August 2, 2024 The Quinntessential Review
EdFringe Review: Accordion Ryan’s Pop Bangers
I’ve owned Accordion Ryan a review for a year or two. It turns out I was doing myself a huge disservice. What a barrel of musical joy.The show is precisely what he promises and more. He does indeed perform bangers from across the pop spectrum in ways you’ve never heard before. He doesn’t change the lyrics, he just switches synths, drums, and bass for his accordion.Give the boy a time machine, and Ryan with his long flowing locks and merry squeezebox could probably find audiences in the taverns and bars of any time. His rampant renditions of ‘Hey Nonny Nonny’ would become the thing of legends.Of course, given his talent for sweeping an audience away in an all-singing, all-dancing PARTY, one fears that he would be burned as a witch. However, his memory would live on, a spark of unbridled happiness in the minds of the last peasants who heard him. Ryan is absolutely free to put the following quote on his posters: So good, our ancestors would probably have burned him as a witch.“Give the boy a time machine, and Ryan with his long flowing locks and merry squeezebox could probably find audiences in the taverns and bars of any time.”Ryan is such an engaging, charming performer that the stoniest of Boomers+ who wander into the show will be won over sooner or later. From Britney Spears ‘Baby One More Time’ to the dirty version of Khia’s ‘My Neck, My Back’ Ryan gives his all, prancing here and there like a shoe-wearing satyr. I can’t imagine an audience not getting on board with his open-hearted invitation to join in or dance.Personally I and the younger Mrs.QR would have enjoyed a slightly more diverse range of genres, and if Ryan wants to give back to Edinburgh audiences, he’ll have more luck with the Proclaimers than Gerry Cinnamon. These are small notes on what is the finest accordion party in town this August. So fine that other accordionist pop afficianados needn’t apply.I close with a demonstration of Ryan’s alchemical abilities with song. Readers, I actually enjoyed a rendition of W.A.P. for the very first time. The combination of his fine accordion playing, merry (not silly) voice, and the party atmosphere stripped it of its rather icky (in my opinion!) overtones, and left only a slightly risque singalong.With that I leave you, open mouthed with amazement. For more amazement you can always go along to Accordion Ryan’s Pop Bangers! Click Here For Review