TENACIOUS D – live in Oslo
- Posted on 03-05-2024
There are few things that can make a boring Tuesday evening as perfect as an incredible fun, but professional, live show. This is what we were treated to in Oslo on the last day of April in Sentrum Scene. A scene which wasn’t fair in size for the opening act, Crusade, as they are a duo where the drummer is singing quite a lot during each song so visually, they can barely make an impression on the big stage. But hey, it was their second show ever, so the fact they played so tight, totally showed their musicianship. However, I think their mellow 70s nostalgic sound filled with ton of cool ideas is something totally worth checking out and I added it to my playlists. The project has a new album out, “Origins”, and you can get an idea of how groovy they are by listening to it. Sadly, no photos were taken during this show as we were allowed to get into the photopit only after they have finished.
After the changeover and final stage setups and checks, here comes Jack Black and his partner in vocal and acoustic guitar crimes, Kyle Gass, supported by 3 more musicians, one of them being John Konesky, the electric guitar player from the opening act. The crowd went wild when Black entered the stage and even wilder when they kicked it off with, what else, Kickapoo.
I am not entirely sure what’s the best way to review a Tenacious D concert. I took notes for a lot of the jokes made throughout the show. But many of them are contextual so will probably be less funny in writing. I’ll give it a try. But before I talk about goofiness, let’s not ignore the fact that the show was simply impeccable. I didn’t need earplugs, the light was making everything justice and it was such a nice varied light show. The interaction with everyone was top notch, each person played their part well and with good spirits. And on top of it all, good quality in the way the music was delivered. Vocals were right, instruments were flowing nicely. The only thing left to complain about is the assholness of people who chatter loud enough to bother you, especially during the more peaceful moments. But these are not part of the tour, are just omnipresent.
Oh, and Jack Black’s energy was quite impressive to be honest. Wasn’t expecting him to jump and run around like that. True, not the whole show, but often and long enough to make it impressive. People with white hair/beard tend to be slower than that.
Here’s the memorable goofs:
- trying to open the bottle of water left for him on stage and noticing the cap stays on -> leads to some praise on how Norway saves the world
- At the end of Tribute (I believe) a single line of pyro comes up behind the demon which was towering over the drumkit. Crowd starts chanting ‘pyro,pyro’ and Black holds a speech about how disappointed he is in the pyro guy. And should fire him. Get that, fire him!
- Some armor dressed robot comes on stage and Jack Black realizes ‘It’s the metal’. And they play ‘The Metal’, and dance all together in the end.
- In depth analysis of the Norwegian Jazz heritage and the knowledge that there are no wrong notes in jazz. And gets each instrument, one by one, to exemplify this. Then comes the Saxaboom which also has a big brother, the maxaboom. They’re too funny and odd.
- Some rant about drums in the microphone makes Kyle quit and Jack starts singing ‘Dude! I miss you’. The projected movie with the two running in knee deep water in swimsuits (I think, I actually remember jiggling manboobs) led to an explosion of laughter. And then a bit of ‘Wicked Game’ to conclude the bromance
- each instrument gets to do some sort of solo. And then we are told that if they look good, it’s because of Scott, the light guy and asks him to make a light solo. Surprise, there’s a light solo! Almost everyone involved in the show received credits though. And then Jack Black had to go solo as well and did a bit of Take on Me.
- Eventually the pyro guy is brought on stage and he gets to explain his nervousness. Luckily, he doesn’t get fired. Instead he gets a pep talk on how everyone is nervous to play in front of so many people. So he should pyro like he never pyroed before. So at the end of the show and ‘Fk her gently’ – dedicated to the young fkers out there – a nice pyro display shows up on stage to the delight of everyone. Really well played!
You can see a full photo gallery here