Concert Review: Spinal Tap

Hello folks. First off, a big round of applause for the Minnesota Supreme Court and a newly realistic Norm Coleman. It feels good to have our state be constitutionally whole again.

Back to the subject matter, yesterday's Spinal Tap concert was a fantastic success. I accidentally overpaid for a tube ticket by £4, but not even that could stop a great night of music. Yes, I actually say music. Regardless of the cinematic origins of the band, the actors are actually accomplished musicians, and for the vast majority of the night, played all of the instruments.

Because Spinal Tap was originally a movie, it was a bit surreal to see them play as an actual band, live and in person. The best analogy I have come up with is that it was akin to seeing a real dinosaur. We've all heard of dinosaurs, we know what they look like, they're actually quite familiar. But to see an actual dinosaur in your backyard, you'd be a bit taken aback. Same for Spinal Tap. It was a bit shocking to see the movie come alive.

Aside from the general ridiculousness of the lyrics, which swim in that sort of 1980's arrested development pseudo-sexuality, I thought the music was actually played very well. They definitely knew that the audience was there because of the movie, so they did a good job of playing the music people would recognize. I'm fairly certain every song you hear in the movie was played in full version last night. I did wish they had a bit more witty banter on stage, but I also realize that people came to hear the music, not a play. Every once in a while, David St. Hubbins would drop out of his accent, but Nigel Tufnel and Derek Smalls were spot on.

It was kind of nifty, the venue (Wembley Arena) was right next door to Wembley Stadium, which is a massive football stadium. The size of this stadium just seemed to dwarf the Metrodome, and it was capped off with this huge metal archway, which you could see from miles away. So yes, quite impressive. The actual Wembley Arena was kind of like a smaller Target Center. It wasn't nearly so deep, but probably the same dimensions lengthwise.

Anyways, I haven't gotten to posting any of the numerous videos I took last night, but you can check out photos of the concert (and some others) at the newly added "My Photos" tab on the links to your right. Check them out, I will post the videos hopefully tomorrow.