17 January, 2023 – The Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane – words by Lucas Bell – pictures by Bec Harbour
Chaos descended upon the Fortitude Music Hall on Tuesday night, for what was personally, one of my most anticipated concerts of the last 5 years. While deep in the throws of Covid, there was one bright shining star, in nothing but a bathrobe and his boxer shorts, providing entertainment to the masses online. His name is Marc Rebillet. With a loop deck, impeccable comedic timing, and some of the filthiest beats and lyrics in music today, Rebillet has been able to cultivate an audience the world over. And 3 years after his debut tour announcement, he has finally made it to Australia. And for his debut show, he brought along Brisbane based electro pop group, WIIGZ.
WIIGZ was a name I knew not a whole lot about. I’d seen the name around BigSound before, but outside that, knowledge of this group was very limited for myself. And that was probably the best way to experience them. They were an absolute onslaught of electronic pop music for about 45 minutes, with backup dancers, a live drummer, electronics/hype man, a super funky bass player (that even got in on the dance choreography), and an electric lead singer that from the outset was able to get the mission statement of the band across from the jump, ‘Look Good, and Feel Good’. WIIGZ as a band oozes charisma. And the songs were all catchy as heck. They even got the crowd singing along to a few songs at points in the show. While there was a small contingent at the back of the venue that were rowdy for Marc, the band had the crowd eating from their hands.
After a short interval, the lights went down, and the back board of the Fortitude Music Hall lit up with a digital video package that showed a laptop with a lock screen. After entering a joke about eating ass (naturally), we got logged in to Marc Rebillet’s computer, where for the rest of the night, we got some absolutely unhinged videos that accompanied the first 80 minutes of Marc’s completely improvised set. Whoever does Marc’s video production, needs a raise. Because it was HIGH quality, for what is basically 100 minutes of EDM shitposting in real life.
Marc ran onto the stage, going absolutely nuts, and for the first 5 minutes or so, he didn’t do anything, except crowd work with no speaking. Just managed alone, to elicit massive cheers, by just existing. From here, it was just about 80 minutes of improvised music, jokes, and bits. He did an entire song about Queensland (after trying to get the crowd to say the word Queensland for about 3 minutes, with everyone instead saying everything BUT Queensland).
The rest of the songs all night were hilarious, including songs about a girl that wasn’t even at the show that loved anal sex, a song about being “in the outback, hoe”, and about how going to work sucks. In what was one of two super cool moments of the night though, Marc pulled up 4 people on stage, with two of them holding gifts for him. One of them, included a fully knitted rainbow bathrobe, that was so impressive, it has to be seen to be believed. And another one, that inducted Marc into their friend group with a saying I really can’t write in this review. Marc also did an improv about the gifts as well, which was also a super cool moment for those fans.
Marc then started to wrap the show up, by stating that he was now moving into the encore, and that he would play songs, the crowd might be more familiar with. And there were 3 songs the crowd shouted, which he happily played. The first song was ‘Girl’s Club’. Watching Marc put together improv on a loop station is impressive. But watching him replicate songs he’s already made, live, and to perfection like he did, was something entirely different. After that, he played the super viral song ‘Your New Morning Alarm’, and then closed the set on super fan favorite, ‘I’m a Flamingo’.
After completing the set, Marc got on the microphone, and talked about finally making it out, and told us that there is something he does at the end of his shows, where he trades the robe he wore to that show, for a robe in the crowd, to wear at the next show. And the robe trade happens in every city. So seeing a fan go home with his robe, was so cool to see. Overall, this show was 100% worth the wait. Marc’s style is definitely not for everyone. But everyone that was in that building for the show, was there because they love this man, and what he does.
