Tenacious D

By Stan McGuigan

Artist:  Tenacious D

Date / Venue:  Monday May 20th, Town Hall, Auckland

There is no doubt that Jack Black has a strong passion for music, he met Kyle Gass in 89 and formedTenacious D in 94 before his acting career had taken off. Indeed it's fair to say that Jacks Hollywood success helped create a blossoming stage for TD to reach far greater audiences than ever before because of it. An attempt to mix the two ended unfortunately and bore no fruit where the TD movie ‘The Pick of Destiny' was a commercial flop. However fans of the band can still rejoice as TD continues its world tour with three shows in NZ where I was able to catch the first in Auckland at the Town Hall.

The venue was perfect for the sold out show, cozy enough to be close to the action yet still felt very much like being at a rock concert. The first act was with one of our own comedians Jamaine Ross who helped warm up the crowd with a few good laughs. This went for around thirty minutes before Sasquatch entered and treated us to a mixture of singing, guitar playing and my personal favourite his drum renditions. These two acts lasted about an hour and although they were quality we were all getting restless by this point. Especially with foot stomping fans demanding TD make an appearance. Unfortunately at this time there was another break which I can only imagine was to try and milk a few more coins from the bar and merchandise booths before JB and KG finally made their grand entrance (around 90 minutes from when the show was scheduled to start).

One thing you can rely on with TD is to provide a performance; these guys know how to entertain. With no more than a couple of guitar stands and a table for water, TD began reeling in the audience, the long wait became a distant memory as they began to play. If I was to review TD as a Rock band I would be doing them a disservice. They are certainly talented performers, however to me the concert was far more about showmanship than music. If you are looking for a Black Sabbath type experience then you are in the wrong place. TD will have you laughing, it's a unique blend of comedy acting and heavy metal music that only they can and should do.

TD's performance lasted for ‘one hour and 23 minutes' (as Jack himself put it) and was certainly ‘the shit'. Nobody wanted it to end and as predicted some raucous foot stomping and screams for more were soon answered with a couple more songs. Barring the wait the overall concert was well worth the money. I would have preferred that it had been shorter in length with less delay seeing TD on stage. Jack and Kyle played to the crowd interacting when appropriate to keep the momentum flowing. What left for Jack to do, as an accomplished comedian, actor, videogame character, voice actor...in show business he is the ‘Jack of all trades'.