What an amazing story. There are early echoes here of those more politicised early 80s post-punk festivals which combined music and stand-up, empowering an audience almost subliminally through a sort of primitive satire. It’s also an interesting record of a community becoming increasingly conscious of their position as a underclass. Great writing! More of this please 🙏
Thank you, Tim. You’re right about the similarities to those 80s festivals - Dunstan in particular would not have been too out of place performing at these more modern gatherings. By all accounts he was a fearless and amusing political communicator and seems to have been expert at playing a crowd. Quite something to behold for a community needing to let off some steam, and probably rather unsettling for anyone in authority looking on - as, of course, these things should be.
What an amazing story. There are early echoes here of those more politicised early 80s post-punk festivals which combined music and stand-up, empowering an audience almost subliminally through a sort of primitive satire. It’s also an interesting record of a community becoming increasingly conscious of their position as a underclass. Great writing! More of this please 🙏
Thank you, Tim. You’re right about the similarities to those 80s festivals - Dunstan in particular would not have been too out of place performing at these more modern gatherings. By all accounts he was a fearless and amusing political communicator and seems to have been expert at playing a crowd. Quite something to behold for a community needing to let off some steam, and probably rather unsettling for anyone in authority looking on - as, of course, these things should be.