It’s been over a decade since the duo of Jack Black and Kyle Gass have graced Australian shores as Tenacious D, so it was that two sold-out arena shows would grace Sydney’s ICC and put a lot of smiles on a lot of dials.
Know as Crusade, the duo of Jonn Konesky and Mike Bray warmed up the crowd and played straight ahead rock n’ roll – pretty much what the doctor ordered on a Saturday night. They were clearly stoked to be on such a big stage, even if the sound was a bit average. You didn’t need to know their songs to enjoy the riffs and the solid chops of these two – both known to play with Kyle Gass’s band and the main act on occasion.
The only disappointment? Where was the local support act? It really should be mandatory for all international acts.
Two acoustic guitars graced the stage, but Tenacious D were more than just a duo this time. It may be 11 years since Black and Gass have performed as the D in Australia, but it’s a further two years since they’ve done it as a band.
Diving straight into the theme from their second album and soundtrack to the ill-fated ‘Pick of Destiny’ movie, “Kickapoo”, we got an idea of what was to come. Black and Gass immediately played off each other, terrorising their acoustics with passion and bravado. The song, with all of its rock references (Dio would get a mention again later in the show) and its corny comical journey is the reflection of the duo and what they’ve always aimed for. Tell a story, have a laugh and rock the fuck out.
“Did you see Pick of Destiny in the cinemas?”, asked Jack Black. “No you didn’t! No-one saw it at the cinemas!” The movie may have bombed, but it birthed a bunch of classic tracks.
Taken from their debut record, “Wonderboy” and the iconic “Tribute”, were played early in the set. The latter surprising many in the crowd who may have only known that song. It meant that the rest of the set was a chance for the band to have some fun.
As an audience member for a show such as this, what are we meant to expect? The parody of the lyrics juxtaposes the musicianship of the artists on stage. It’s easy to get lost in the pastiche of it all, but ultimately the reason the crowd is there is because these songs rock – the theatrics from Black and Gass are just icings on the cake.
There were the playful interactions with Biffy, the pyro guy. (get it?), there were recorder solos from Kyle Gass, there was the giant blow-up Satan and of course, Kyle just had to quit the band. It’s all a bit of silly fun and there were times when you almost want the two to step out of character and show their true selves. Mind you, maybe this is just how they always are?
Whilst the duo hasn’t released anything since 2018’s “Post-Apocalypto” – their less than impressive fourth album based around a series of animated shorts – it was fine, they played nothing from it! We were instead given “Video Games”, “The Metal” and a very fine version of Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game”, although the video clip is enough to reconsider your life choices.
The band were introduced during “Double Team” which not only included some super impressive solos, but a nice rendition of Men at Work’s “Overkill” or…and a little bit of mistimed pyro.
A short break was followed by the return of “Dio”, and a few more short songs, before finishing on the not-so-woke, yet hilarious “Fuck Her Gently”.
The show wasn’t especially long and there wasn’t a whole heap of banter, but it was good, honest fun. One gets the feeling that it may be one of the last times we see the duo in the country. That is, of course, unless they have some sort of TikTok viral resurgence!
THREE AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
The next leg of the tour is Newcastle on Tuesday night – head to frontiertouring.com/tenaciousd for all the details.
