Shaolin Punk

Set List returned on Saturday with a set from jazz legends the Dancin’ Pandas, featuring the smooth musical stylings of Brent Strahan, Matt Mulcahy and Emma Muiznieks, directed by band leader “Marching Band” McKenzie, and starring the vocal, guitar, harmonica and keyboard talents of “Guava” Muiznieks, “Smooth Dan” Walmsley and “Moldova” McClelland. They played hits from their forty year history including the unforgettable ensemble numbers “The River” - a gospel song in which the protagonists took a cheese plate, a fishing rod, a riubber duck and a pantomime horse down to the river - and “Travellin’ Strange”, a blues number describing the joys of travelling via Segway, llama, lava flow and TARDIS.

Set List returns for one final show this Saturday afternoon, 4:30 in the Old Council Chambers, when an as yet unannounced rock band will take the stage and blow your mind. Be there!

Set List’s Melbourne Fringe season kicked off with the return to Melbourne of the folk trio Tulip, Tuberculosis & Spite. Irish-Australian Johnny Spite, tall and taciturn Michael Tuberculosis and the lovely and forward April Tulip, accompanied by the inimitable Set List band, entertained the “we don’t like football” crowd with a selection of their greatest hits including “Greenlass”, “4×4 Over the Horizon”, “My Life In Cats” and “The Ballad of Rory and Fiona”.

Of course, you and I know that Tulip, Tuberculosis & Spite never existed before the show - and never will again, seeing as they were born of the unique combination of Set List performers Ben McKenzie, Dan Walmsley and Karin Muiznieks, and the suggestions which popped out of the brains of the audience.

If you like the idea of a band who’ll write songs on the spot to suit your slightest whim, then be sure to book your tickets now for the final two nights of Set List at Fringe - jazz on October 4 and rock on October 11. See you there!

Well, tomorrow is the first performance for the full premiere season of Set List! Now, we know that a certain semi-popular sporting event may also be occurring at the same time as Set List: Folk; so if you’re not keen on the “Grand” Final, grab your best cardigan and flat cap, warm up your pan pipes, and head on down to Trades Hall for a good ol’ dose of storytellin’ music written on the spot by the Set List band!

Remember, the show starts at 4:30 PM and tickets are available online from melbournefringe.com.au or at the door from the Trades box office in the Bella Union bar. Note that we have moved from performing in the bar itself to the much more intimate surroundings of the Old Council Chambers - and also note that, though it’s listed in the printed programme guide, there is no performance on Sunday September 28!

But should the lure of the ball game prevent you from attending, have no fear: Set List caters for you too! All three principle Set List performers - Karin Muiznieks, Dan Walmsley and Ben McKenzie - will be performing at the (unofficial) 2008 AFL Season Review at Trades Hall on Tuesday night! And yes, there will be a special Set List surprise…

See you over the weekend!

If you’re after a taste of Set List,  then you’ll get your chance this Sunday, as Karin Muiznieks, Dan Walmsley and Ben McKenzie appear as a guests for the fourth meeting of the Anarchist Guild Social Committee! Melbourne’s smash hit sketch comedy group - which counts Ben and Set List guest star Andy McClelland among its members - bring you another show full of all-new material!

The AGSC’s fourth meeting is at the Bella Union, Trades Hall, starting at 5:30 on Sunday, September 21; tickets are $15 full/$10 concession or group, and you can get them at the door or via the Bella Union web site.

Shaolin Punk’s musical impro show Set List is now on sale through the Melbourne Fringe web site! Book your tickets now for your favourite genre - jazz, folk or rock - or come to all three. Each show is a one off, never to be repeated set list of songs in which the audience calls for the “greatest hits” of a band that never existed before the beginning of the set…

See the Set List page for more details!