Fuccbois: Live in Concert delivers hilarious boyband satire, brilliant drag king performances and musical comedy. Nick Bennett reviews.
To be completely honest, I don’t think that I am a part of the target market that the Fuccbois are aiming for, although, on the night of the concert, that demographic appeared to be quite broad. I suppose it could be summed up in one word - “alternative”, alternative everything.
The Fuccbois, in case, like me, you have never heard of them, are billed as the biggest boy band in the world - a bold claim indeed. With that in mind, I decided to ask my adult daughter to accompany me to their ‘farewell concert’. She would be my guide in this unfamiliar netherworld of youth pop culture, although I did have my doubts regarding her suitability as her questions began to mount, “Who are they?’, “What sort of show is it?”, “Is it a musical?”, etc. I quoted the promo material - “part pop concert, part musical comedy, all Fuccbois”. She gave me a dubious look.
The band’s four members (and I use that term advisedly) are - Brandon, Brendan, Tyler, and the other Brendan (the ‘uncool’ one). As we entered the Darling Quarter Theatre we were greeted with several desperate fans, waving signs and pleading for any spare tickets. The more astute reader will probably have perceived from the band’s name, if nothing else, that the Fuccbois are to boybands what Spinal Tap were to heavy metal - a very clever piss-take; and so it proved.
From the moment they entered it was clear that we were in for a full on assault of all the tropes and cliches of boyband performance culture - the exaggerated slow walk, the weird posturing, the hyper sexualised choreography, right down to the chest beating, crotch grabbing, pelvic thrusting, and finger pointing. This was physical satire that was acutely observed, precisely performed and absolutely hilarious, made the moreso for being performed by ‘drag kings’.
Over and above the slapstick, what really kept the audience engaged, my daughter and I included, was the undeniable talent of the ‘Fuccbois’. Drag has a reputation for providing a stage for people with limited singing and dancing skills but fabulous costumes and wigs, but these bois could really sing and dance.
I also appreciated that the song lyrics were projected on the wall behind them, so we could savour the full force of their satirical, laser-like skewering of the bizarre masculinity that boybands promote. Just as a drag queen’s performance is a parody of femininity, drag king acts parody the more ridiculous present-day manifestations (sorry, I couldn’t resist it) of performative, naive masculinity and the inane mating rituals. Fuccbois: Live in Concert took the parody to another level, and for over an hour of high energy singing, dancing, comic acting gold had the audience eating out of their hands. The ultimate accolade came from my daughter - she doesn’t like theatre, but she loved Fuccbois’ Farewell Concert, and so did I.
4 stars
Review by: Nick Bennett