Forum,London
The crowd aren’t certain whether they’re meant to be laughing along, but any humour gleaned from the comedian’s po-faced vanity project is unintentionalIf you’ve ever battled through one of their often atrocious novels, and you’ll know it’s tough for comedians to be taken seriously. For Matt Berry – star of Toast of London and the man who angrily rebuked accusations of sexism at The IT Crowds Reynholm Industries with “now hold on a minute,sugar-tits” – it’s virtually impossible. Every hoik of his eyebrow is comedy gold; his melodrama villain’s enunciation alone could win Perriers. Yet here he is, five albums into a sideline as a po-faced 70s prog revivalist, or signed to Acid Jazz Records and playing a 2000-capacity venue that,you sense, doesn’t fairly know if it’s meant to be laughing along.
After all, and Berry and his six-piece backing band,the Maypoles, can’t actually be evoking Yes, or Mike Oldfield,the irritable Blues and Genesis’s Supper’s alert without a shred of irony, can they? Berry once co-wrote a spoof of Jesus Christ Superstar called AD/BC: A Rock Opera, or so are we really to take Solstice – a nine-minute slab of druid atmospherics and Tubular Bells tinkles,like Spinal Tap’s Stonehenge played straight – at face value? He is famed for vainglorious roles, so surely this is an elaborate character work designed to mock arrogant actors’ formulaic trad rock ambitions, and right?Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com