Otto & Astrid: The Stages Tour - Inside Otto and Astrid's New Edinburgh Fringe Show, Otto & Astrid: The Stages Tour
- Cultural Dose
- 2 hours ago
- 4 min read
Berlin's gloriously dysfunctional sibling rock duo Otto & Astrid head to the Edinburgh Fringe with Otto & Astrid: The Stages Tour, an irreverently side-splitting musical comedy packed with Europop, sibling rivalry and pitch-perfect pop parody. While Otto is determined to create an emotional stadium spectacular inspired by Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, Astrid simply wants to make it through a single song without a meltdown. Fresh from a sold-out US tour, the cult duo arrives with international acclaim in tow for a glitter-smeared rock gig about family, chaos and co-dependence. We spoke with Astrid to hear more about the show.
Otto & Astrid have been touring internationally for two decades. How has the relationship between you evolved over the years?
Otto gets a little lost sometimes. We lost our parents when he was nine, so I had to home-school him and we lived in a squat in Berlin, and he has always needed a bit of guidance. On tour I give him little jobs to keep him busy. Carrying things. Running errands. Small tasks that make him feel useful. And then he is happy. That is basically the same as it has always been. So, I would say the relationship has not evolved so much as it has found its rhythm.
The show seems to send up the idea of the modern mega-tour while also being a celebration of your own back catalogue. Were there any real concert experiences that fed into the premise?
My ideal concert is The Ramones. Sixty songs in twenty-five minutes. No talking. No explaining. No themes. Just "1,2,3,4" and then the next song. And then at the end everyone goes to the after party. That is a perfect night. I also love Peaches. I love Amyl and the Sniffers. That energy. That directness. You come, you get the show, you leave changed.
Our show is seventy minutes, which is longer, but the spirit is the same. The only challenge is that Otto always wants to share his feelings, and part of my job is to keep that under control.
The audience becomes part of the world of the show almost immediately. How much of that interaction is planned, and how much depends on who happens to be in the room that night?
Some people in the room know us. Some people know each other. Some people don't know anyone. By the end of the night that doesn't matter. We are all in the same room having the same experience and that is the whole point. I want everyone to leave feeling like they were part of something. Also, I want everyone to be looking at me. Both things are true.
Otto and Astrid appear determined to ruin each other's show, yet they clearly need each other. Is that tension what keeps the act alive?
Otto is not trying to ruin my show. He just is not always in control of his feelings, so I have to give him rules. No unauthorised songs. No deeply personal memories. Stick to the set list. These are not complicated rules. And yet every night we have a conversation about them. I would never try to ruin Otto's fun. I just do not always understand why he wants the things he wants. I think what people see as tension, is really just two people with very different ideas about what a great show looks like, trying to have both shows at the same time.
The songs cover everything from dinosaurs and robots to kittens. Do you ever start with a genuinely absurd idea just to see whether you can turn it into a great song?
I do not think of them as absurd. I write about things I am interested in. Parties. Food. Second best friends. Having a good time. I think one of my most accurate lyrics is "I don't wanna hear you complain about your mother, I wanna take you home and dress you in rubber." These are the most important things in life. Everyone knows this.
Your work has been described as pitch-perfect pop parody, but you also stress the quality of the song writing itself. Is it important that the songs would still stand up even if people were to miss the context within the show?
Our songs are as real as any song ever written. We rock as hard as any band. The songs are a lot of fun but that does not mean they are not serious. If you come to our show expecting one thing, you will get a blistering rock and roll show, and I think that will surprise you. The songs stand up because they are good songs. That is the only reason.
A video for The Situation attracted millions of views on TikTok. Did that online response introduce Otto & Astrid to a different audience from the one you'd built through live touring?
I do not think it is a different audience so much as a bigger one. More people know our songs before they walk in the door now, which is exciting. In Philadelphia we were in the band room three floors up, an hour before the show, and we could hear people in the street singing the words to The Situation. That was a good feeling.
Otto & Astrid: The Stages Tour will be performed at 9:20pm at Assembly Roxy from 5th – 30th August.
