Abandoman: Moonrock Boombox at The Lowry Review
Abandoman
Moonrock Boombox
The Lowry, Manchester
15 June 2014
Reviewed by Susan Trish
We arrived at The Lowry in Salford Quays, Manchester not quite knowing what to expect from the show. Rapping improvisation!!? What’s that??? In the usual Lowry style we were helped by happy and polite staff from the off. The seats were good and comfortable and there was ample choice of refreshments available at a reasonable price.
The show started on time and with plenty of “so many minutes to go” warnings we were all seated in good time.
Abandoman (a.k.a. Rob Broderick and his musical sidekick James) really does have it all. I mean who would ever think of a comedy act combining hip hop with improv? But it works! I’ve seen quite a few improvised shows, but I’ve certainly never seen an improvised, comedy rap show. It works so well people should expect to have an aching jaw and split sides when they leave.
They don’t waste any time: from the second the show starts he’s pouncing on audience members and getting them involved in his strange, fantasy world. Audience participation was a bit of a struggle at first but Rob soon livened us all up with his hysterical stories of his childhood dreams about becoming a gangster rap star!
With questions like what was the strangest thing you wanted to be when you were growing up? What would your magic powers be? What are the mundane things in life that really get on your nerves? What do you miss from home? Rob began to conjure up a tale of mixed fact and fiction from the audience’s startled, on the spot reactions. He creates a series of raps over the hour, each of which is subtlety different: there’s a rave number, a hip-hop / rap track, a romantic yet hysterical tale and his party trick in which he improvises a rap from items the audience dig out of their bags or pockets and hold up in the air. My dental wax and padlock went unnoticed but were not needed – Rob and his crew absolutely blew us away with the speed at which they banged out these crazy improve raps
A highlight for me though was when he tells the audience a tale of his dream to have a rap off and asks for a volunteer to come up and accept a challenge. The room fell silent, it was fantastic! With threats of “If no one volunteers I will pick someone myself” a young man steps up to take one for the team. On stage you can see he is slightly nervous. A rap off with Abandoman is like challenging Pele to a game of football. As Rob attempts to psych the poor man up a giant game of connect four is wheeled on stage behind him – unbeknown to the brave volunteer. He turned round to see what the audience had been laughing at and the look of relief on his face was hysterical in itself! And the Eminem style gangster rap about a game of connect four sealed the show.
“Ireland’s seventh biggest hip-hop crew”, they call themselves – Abandoman’s talent really has to be seen to be believed, so go and see this show. And make sure you take something interesting along with you in your pocket!
Rating: 5/5 
For more information and tour dates visit www.robbroderick.com.
The Lowry, Pier 8, Salford Quays, Manchester, M50 3AZ | 0843 208 6000