Matt Berry

With no support act Matt Berry’s retinue filled the tiny stage, all of them with their own individually ridiculous attire. The lead guitarist looked like a small white Jimmy Hendrix while the drummer looked like Gene Simmons. Together with LED fret markings the whole visage was a medley of some of rocks better and/or worse moments. Matt Berry finally joined his band mates with an arrogance that would continue throughout the show and become the basis of what little humour there was.

	"There are only so many cheesy slide guitar solos one can take before the novelty wanes drastically"

But why am I judging a live music show on its humour? Matt Berry’s renown originates from his participation in cult British comedies such as ‘Garth Merrenghi’s Dark Place’, ‘Snuff Box’ and more recently ‘The IT crowd’. The song he created for ‘Garth Merrenghi’s’, called ‘One Track Lover’ is genuinely funny given the context of the show but it doesn’t seem to retain that live. To hear a band play parodies of rock ballads and other pop atrocities is amusing enough for a while but it soon becomes tedious. There are only so many cheesy slide guitar solos one can take before the novelty wanes drastically.

The show did have its moments, though. When the keyboardist indulged in a solo, for example, and so the spotlight was brought momentarily away from Matt Berry, the jealous front man unplugged the keyboard only to turn back and demand that it be plugged in again. This is the kind of arrogance that makes Matt Berry funny, not the kind of arrogance whereby he plays an hour and a half of intentionally bad music and expects the audience to remain interested. There were, as well, amusing stories introducing some of his songs, giving that missing context needed to make the songs themselves actually funny which made some parts of the show enjoyable. For the most part, however, it was dull. What made it harder to enjoy was the fact that the Academy’s sound quality was such that the lyrics couldn’t really be heard and that is, mostly, where the humour lies.

But saying all that, the audience seemed to be enjoying themselves. I came to Matt Berry having only seen a handful of his work and so I’d often feel lost when during certain songs, images (presumably from whatever show the song was from) that meant nothing to me would be projected behind him. These images did get laughs from the audience, though, which suggests a more thorough knowledge of his work would make the show far more enjoyable.

To conclude, Matt Berry’s live show seems to be only accessible to those who already know and love his work. The cliquey references and in jokes that spanned the show won’t impress the casual, say, ‘Garth Merrenghi’ fan.

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.