Die Roten Punkte (The Red Dots) - Trades Hall, Melbourne - 04/05/06- by epod

The portrayal of Die Roten Punkte (The Red Dots) was so convincing that I almost believed that they were the mega famous band from Germany that they claimed to be. The moment that actors Clare Bartholomew and Daniel Tobias exploded onto the stage as brother and sister duo Otto and Astrid Rot, I was very amused and captivated, and a little later...disturbed!

The show began with a series of short rock songs, the length of which would put even the Ramones to shame. Each song was about the band, and each sounded the same, but had different basic lyrics. Even the most simple, stupid things were always accentuated by the performers with an enthusiastic, "Wooooo!" For example, "My name is Otto/My name is Astrid, and we're in a band...Wooo!". The two performers constantly bickered on stage, with Astrid giving Otto more than a serve at every opportunity. Unreal!

Each of the songs were introduced as "This is the first/second/third (and so on) song from our first/second album. What made things even more exciting was the fact that they both had tiny instruments to play. Astrid a tiny drumkit, and Otto an electric guitar. At the end of each song, they enthusiastically yelled, "Thank You Melbourne!" as if they were performing to a venue of thousands, rather than 30 something.

About halfway through the show, things took a rather unexpected, bizarre turn. After singing a song entitled, "I love you, and it's normal", Otto disappeared for a while under Astrid's dress. When he come back up for air, he was missing his wig, which he then had to retrieve. Call me slow, but I did not see that twist coming!

Astrid upset Otto again when she flirted with a front row member of the audience, even going so far as to dedicate a song to him on the Glockenspeil. Watching Otto throw a tantrum while Astrid was singing The Carpenters, "Close to You", was brilliant.

After the show finished, I purchased a Die Roten Punkte cd, as well as a badge which said, "I'm in a band!" from Otto, who pointed to me and said loudly, "Come on people, you can be as happy as this lady if you buy our cd!"

I wish that Die Roten Punkte was a real band and that they were doing more shows, but I suspect that they may have only been a creation for a few specific festival runs. They were brilliant, original and absolutely bloody hilarious - without a doubt one of the best shows of this years Melbourne Comedy Festival. If they do more shows, be sure to see them, as it is well worth it!