There was already a queue at 7.15 last night when Nick and I arrived from The Angel on St Giles High Street (beer at £1.70 a pint - in London!). I'd picked up a Rutles DVD at Fopp for a fiver and the anticipation of the first night of the last London appearance of The Rutles was electric. We managed to get a table on the far side of the stage - Neil's set-up however was at the bar end and the grand piano was covered.
The first half of the Neil Innes double bill at the 100 Club was billed as 'with Friends', but Neil was All Alo-ho-ho All Alo-ho-ho-hone (except near the end when joined by Rutling Ken on 'Ego Warriors'). Where were they? He kicked off with 'Protest Song', followed by all the old favourites and a good portion of the new CD. Finale was 'The Philosophers Song' for the Monty Python fans.
For the second half, the stage was full of men in black: John Halsey (Barry) and JJ Jones on drums, Rutlin' Ken Thornton on lead guitar , Mickey Simmonds on keyboards and Mark Griffiths on bass. They started with 'Major Happy' and it was rocking and singing along from then on. I tried to keep a set list but, what with trying to take photos and getting carried along, it soon lapsed! They must have done 25 or so numbers by the time 'Shangri-la' and 'Get up and go' (appropriately) finished the set. First encore was a tribute to George Harrison with 'Isn't it a pity', followed by 'Back in '64', featuring Barry Wom on paper tearing. I can't even remember the second encore (too busy taking snaps) but it wasn't 'Love Life' despite the chanting from the delerious audience.
I was determined not to miss the encores like last year at the 100 Club when I had to run for the last sensible train - and I'll always regret leaving The Only Ones gig at the Lyceum back in the 80s before the end. So I managed to get the five past midnight train back to Brighton clutching my Legalise Tea mug (with tea bag!) and lots of happy memories of a fantastic gig. Is this really the end of the Rutles?
There are some more photos on Flickr.
Neil and Barry do 'Back in '64'
2 comments:
Another great Rutles show at the 100 Club last night. I saw them at the Bloomsbury Theatre and Glasto fest last year, but neither of these shows was as as impressive as last night's performance (something to do with the smaller venue and better sound, perhaps?).
Great to hear their version of Isn't It a Pity too.
PS I recall John Halsey (aka Barry Wom)contributing a song to Roy Harper's Bullinamingvase show at Surrey Uni in 1977 or 78. It was a spoof country song, with a chorus about mending barbed wire fences and eating porcupines. I've since lost the tape I made of the show, but would like to track the song down. Perhaps it was a Patto song?
On the subject of covers of George Harrison's Isn't It a Pity, the version by Galexie 500 is well worth a listen.
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