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| Lucy Longlegs as scary clown |
Red Light Burlesque Present Freakshow Follies
Declared to be a night of bizarre acts ranging from the weird to the unbelievable; Red Light Burlesque at The Firebug, Leicester, hyped up its last show of the year to be a spectacular Goregasmic climax. Not recommended for the weak hearted.
Valerie Vegas was first to stumble on stage, wine glass and cigarette in hand wearing a black silk night gown. Her boozy routine reflected that of a rock star after one too many, which with her props was the assumed purpose. The tattooed beauty peeled to pasties after removing a glitzy vintage looking bullet bra. Vegas’s routine, though not classy, was seductive and wetted the ‘appetites’ of all watching.
Those with a fear of clowns were warned by the wonderful host Venus Star to be wary of the next act. A balloon stuffed, clown faced dancer floated on stage with an eerie lightness, the mask’s expression stuck with a frozen smile, making this act already unnatural. Lucy Longlegs the dancer behind the clown, presented the Firebug crowd with a routine that would terrify most children, but surprisingly not her most shocking routine of the night. The clown revealed a real meat cleaver and kitchen knife, no rubber props used in this show. The insanely sharp kitchen utensils were used to pop the balloons one by one, each bang accompanied with a jolt from the audience. Longlegs ended her routine by tricking the crowd throwing glitter instead of the red gunge she had been dripping on her chest. The crude use of balloon shapes, a phallic shaped balloon , added to the absurdity of this performance. A piece of burlesque that was only suitable in freak shows and horror themed nights. Lucy Longlegs managed to make clowns not suitable for children, or even some adults with the first unsettling act of the show.
Next, the fabulous disturbing delight that is Mr Joe Black graced the Firebug stage with his twisted comedic cabaret songs such as; ‘Don’t Tell Mama’, a song about anal sex and his rendition of Lady Gaga’s ‘Bad Romance’ encouraging people to sing-a-long. During the GaGa cover he pulled an unsuspecting male audience member on stage. The man was sat innocently before being treated to a dry hump and a snog from Mr Black. Joe Black has a great voice easily projected through the Firebug. Laced in heavy make-up, blacked out teeth and thick eyelashes, Black’s appearance suited the content of his act and added to his creepy yet hilarious on-stage persona.
Miss Piranja treated the audience to her ‘Psyclops Carnival’ burlesque dance. Smiling as she unwrapped her red and white layers at an upbeat pace, a red glittered top hat at the ready. The German artist used an umbrella to hide what the audience knew was there but were not being shown. Finally Piranja revealed her red nipple tassels and proudly twirled them keeping that wide smile across her face. Her performance was refreshingly upbeat, even though the overall theme of the night was obscure madness; Piranja’s lively routine steadied the pulses of a tense audience.
The last act before the interval travelled from London to perform their edge of seat act for Red Light Burlesque, Riding the Valkyrie. The first of their two acts consisted of some gruesome dining, performed to the vocals of the female member of the grisly duo, Nara. The freaky feasting act involved fire eating and glass munching, with the occasional drip of blood coming from Pete’s lips. Nothing causes a crowd to cringe more than the sound of glass breaking between a person’s teeth. The performance had people’s hands in front of their faces yet unable to look away; a compelling end to the first half.
After the interval the stage was taken over by co-host Vix-La-Trix. Artists from the first half performed their second acts which were equally as freaky as the first. Vegas performing a classy fan dance, which although not strange was beautiful. Lucy Longlegs’ second performance surely terrified every audience member to their core. What started as a Punch and Judy spoof, turned into a peep show and ended as something nightmare are made of. After the brief puppet show Longlegs gave a seductive peep show style belly dance, after this it went silent before Longlegs stomped off stage, nipple tassels falling off, cling film over her face dragging what represented a dead body; this unexpected twist was the ultimate petrifying act, anything that followed this seemed tame.
Joe Black returned for some fire antics, body burning and fire eating in a turban. As always his performance was immaculate, hilarious and gripping. Black displayed impressive skills with fire during this second act; after swallowing fire he was able to light his fingers with his tongue and transfer this to the torch, giving an incredible almost mystic effect.
Riding the Valkyrie followed with their second act; a dark operatic horrific demonstration of dentistry. Nobody enjoys going to the dentist but the situation can be tolerated, however with Pete as the sadistic dentist, it makes the experience much more horrendous. Nara was the naïve patient in this performance blasting some extraordinary operatic vocals over the sound of drills, with Pete singing a song of sadism in a German accent, eyes bulging as he pushed a drill into his nasal cavity. Everyone’s gag reflexes going into hyper drive as they struggled to watch this nauseating action. Riding the Valkyrie truly managed to live up to the name of freak with their remarkable yet disgusting performances leaving the audience with an unsettled stomach.
With every Red Light Burlesque show the evening was topped off with a performance from the main host, Venus Star, who treated everyone to her talents before a final goodnight.
There are aspects of the evening that many will feel uneasy about for a long time, however the rest of the night was pure enjoyable, if not slightly disturbing, entertainment. The venue may be small but the shows do not suffer from this; massive vaudevillian/ burlesque names were featured in this event which gives indication to a promising new year for Red Light Burlesque.
