tiny Snake,” which starts as an ode to a tiny snake drinking Sprite and devolves into Jazz Emu and the audience cursing the snake for leading to the Original Sin of Adam and Eve. If that’s not your vibe, you’re probably not gonna be a fan of the show, but I adored it!

The comedian guests for the night were Ele McKenzie and the duo Max and Ivan. I had missed seeing Max & Ivan: Life, Choices so was looking forward to seeing their set at Pleasure Garden. The comedians had relatively short sets. McKenzie had a bizarre yet funny bit about her writing a letter to Santa, and then Max and Ivan did two short sketches including an off-the-rails air guitar competition (with Jazz Emu playing guitar while seated on the stage) that brought an audience member on stage to show off their own skills!

In one slightly terrifying yet amusing moment, Jazz Emu decided that he would be stage-diving whether the audience liked it or not, which led to some chaotic manhandling (no Jazz Emus were harmed in the making of this stagedive!). It was incredibly on brand for the Fringe for Pleasure Garden to end with a jazzy number about a man waiting for the DVD logo to hit the corner of his television screen, the crowd singing along with Jazz Emu as the Cosmique Perfectión gave us one final jam. 

Ultimately, Jazz Emu’s Pleasure Garden is a fun cabaret show that combines some of Jazz Emu’s iconic songs with comedians, making for a great variety throughout the night. Jazz Emu The Cosmique Perfectión are excellent hosts and make for a fun concert with some amusing comedic acts throughout. I look forward to seeing more shows in the Pleasure Garden in the future!

Jazz Emu’s Pleasure Garden ran at Assembly George Square Studios, Underground.

Read our fascinating interview with Archie Henderson AKAJazz Emu here.

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