Tenacious D, O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire, London (GB) - Dec 8, 2013

The first thing I was going to say was going to be, 'What a good laugh!' That, if said, would be an gross injustice as the thing that mostly strikes you with Tenacious D, is just how adept they both are with a guitar. Unlike when they played at the download festival, this was just Jack Black and Kyle Gass and their acoustic guitars, no backing band! But boy, can they play! JB is an excellent rythym guitarist and is a perfect foil for KG's surprisingly soulful solo's! They opened with 'Kickapoo' from the 'Tenacious D In the Pick of Destiny' film and the crowd sang along slavishly as if they were reciting a particularly famous Monty Python sketch or part of a Rocky Horror show audience! And so it continued with the crowd giving enthusiast backing to tracks like 'Classico', 'Baby' and 'Dude, I Totally Miss You!', before launching into some of the tracks from the recent album, 'Rize of the Fenix' including the title track and 'Roadie', 'Throwdown', 'The Ballad of Hollywood Jack And The Rage Kage!' Throw in 'Kielbassa' and the epic 'Tribute' from the self titled debut album and there you have it, an evening to put a smile on anybody's face! Jack Black is as manic as you'd expect him to be with explosive movements. He goes from dynamic rock poses to being a furious and sweaty ball of rockness which is so full of almost nervous, electric energy that you wonder if he's on the Columbian marching powder! They ended the evening with the wonderful lads anthem 'F*@k Her Gently' before leaving to a rapturous, standing ovation! The only downside, was that an acoustic set meant that tracks like "Master Exploder', 'The Metal' and Wonderboy' didn't get played, but sometimes you just have to be grateful for what you have, right?