Declared to be a night of bizarre acts ranging from the weird to the unbelievable; Red Light Burlesque at The Firebug, Leicester, hyped up its last show of the year to be a spectacular Goregasmic climax. Not recommended for the weak hearted.
Valerie Vegas was first to stumble on stage, wine glass and cigarette in hand wearing a black silk night gown. Her boozy routine reflected that of a rock star after one too many, which with her props was the assumed purpose. The tattooed beauty peeled to pasties after removing a glitzy vintage looking bullet bra. Vegas’s routine, though not classy, was seductive and wetted the ‘appetites’ of all watching.
Those with a fear of clowns were warned by the wonderful host Venus Star to be wary of the next act. A balloon stuffed, clown faced dancer floated on stage with an eerie lightness, the mask’s expression stuck with a frozen smile, making this act already unnatural. Lucy Longlegs the dancer behind the clown, presented the Firebug crowd with a routine that would terrify most children, but surprisingly not her most shocking routine of the night. The clown revealed a real meat cleaver and kitchen knife, no rubber props used in this show. The insanely sharp kitchen utensils were used to pop the balloons one by one, each bang accompanied with a jolt from the audience. Longlegs ended her routine by tricking the crowd throwing glitter instead of the red gunge she had been dripping on her chest. The crude use of balloon shapes, a phallic shaped balloon , added to the absurdity of this performance. A piece of burlesque that was only suitable in freak shows and horror themed nights. Lucy Longlegs managed to make clowns not suitable for children, or even some adults with the first unsettling act of the show.
Next, the fabulous disturbing delight that is Mr Joe Black graced the Firebug stage with his twisted comedic cabaret songs such as; ‘Don’t Tell Mama’, a song about anal sex and his rendition of Lady Gaga’s ‘Bad Romance’ encouraging people to sing-a-long. During the GaGa cover he pulled an unsuspecting male audience member on stage. The man was sat innocently before being treated to a dry hump and a snog from Mr Black. Joe Black has a great voice easily projected through the Firebug. Laced in heavy make-up, blacked out teeth and thick eyelashes, Black’s appearance suited the content of his act and added to his creepy yet hilarious on-stage persona.
Miss Piranja treated the audience to her ‘Psyclops Carnival’ burlesque dance. Smiling as she unwrapped her red and white layers at an upbeat pace, a red glittered top hat at the ready. The German artist used an umbrella to hide what the audience knew was there but were not being shown. Finally Piranja revealed her red nipple tassels and proudly twirled them keeping that wide smile across her face. Her performance was refreshingly upbeat, even though the overall theme of the night was obscure madness; Piranja’s lively routine steadied the pulses of a tense audience.
The last act before the interval travelled from London to perform their edge of seat act for Red Light Burlesque, Riding the Valkyrie. The first of their two acts consisted of some gruesome dining, performed to the vocals of the female member of the grisly duo, Nara. The freaky feasting act involved fire eating and glass munching, with the occasional drip of blood coming from Pete’s lips. Nothing causes a crowd to cringe more than the sound of glass breaking between a person’s teeth. The performance had people’s hands in front of their faces yet unable to look away; a compelling end to the first half.
After the interval the stage was taken over by co-host Vix-La-Trix. Artists from the first half performed their second acts which were equally as freaky as the first. Vegas performing a classy fan dance, which although not strange was beautiful. Lucy Longlegs’ second performance surely terrified every audience member to their core. What started as a Punch and Judy spoof, turned into a peep show and ended as something nightmare are made of. After the brief puppet show Longlegs gave a seductive peep show style belly dance, after this it went silent before Longlegs stomped off stage, nipple tassels falling off, cling film over her face dragging what represented a dead body; this unexpected twist was the ultimate petrifying act, anything that followed this seemed tame.
Joe Black returned for some fire antics, body burning and fire eating in a turban. As always his performance was immaculate, hilarious and gripping. Black displayed impressive skills with fire during this second act; after swallowing fire he was able to light his fingers with his tongue and transfer this to the torch, giving an incredible almost mystic effect.
Riding the Valkyrie followed with their second act; a dark operatic horrific demonstration of dentistry. Nobody enjoys going to the dentist but the situation can be tolerated, however with Pete as the sadistic dentist, it makes the experience much more horrendous. Nara was the naïve patient in this performance blasting some extraordinary operatic vocals over the sound of drills, with Pete singing a song of sadism in a German accent, eyes bulging as he pushed a drill into his nasal cavity. Everyone’s gag reflexes going into hyper drive as they struggled to watch this nauseating action. Riding the Valkyrie truly managed to live up to the name of freak with their remarkable yet disgusting performances leaving the audience with an unsettled stomach.
With every Red Light Burlesque show the evening was topped off with a performance from the main host, Venus Star, who treated everyone to her talents before a final goodnight.
There are aspects of the evening that many will feel uneasy about for a long time, however the rest of the night was pure enjoyable, if not slightly disturbing, entertainment. The venue may be small but the shows do not suffer from this; massive vaudevillian/ burlesque names were featured in this event which gives indication to a promising new year for Red Light Burlesque.
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| Joe Black at the Firebug |
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