Eric Davidson: The Independent State of Eric

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Local lad Eric Davidson downsizes this year. He has swapped the guitar for the ukulele in The Independent State of Eric to deliver a new comic sermon on the year’s events, from Putin through to the referendum. But while these two topics represent polar opposites in Davidson’s set, there’s no room for intelligent comparison, debate or insight, just a series of pleasant but rather insipid musical observations.

Davidson starts with a song called ‘How Do You Solve a Problem Like Crimea?’ There’s potential here, at least. Instead, it’s all quite diffuse, relying on clever wordplay that brushes over you like a satin sheet. Along the way, Davidson tells us about growing up just down the road and reveals titbits about his family who are still there. There’s more intrigue and honesty here, but when he launches into poems and songs about Keira Knightley or riffs on George Formby’s ‘When I’m Cleaning Windows’, it all feels directionless and predictable.

Davidson has a fanbase already established from his extra-cirricular gigs at weddings or performing at functions. At times, this gig feels a lot like that. It would be easy to mistake this Fringe show for a set you might catch on board a cruise ship or boxed into a corner on the Royal Mile. Davidson himself can play and sing, the couplets in his poems are indeed finely written, but there’s no passion to it all, no real satire or zest. Consequently, his independent state is one that we’re unlikely to visit any time soon.