Tenacious D at Club Largo

After seeing The Centimeters for the first time on the 20th, I went to see Tenacious D at Largo on the 21st. I had never heard or seen anything by The D, I only knew of them by reputation. Tenacious D did an HBO special which my brother saw and told me about, so when I saw that they were playing, I had to go check them out.

Unfortunately, the manager of Largo wouldn't let me take pictures during the show (even though I wasn't using a flash). I did ask the doorman before the show, he had said he wasn't sure of the policy but he thought it was probably alright. About 1 song (and 2 pictures) into the show, the manager confiscated my camera and said I could pick it up after the show.

When I went to pick it up, he told me that people were putting up images (and apparently audio files) that they had obtained at Largo and they didn't want that. He also said that the flash disturbs the performers, which may sometimes be the case. I assured him that I wouldn't put the concert images up on my web page and he returned the camera.

I will respect Largo's wishes and not publish even the few images of the concert which I took, but I am posting a picture I took before the concert, of Kyle Gass from Tenacious D and my brother David (Kyle on the left, David on the right):

Basically, they're like a heavy metal band composed of two guys with acoustic guitars. Part of the schtick is that they don't look much like rock stars (well Jack looks more like one than Kyle perhaps). They look like a couple of late-30's computer nerds (being a late 30's computer nerd, I have some knowledge of what they look like). Their logo boasts of them being the greatest band on earth, and they maintain that pretension in concert.

Jack is a good guitarist and an excellent lead vocalist. He does all the vocal stylings that you hear in different genres of rock & roll, to great humorous effect, but he does them very well. Kyle is a very very good lead guitarist. He plays leads that are clearly styled for electric guitar, but all on acoustic. In their show, they do all the typicall posturing and showy moves that rock bands do.

Their songs lampoon the pretentiousness of many rock lyrics. For example, they do a song about the greatest song in the world, wherein a demon springs up and tells them to sing him the greatest song in the world, which they do. Here's a little piece of the lyrics:

Another of their songs is about Wonderboy and Nastyman and how they had powers, and how they joined together to form a band (called Tenacious D, of course). They play several songs about sex, particularly about sex with women from the audience (or Backstage Betties). They do a song called Jesus Ranch. They did a cover of Blackbird with lyrics about Rocket Sauce. And of course they do a song about Sasquatch. Most of their songs are liberally sprinkled with obscenity, delivered in the best of hard rock band spirit.

I definitely recommend seeing Tenacious D. I'd also recommend Largo. It's a nice venue (despite their restrictive photography policy - c'mon guys, lighten up. Pictures make other people see how nice the club is and want to go there :-). If you are going there for your favorite band or something, I'd recommend you reserve way in advance and fork over the extra bucks for an overpriced meal, as all the best seats are at tables for people eating dinner. If you don't mind standing at the back, eat across the street at Canters instead.