Unwigged and Unplugged: Beacon Theater

An amazing thing happened yesterday. I was completely spontaneous and it all worked out perfectly. Having read that the lead players of Spinal Tap were going to be performing sans costumes and electric instruments, I thought I might like to go but funds for such things are low on my list as of late. However, when the show presented itself again, day of show, for some reason I flew into action. I went to Craigslist, found cheap seats, e-mailed and secured tickets in one hour's time. It couldn't have been easier. So to my joy, that is how I found myself sitting in the incredibly beautiful Beacon Theater for a night of comedy/rock. The trio did songs, all acoustic, from This is Spinal Tap, A Mighty Wind and some choice cuts from Waiting for Guffman.

Highlights:
•An earlier promise of famous faces was doubly paid off when the trio was clearly gearing up to play the classic, "Gimme Some Money"—choice lyrics: "Don't get me wrong. Try getting me right. Your face is OK. But your purse is too tight." Instead of launching into the song themselves, they brought out a guest vocalist in the person of ELVIS COSTELLO. Elvis sang the entire song with gusto as the trio backed him up. The entire theater was shocked and elated.

•As a breather between songs, the trio read verbatim the original censorship notes made when NBC decided to air the film in its entirety for the first time. Sample notes: "The lyrics 'my baby fits me like a flesh tuxedo, I'd like to sink her with my pink torpedo' are unacceptable." "The entire song 'Sex Farm' is unacceptable."

•I feared Stonehenge wouldn't be as wonderful without the mini-Stonehenge and dancing midgets. However, I was proven wrong when on the screen behind the trio, an even smaller mini-Stonehenge was lowered down on a string while two disembodied hands (which I later found out belonged to Jamie Lee Curtis) made two Troll dolls dance around. It was the Spinal Tap equivalent of the dancing manatee. Brilliant!

•I wasn't expecting any songs from Waiting for Guffman since the other two gentlemen weren't involved in that movie, however, I was pleasantly surprised when Christopher Guest and a guest female vocalist sang a touching rendition of "A Penny for Your Thoughts," complete with toe touch at the end.

•I also wasn't expecting to hear my favorite song from A Mighty Wind, "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow, since it's Eugene Levy's shining moment in the film. However, apparently Michael McKean and his wife wrote the song and so fittingly performed it, complete with kiss at the end.

•The performance of "Big Bottom" was done with just bass and snapping fingers, which is probably how I'd prefer to hear the song from now on.

•They took some time between songs to share two of their favorite fan-made music videos to Spinal Tap songs. Here is my favorite:


•The evening ended on a high note with "Old Joe's Place," reminding me how much I enjoy A Might Wind and must rewatch it as soon as possible.

•Overall, I was really impressed with how talented the men were as musicians. Christopher Guest can play guitar as well as anyone I've seen. And although they are all in they're 60s, they played for two hours including two encores. That's more than I've seen much younger musicians do.

Lowlight:
The definition of douche that was sitting a row ahead of us. Not only were they clearly wasted and talking over the music so loud that the girl next to us loudly (and rightly) called them douches, when the trio was introducing the song "Corn Wine," the douche felt it appropriate to yell out "Cornhole!" Not amused. Thankfully, they stumbled out (or were kicked out) shortly after this incident.