Impractical Jokers "Where's Larry?" Live at the O2 Arena, London

 

There are lot of funny TV shows out there, but there aren’t many that can make you laugh out loud until you’re actually in pain. For me, Impractical Jokers is one of those shows, so when I found out they would be performing a live show at the O2 Arena in London on 13th October, it was an easy decision to snap up some tickets and head on down.

If you haven’t seen it, Impractical Jokers is a show where four lifelong friends put each other in public situations and then, via earpiece, tell them what to do or say, with painfully embarrassing (and hilarious) results. With less likeable people the format could become obnoxious, but luckily the four Jokers are very likeable. Sal Vulcano, Joe Gatto, Bran “Q” Quinn and James “Murr” Murray have been performing together for over fifteen years as The Tenderloins, earning an impressive reputation as both an improv act and the writers and stars of their own very funny YouTube sketches. They know each other inside out, which gives them a great chemistry and rapport with each other. Most importantly, none of them are afraid to be the butt of the joke, and the emphasis is always on making fools of themselves rather than other people.

Even though I was already a big fan of the TV show, I wasn’t sure how well it would transfer into a live setting, or even what form the show would take. After the Jokers walked onstage to a massive ovation from the crowd, I sensed a slight feeling of unease in the audience, which I think was due to a large portion of the crowd not knowing what to expect.

As it turned out, the show was essentially a four man stand-up act, mixed with some new filmed sketches and some clips from the show. It took a little while for the Jokers to find their rhythm, but before long they were effortlessly playing off each other and the audience. In a venue as huge as the O2 it can be hard for performers to draw everyone in and make them feel included, but the Jokers succeeded, and by the end it felt like we were in a tiny comedy club in New York.

The stand-up format allowed each of the four Joker’s time to shine, but out of the four of them I was most impressed with Sal, who looked really comfortable on stage and, at times, felt like the glue holding everything together. That isn’t a knock on the rest of the guys; everyone was great (Joe is probably one of the craziest and most fearless people walking the face of the Earth), and The Tenderloins are definitely more than just the sum of their parts.

All in all, a really good show, and I’ll definitely be back next time.  

Song Family Trees

As weird as it sounds, it’s actually possible for songs to be related to each other in much the same way people are. Whether through sampling, lyrical reference or outright theft, a song can be capable of counting other songs as parents and siblings. 

This is especially true in folk music. In the days when songs would travel simply by word of mouth, it was common for a single song to spawn numerous different versions, presumably as singers either misremembered melodies and lyrics or deliberately replaced them with new ones. Sometimes the songs would change so much that they would eventually become entirely different songs, with perhaps only a basic narrative or a few key phrases to link it to its original form. A good example of this process would be the songs ‘Gypsy Davy’, ‘Blackjack Davy’, ‘The Raggle Taggle Gypsy O’ and ‘The Gypsy Rover’, all of which stand as separate pieces, but appear to be descended from the same source.

(On the subject of how folk songs are open to such a wide variety of interpretations, have a listen to Bob Dylan singing the traditional ‘Man of Constant Sorrow’ in 1962, and then take a look at him performing what is ostensibly the same song in 2002.)

Because these songs are so old, it’s impossible to to trace every step of the process; there was no real way of documenting it. However, when this kind of thing occurs today, where all music is recorded, we can see exactly how it happens. A very interesting recent example – all the more fascinating for involving just one songwriter - would be the song ‘Lock All The Doors’ by Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, which was released on the album Chasing Yesterday in 2015.

This song can be traced back to an earlier song of Noel’s, also called ‘Lock All the Doors’, which was demoed by Oasis in 1992. This song was  never officially released by Oasis, but the verses eventually turned up on a B-side called 'My Sister Lover' in 1997, on which the original chorus was replaced with a completely new one. The original chorus sat unused for the for the next eighteen years until Noel resurrected it for the 2015 version, which features new verses with a different melody to the original.

The end result of all this is that we have three songs - the two versions of 'Lock All the Doors' plus 'My Sister Lover' - that are related.

