Lano and Woodley: Music All
by: Gerard Ward
Australian professional show-offs Colin Lane and Frank Woodley perform an hour-long show filled with hilarious songs from their debut CD.
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With recent stage shows ‘The Island’ and ‘Bruiser’ , a booming television show on the ABC and the release of their DVD last year, Lano and Woodley are on a roll and they delivered yet another memorable show last month to their fans in Perth.
What made this show different was that for the first time ever, Lano and Woodley performed only songs on stage, as the show is all about promoting their new CD ‘Lano and Woodley Sing Songs’.
Recorded at Melbourne's HiFi Bar in August 2005 and released in October, the CD is a collection of songs created by the duo over many years.
An hour before their show in Perth, Frank Woodley gave his time to talk to me about the show and the CD.
He explained that the reasoning behind recording the songs live as opposed to in a studio was because of the energy of the audience reacting to the show.
“I’ve listened to a few comedy CDs that have been recorded in studios, and they just seem to be a bit flat. So we thought it would be better to go for the live feel.”
Playing in Perth at UWA’s Octagon Theatre, Lano and Woodley performed for an hour with songs such as ‘Head over Heels’, from their previous stage play ‘The Island’.
“We’ve never actually done anything where we’ve done a show all of songs like this.
“It’s been really good fun actually, because it’s good to do something where you feel a little bit nervous, and you’re not exactly sure.
“To have that fear again that it might die, is really good for us.”
Sitting in the theatte next to me was Meredith, a massive fan of Lano and Woodley. She began to show me her personalised ring tone of the duo’s television theme tune.
I had a feeling that the room was filled with true followers of the act. With the lights faded, and an introduction over the speakers, Lano and Woodley strode on stage with rich applause.
Just their presence had the room in a soaring cheer.
One song in, a group of people walked in to find their seats. They received a shock when Woodley started singing to them, along the lines of “Everybody look at the people, looking for their seats.”
Their live rendition of ‘Cat Blues’ was twice as long as the CD version but with Lano and Woodley stuff-ups are the rule not an exception.
Mistakes don't hinder a performance for these two. Woodley mentioned beforehand “Because we’re a bunch of bumbling farkwits anyway, there’s nothing we can do really that would be out of keeping.
“It’s a great safety net really. Probably 80 percent of the stuff- ups we’re doing purposely and the other 20 percent are actual stuff- ups.”
Their Perth show 'stuff- ups' were only related to the lyrics of ‘Toupee’ and ‘Again and Again and Again and Again’, but nothing to discourage viewers from liking the songs any less.
If anything, fans were amazed to see Lano play the drum and sing at the same time playing ‘Shed’.
What really got the crowd going was the unexpected change of power when Lano took over Woodley's song dedicated to ‘Sonya’, prompting Woodley to use a cricket bat to show Lano how he felt.
With a staged Paparazzi photo shoot using the audience’s snuck in cameras, a roadie microphone test with half of Lano’s backside exposed, as well as his energetic dancing, there was definitely something in the air that made them want to have as much fun as they could.
Lano made some justifiable comments regarding Subiaco’s more than unreasonable prices for a cup of coffee, which gave the audience something to relate to.
The audience, myself included, had expected a longer set but seeing Lano and Woodley live just soothed the soul. Whether it's Lano’s powerful charm or just simply Woodley’s red hat, there has never been a disappointing moment in their performances.
Keep an eye out for ‘The Island’ DVD, coming out at the start of 2006.
