Spinal Tap: Unwigged and Unplugged - Milwaukee, WI

I've seen some great musical acts in my 21 years - living legends like B.B. King and Santana as well as some smaller but no less talented acts like Joe Bonamassa, but I'm not sure I've ever had so much fun at a concert as I had last night at the Riverside Theater in Milwaukee, Wisconsin when I was given the opportunity to see Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer live, performing songs from This is Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman, and A Mighty Wind.

Not only was this concert recorded for DVD, but it was the first ever live performance of the song Saucy Jack, a spoof of You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch about Jack the Ripper, and the first performance of Big Bottom since Live Earth (all according to the band members).

When first entering the room after their announcement by Shearer using his classic announcer voice, the first things that went through my head were Harry Shearer sure is tiny and Damn, they're getting old. Their age definitely did not slow them down, however. They had great stage presence and kept the crowd energetic and rolling with laughter due to their musicianship, amazing chemistry and interactions, and stories, both fictional--stories of their famous characters--and factual--trying to get This is Spinal Tap to air on network television while being forced to edit lines like "Shit sandwich," "Lick my love pump," and the song Sex Farm in its entirety.

The music, though acoustic, was fantastic. The music from A Mighty Wind was just as it was in the film, while many of the Spinal Tap songs were cleverly re-composed, but remained just as fun. The trio performed damn near their entire catalog, including Hell Hole, A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow performed beautifully by McKean and wife Anette O'Toole, a jazz version of Big Bottom (explaining they couldn't compete with their performance at Live Earth), Old Joe's Place, and Stone Henge. Also, Shearer's wife Judith Owen performed, two fan videos were screened--one of which was made with Legos and may forever change the way we throw the horns (after a joke fans started making "C" shapes with their hands because of the lego people), and 2 encores which included Give me Some Money and Heavy Duty.


All together, this concert was amazing and allowed for a lot of audience participation. They had everyone repeating "You make a dead man cum" during their cover of the Rolling Stones' Start Me Up, and they had a Q&A session about 2/3 of the way through the show--the very first question was "Why aren't you performing at Shank Hall?" (The real Shank Hall in Milwaukee was named after the one in Spinal Tap) One lucky audience member even got the chance to watch them in 3D with the only pair of 3D glasses they had. The show was a load of fun, and I'm not sure it's something that could ever be topped.

Check out the Spinal Tap website for a free MP3 download of Saucy Jack and information on their new album Back From the Dead.