Spinal Tap @ Dodge Theatre.

Ok, the proper intro would be "Unwigged and Unplugged: an evening with Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer"... but that was a lot for a blog title I thought. Anyways... last night was the comedy geniuses behind "This is Spinal Tap" (among others) performing live, unwigged and unplugged.

This was a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be. Not to say I wasn't looking forward to it. But when they came on stage, it was very cool. These are three comedians known for their hilarious, if not awkward, improve skills. Their presence on stage, in a musical setting, was to say the least, unique. They would comment on people in the audience, what they we're eating, when they arrived late, etc... Actually, when I was done shooting, I was on the far side of the stage and had to make my way through to the other side of the stage, but the theatre became very quiet, so I sort of started to run to get out of people's way... when I did that Harry Shearer commented "That man is RUNNING away from us!" and the others commented on my sprint and how terrible I must have thought the show was. :)

The banter was a lot of fun to listen to. Harry Shearer would give very detailed explanations of how certain songs were written, and where the inspiration came from, while Christopher Guest would constantly try to mix him up, and could be seen laughing off to the side, away from his microphone. There were a lot of inside jokes, and running gags that made for a really fun setting.

At one point I was sitting there thinking "what a cool trio to be watching". Michael McKean, the obvious 'leader' of the band. Christopher Guest, lead guitar and brilliant filmmaker. And of course Harry Shearer, lead bass... and lets not forget the voice of Mr. Burns, Mr. Smithers, Mr. Skinner to name a few. It was pretty surreal.

Throughout the night they played songs from all their films, (This is Spinal Tap, A Mighty Wind, Waiting For Guffman) as well as songs that were previously unheard, but were written at the same time. It was a neat mix up. All done on acoustics, with the occasional mandolin or the hilariously awfully played didgeridoo. Shearer would also sometimes switch to stand up bass. It was a lot of fun. I actually got a ticket to this show, so it was nice to be able to sit and let some of it sink in. The highlight of my night was hearing "Bitch School".

From a photog stand point... it was pretty boring lighting. Just a few whites and oranges. No real change. No back drop. Just the three of them standing their doing their thing. But I'm happy I got what I got.