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Henry Rollins @ Wolverhampton Civic Hall, Wolverhampton
It’s important to remember that what you are seeing here is not a stand-up show. Granted Henry is able to make the audience laugh with the grace of a professional comedian but the show is titled “Henry Rollins: Spoken Word”. And that’s what it is; a 3 hour show comprised of the man himself regaling the audience with whimsical tales and amusing anecdotes from his own life. And yes you did read that right…3 hours! With no interval! You don’t get that with many shows. That’s value for money right there. You wouldn’t think that a huge, square-faced hard man would really have anything interesting to say to an audience, but you’d be wrong. So very very wrong. His anecdotes and tales lead one to suspect that he has lived a rather interesting life. From his gigs in South Africa to waking up one morning and suddenly deciding to visit parts of Asia, Henry is never stuck for something to say. And if that little story happens to make the audience explode in to laughter, then that’s all the better. He also has no shame in telling people about his past achievements, everything from fronting Black Flag in the 80’s, to publishing 16 books and to owning his own radio show conveniently titled The Henry Rollins Show. His opinions (as well as his stories) entertain, inform and make people laugh. And this goes back to what I said earlier about the importance of understanding that this is more than a comedy gig. Henry has a lot to say about the world and some of it from a political stand point. Hmm…a big American guy talking politics, this can only lead to jokes and rants about President George Bush. Again with the wrongness. Although he makes reference to the Bush administration and gives insight into his own personal opinion about the war in Iraq, he doesn’t mould parts of his show around that in the hopes of gaining audience sympathy which is something that a lot of comedians fall into because, quite frankly, it’s a cheap and easy way of getting laughs. The good thing about Henry Rollins and his spoken word show is that you don’t specifically have to know a lot about him in order to be able to get what he is saying. He’s coming from a different angle with this tour so anyone who attends (whether fan or otherwise) is sure to be entertained by him. Maybe even a little inspired. Maybe. |
