In a venue which has a capacity of 21,000 (the largest contemporary public entertainment venue I have ever set foot in and am still struggling to comprehend its scale!) the large stage erected at one side for Bill Bailey was completely dwarfed, and although I was seated on the arena floor area I was still much further back than I would have been in a conventional theatre and Bailey looked small enough for me to pick him up and pocket him! I simply don't understand why this venue was chosen for him. He had an audience this evening of about 4,500, which is still a sizeable amount, but seemed to me not to make any sense. Surely it would have made more sense to have given him two dates at Salford's Lowry Theatre and we would have had a much more intimate and resonating experience.
Bailey's routine required so much audience interaction - a huge element of his entire gig - and it just became silly to have him looking vaguely in approximately the direction of the shout.... shouted extremely loudly - only for him to mishear in any case! This style of seating was also very problematic as the chairs were not staggered but heads were directly behind each other and the stage was not raised high enough to afford a clear view.
Larks In Transit, Bailey's current show, is a hotchpotch of music, anecdote, rant, and all wrapped up in a comedy blanket. The show's title is a little enigmatic, but my interpretation is that it means "Jokes On Tour" but also covers two of the things Bailey is deeply passionate about, birds and travel. And since Bailey is also a clever wordsmith, I should like to think I have interpreted this title correctly.
The stage, backed by a huge green latter-day globe, is littered with paraphenalia multifarious, mostly musical instruments which are used or not used according to his whim. "This is my show I can have what I like on stage!", but they included an inverted kettle drum which looked like a barbeque and his i-phone which was set on a musical app to play the Chinese Erhu.
Bailey's opening gambit was, I have to be honest, very poor, eliciting a weak response. It was a political rant about Brexit and the (lack of ) governement we have at present. And even though he made it clear that every denigrating statement he made wasn't "meant in a bad way", we instinctively knew that it was. Bailey was far more at home with travel tales, anecdotes, and observations about the people and news items he has come across. His ability at mimicry is quite extraordinary, and his side-ways view of life, cleverly observed and very funny. Just some of the subjects covered this evening in a two-hour show (without support) were The Nutella Riots, The Iceland (country) versus Iceland (food chain) debacle, West Country accents, British intemperance and intolerance, bird calls, Indonesia, and the German language.
Bailey is highly intelligent, and his love of language and the history and derivation of it, is a passion that I share with him. This evening he was very keen to enlighten the audience on the correct origin of the single middle finger gesture [Aristophanes' play, 'The Clowns' (424BC)], and that the 'Knock, knock' style jokes originate from Shakespeare's MacBeth.
However where Bailey excels head and shoulders above other comedians is in his comedy musicianship. There aren't that many comedians who are able to combine music in their gigs. Of course Victor Borge and Dudley Moore were the masters of this, with perhaps Tom Lehrer coming in a close second. However on the contemporary circuit, Tim Minchin is the only one I can think of that I could possibly put in the same class as Bailey, but their acts and styles are so completely different that it would be foolish to try and compare. This evening we were treated to wonderful minor key versions of The American National Anthem, 'Old MacDonald Had A Farm' (sung and played in the style of Tom Waits - hilarious!), and You Are My Sunshine sung in transliterated pidgin German as 'Du Bist Mein Sonnenschein'! Although the cleverest for me was to hear his minor key version of the Star Wars theme.
Bailey has his own unique style, and despite the size of the auditorium and our lack of proximity, he still was masterful in his command of the space, and as he played rock, bluegrass and metal music energetically on guitar for his grande finale, it was clear that he was still very much on top of his game and safely remains in the Channel 4 list of the Top 10 most intelligent people on TV [even if, as he joked, he is one place behind the fictional character of Lisa Simpson!]
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 10/5/19
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