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Last night I completed one of my life goals. There are certain acts that I’ve always wanted to see and I’m quite happy that I’ve seen most of the acts I’ve always wanted to live. From a young age I wanted to see Bottom Live, I was worried by the time I was old enough they’d have stopped but thankfully not. I have seen Wheatus many a time, each time is an honor. I have seen Steve Coogan, Bill Bailey, Lee Evans, the Foo Fighters play Wembley Stadium and now I’ve seen the greatest rock band of all time. Spinal Tap.
From the first time I ever saw the film ‘This Is Spinal Tap’ I was hooked. The music was amazing and the act, seminal. I became a fan of everything Tap related. I began to look into the men under the wigs and was introduced to the amazing ability of Christopher Guest. His sense of humour, his creativity is really on my level and I fell in love with his other works such as Best In Show, Waiting For Guffman and of course A Mighty Wind.
In was in said film that we meet ‘The Folksmen’, a folk band trio played by the same group of actors as Spinal Tap and also the support act for the live show at Wembley! How exciting. At the end of A Mighty Wind Mark Shrubb (Harry Shearer) decides he wants to play folk music for the rest of his life and he wants to spend that as a woman. As I sat in the foyer at Wembley Arena I wondered how accurate they would play these characters and if Shrubb would appear in drag. They didn’t disapoint.
As I hoped he was a woman and my admiration grew even more. To continue something like that six years after the movie was released is just great. The Folksmens set was short but was a great and fun way to kick off the show. They opened with Wanderin’ and then A Mighty Wind. They also played Loco Man, a calypso song about a man who does nothing except relax on a beach, Blood On The Coal and Old Joes Place. They were told to leave the stage as Marta Shrubb was explaining the history behind the song Skeletons of Quinto.
As we waited for Tap to take the stage we saw a clip of St. Hubbins and Small backstage playing Left 4 Dead on the Xbox 360. Strangley next we got to watch The Majesty of Rock video before another small wait. I noticed some wynches go up to the rafters from the stage making me think that the band would come from the roof, they didn’t. But they came on stage and opened with Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You, Tonight. Such a classic and amazing opener that really pumped up the crowd, as if they needed pumping.
The set was full of all the classics you’d expect from Tap, Sex Fam, Gimme Some Money, Hell Hole, Stonehenge, Cash on Delivery (my favourite)