Underbelly’s Circus Hub, The Meadows 20:30
Camille O’Sullivan’s crown as Queen of the Fringe seems safe for quite a few years to come, given the strength of her performance in this premiere of her new show. She admitted that it was a wrench not to perform some of her best known songs but it was necessary to introduce new material.
The Carny Dream is a wonderful mesmerising mix of sound, lighting and new sparkly costumes leavened by the Cork girl’s wit and humour and a very professional backing band. It’s not a complete break from the past, though: old standards like The Port of Amsterdam, Is that all there is? and Misery is the River of the World remain. The new material introduces covers of more David Bowie songs, Nick Cave’s evocative In Your Arms and Prince’s Purple Rain.
Camille’s vocal range is astonishing. She can turn the volume up from a whisper to a roar in a heartbeat and leave the audience eating out of her hand. In fact, they didn’t want to go home; demanding a series of encores unil she had to plead for them to go home as the venue was required for the next performer.
Reviewed by David Kerr
Five Stars *****
Counter Culture 
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