one4review | On 05, Aug 2018

Late’n’Live comes with a reputation of being rather riotous; the show I saw seemed quite calm (caveat of ‘calm for a drunk audience at 1am’), though the press office and the compere did mention an incident of on-stage vomiting the previous night (not deliberate or planned, as I understand).

Compere John Hastings was excellent: roasting various audience members without losing the goodwill of everyone else (or apparently, his interlocutors); keeping unruly hecklers in line in spectacular form; and getting the audience geared up for the acts.

The five acts were of variable quality, and their material variably suited to what Late’n’Live is. No-one utterly died on stage, though the number of people leaving to go to the bar during each particular set gave some indication of how acts were being received. Some performers could perhaps have pushed the envelope rather more than they did, or worked more with a rowdy but receptive audience. Staying to the end was worthwhile for the last act who reinvigorated the room, and the blues band who finished off the night with time for dancing.

As for many things with extraordinary hype, Late’n’Live was perhaps less raucous than expected, but fun nonetheless.

Reviewed by Laura

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 01:00