Gigraphy Galleries - Tenacious D, AO Arena Manchester, 08/05/2024

Legends Jack Black and Kyle Gass brought their iconic act, Tenacious D, to the AO Arena. The “Spicy Meatball” tour rolled through Manchester this week to serenade and split the sides of fans for their first full UK tour since 2019.

Crowd favourite and iconic track from the Pick of Destiny album 'Kickapoo' kicked off the night. Any song of The D’s catalogue would have had the fans replying word for word, but the opener from the 2003 banger and legendary 2006 film felt the most appropriate. Their follow up, 'Low Hangin' Fruit' took the night's affairs from “epic” to comic classic as they dipped into the 2012 album Rise of The Fenix.

At times, this set plays less than a concert and more like a standup set from Black and Gass, with high energy and a repetition of telling the crowd “seriously” - when Tenacious D is one of the most playful duos on the planet. Oftentimes between songs crowds will cheer, ooh and ah, Jack Black's signature humour replaces most of the latter two with outright laughter. One thing on full display is the elation these two get from just being on stage. Many references are made to previous performances in Manchester which honestly brought a heartfelt feeling with it as Black and Gass reference so much history with MCR.

The iconic movie predictably makes up a good chunk of the night's set, though not all encompassing. It may have been a bit of a sore spot for Black as he pokes fun at the theatrical release the film had to many laughs.

“Did anyone see Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny?”.

“Well, you didn’t see it in the cinema. No one did! It almost destroyed us.”

You can help but imagine how well a theatrical re-release would do for that movie nowadays. They’ve done it for Star Wars, give Tenacious D the ball! Obviously the reference to the movie is made in jest, and the crowd pays every bit of love right back to the duo. Black needed a hair tie, and the audience weren’t shy to throw their own on stage to fulfil the legends needs.

With his hair tied back and a quick yet dramatic swig of Volvic (followed by a piercing stare from right at our photographer for the night!), the duo were raring to go for their third song, title track from that 2012 album, ‘Rize of the Fenix’.

The night was truly one for the bucket list, but a perfect experience for fans both old and new. Key and expectable moments consist of bangers like ‘Tribute’ (almost sang accapella with the crowd), ‘Beelzeboss’ (sadly no Dave Grohl), and finished off with ‘Fuck Her Gently’ which - of course - had the entire arena singing along. There’s many cases of parody in the rock and alt scene, but very few combining that with the rock prowess and chops of Tenacious D. This night was truly one of a kind.