Expo Liaison Festival Experience
Luna Park
Sydney, Australia
August 25, 2018
For the unitiated: Client Liaison is a two-man performance operation and a dedicated homage to Australian tackiness and the hedonism of the corporate world of the late 1980ies running the gamut from fashion, demeanour, corporate greed, vanity and the trademark groove filled, high-energy synth pop.
Monte Morgan and Harvey Miller AO, the two gentlemen and schmoozing CEOs behind the duo have now taken their endeavours to the next level and launched a themed, curated festival, i.e. an extravaganza dedicated to excess and one that goes a bit further than your run-off-the-mill music fest – a festival that in essence was modelled after the World Expo 88, which was held in Brisbane in 1988 with the significant theme “leisure in the age of technology”.
The multimedia/ and -sensory experience provided over seven hours of Client Liaison-curated retrospect, vintage entertainment framed by main stage performances of fellow electro poppers Alice Ivy, Rainbow Chan, KLP & Luke Million, Ken Davis, Kon, the funky and energetic eight-piece band NO ZU and Total Giovanni and their own act headlining, not only in the duo celebrating their chart hits but accompanied by no less the Australian music legend John Farnham, i.e. “Whispering Jack”, who was joining them on stage for a medley of his eighties chart toppers.
Upon arrival we followed the ever funky Luke Million down his rabbit hole of disco set against an epic audio-visual display accompanied by footage of the '80s-inspired sci-fi show and exploding with synthesiser chords. Alice Ivy followed suit energetic as ever utilising an array of instruments and creating a vibe that was eagerly soaked up by the audience.
The festival spread across Luna Park’s Big Top, which was comprised of a fashion precinct - of course aligned with Client Liaison’s trademark “international in flavour and cosmopolitan in style”, which featured Client Liaison’s Deluxe Leisure Fashion line, photo opps in 80ies holiday settings or alternatively with their off-white Mercedes Benz limousine on the red carpet and free services like an on-site seamstress that offered to sew patches on your garments on site.
Upstairs a second, smaller stage was set up for DJ and band in a more relaxed ambience.
Attention to details like the “liquid asset” bar menu and the dessert bar, which even had a croquembouche on display, ice sculpture carving and a woodchop competition as an ode to celebrate Australia's oldest “sport”, make Expo Liaison an extravaganza that works on many levels, each facet of which is subtly infused with Client Liaison’s flavour.
The cherry on top of the rainbow coloured Expo Liaison layer cake was the pyrotechnic heavy incarnation of Client Liaison. Never holding back when it comes to extravagant costume changes, back up dancers and ornaments straight from 1980ies Saturday afternoon pop TV shows, the show was an engaging exercise in fine entertainment that was masterfully calibrated with ebbs and flows and hard to resist.
A truly unique, immersive festival and a whole lot of fun.
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Photos by @k.a.vv