Trace the family tree for yourself:

Lock All The Doors (1992)

My Sister Lover (1997)

Lock All The Doors (2015)

LIVE: Bob Dylan & His Band

 

Bob Dylan played his second show of a three night residency at the London Palladium on the 29^th April, and the stage was set out to cater to his famously unpredictable temperament. Stage left stood a baby grand piano, where Dylan could command a good view of both band and audience while pounding the keys. If Bob wanted to sing from centre stage, a trio of microphones awaited him (one modern flanked by two vintage models), and, since he has recently taken to crooning into the microphone while cradling the stand in his arms, a fourth stand had been set aside especially for this purpose. Bob has played guitar on stage very rarely over the past several years, but, should he decide to pick up the instrument, his electric guitar was waiting on a stand in front of the drum kit. Above the stage hung a series of large movie-style lights, which bathed the stage in a warm glow, whilst a bust of the Greek goddess Athena observed the proceedings from atop one of the amplifiers.

Once the intimate London Palladium had filled to capacity, the lights dimmed and the burly figure of guitarist Stu Kimball strode onto the stage strumming an acoustic. As a huge roar rose up from the crowd, out followed drummer George Receli, bassist Tony Garnier, guitarist Charlie Sexton, pedal steel player Donnie Herron and, finally, resplendent in a wide-brimmed white hat, black suit and cream-coloured cowboy boots, Bob Dylan. Having never seen him before in person, I can confirm that he definitley has an 'aura' about him that belies his slight frame.

A brief nod in the direction of the crowd, and then down to business. Dylan positioned himself at the piano and launched into ‘Things Have Changed’, the song from the film Wonder Boys that won him an Oscar in 2001. The sound of his voice – weatherbeaten, but powerful – ringing out so clearly through the speakers was, frankly, overwhelming, and an entirely different experience from listening at home. Next up was ‘Don’t Think Twice, it’s Alright’ one of my favourite of Bob’s early songs, followed by a hard-rocking ‘Highway 61 Revisited’, which evoked the image of a runaway freight train and allowed Dylan to really stretch his voice. Watching Dylan's left foot hammering out the driving beat, it was clear that Bob was totally engaged and switched on, and that we had a great show ahead of us.

After a jaunty ‘Beyond Here Lies Nothing’, Bob left the piano and sauntered/ambled/swaggered/strutted to centre stage, where he delivered a tender rendition of the standard ‘Why Try to Change Me Now’. This was the first of six standards that Bob would perform over the course of the evening, and it was a joy to hear him singing with such care, control and affection for the material. It was back to the piano for the menacing ‘Pay in Blood’, one of the standout tracks from 2012’s Tempest album, which led into an upbeat ‘Duquesne Whistle’ sandwiched between standards ‘Melancholy Mood’ and ‘Stormy Weather’, both of which were performed impeccably.

As we reached the midpoint of the show, the familiar jangling chords of ‘Tangled Up in Blue’ filled the Palladium. This was one of the songs that made me a fan, and Bob did it justice on this night. The song was also home to an oddly emotional moment. During an instrumental break, Dylan returned to the piano from centre stage, sat down, adjusted his microphone, and surveyed his band with a look of satisfaction. I don't know why, but this moment stayed with me, and will probably be my enduring memory of the evening.

The second half of the main set drew largely from Bob's output of the last twenty years, and featured the standards ‘All or Nothing at All’ and ‘That Old Black Magic’, thumping blues jam ‘Early Roman Kings’, the devastating ‘Love Sick’ and, for those awaiting a golden oldie, the mercurial ‘Desolation Row’. Certain songs, like 'Spirit on the Water' and 'Soon After Midnight', seemed to serve as 'rest songs', allowing Dylan to conserve his energy for the more taxing material. Bob closed out the main set with ‘Autumn Leaves’, before he and the band returned for a waltz-time ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ and a thunderous ‘Ballad of a Thin Man’. Then they downed their instruments, soaked in the rapturous applause and disappeared into the night.

I left the Palladium in a kind of blissful stupor, reflecting on everything I had seen and heard. Bob's show, as always, was not a nostalgia show, but rather a snapshot of where he is now (or at least where he was on 29th April), and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

It wasn’t all about Bob though, and I have say a few words about his amazing band, all of whom have been with him for years and have become experts at following Bob's lead. The musician of the night was pedal steel player Donnie Herron, who, from his perch behind Dylan’s piano, kept his eyes trained on Bob’s hands on the keys and adapted his playing to any improvisations Dylan happened to throw out. I love watching how musicians interact and play off each other, so this was a real treat.

My first Bob Dylan show was fantastic, and I can't wait to catch Bob and the gang in action again.