Singing Tap classics as well as material from A Mighty Wind and Waiting for Guffman, the trio offered pitch-perfect parodies of arena-rock excess and folk-revival earnestness on the fifth date of its Unwigged & Unplugged tour, which wraps up May 31st in Milwaukee (shortly before the release this summer of a new Spinal Tap album, Back from the Dead).
The two-hour set alternated songs with brief multimedia bits, such as a clip from Spinal Taps first television appearance (on 1979s The T.V. Show) and a run-down of the edits that NBCs Standards & Practices department required before the network would air This Is Spinal Tap. (Shit sandwich you can understand, but twisted old fruit?)
Musical highlights included a didgeridoo-enhanced Clam Caravan; A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow, for which keyboardist CJ Vanston and McKeans wife Annette OToole joined the proceedings; a bluegrass rendition of the Rolling Stones Start Me Up; and Majesty of Rock, introduced not inaccurately by McKean as a genuine specimen of the rock & roll anthem. Only Stonehenge fell flat, its joke about downsizing done in by the intimate scale of the show.
During a Q&A session one fan asked if the actors might consider next satirizing the wacky renaissance-faire scene, but Shearer admitted that theyd already been beaten to the punch by the folks at FreeCreditReport.com. Some things just parody themselves, McKean added. I mean, how could you make a movie about Dancing with the Stars?
Set list:
The Colors of My Life
Hell Hole
Never Did No Wanderin
Clam Caravan
Bitch School
Loco Man
This Bulging River
All the Way Home
Blood on the Coal
(Listen to the) Flower People
Corn Wine
The Majesty of Rock
Stonehenge
Start Me Up
Cups and Cakes
Old Joes Place
Big Bottom
The Good Book Song
A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow
Rainy Day Sun
Sex Farm
Gimme Some Money
A Mighty Wind
The Colors of My Life
For more information contact All About Jazz.
