The Sandspur

Issue date: 4/24/09 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Media Credit: Unwigged and Unplugged Press

"Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number, and make that a little louder?" "These go to eleven." Anyone familiar with these immortal words knows Spinal Tap-the band whose history appeared from ether to be documented in the 1980s classic This is Spinal Tap-and the subsequent films made by the three seminal members' true identities, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer and Christopher Guest. In honor of the 25th anniversary of This Is Spinal Tap's release, they have embarked on a six-week, 30-city tour that, as the title of the tour suggests, features the actors Unwigged and Unplugged. They will perform four dates in Florida, with the nearest occurring in Orlando on Tuesday, May 6, at Hard Rock Live.

Among their set list will include songs from Waiting for Guffman and A Mighty Wind, their more recent films that similarly cover invented events, utilizing the "mockumentary" style of their original classic. The latter of the two, released in 2003, featured a musical reunion of the aged McKean, Shearer and Guest, but without the sound of "England's loudest band." Rather, they comprised the fictional folk group "The Folksmen," a band they have used to open for Spinal Tap-themselves-on previous tours. But the three will abandon the looks of either band; McKean will not sport the shoulder-length locks that echo Robert Plant, nor will Guest wear the wreath-like curls that channel Larry Fine. The tour will also scale down the band's well-known grandiosity, which includes the hubristic concert effects chronicled in the film and playing "Big Bottom" with 19 bass guitarists at 2008's Live Earth.

Surely, the popularity of their highly praised films has eliminated any thought of their existence as a real band; even a recent episode of "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" saw the host sarcastically reveal the band members' true identities, deadpanning that the announcement "will probably set the world of music on its figurative ear and heavy metal fans in particular will find their lives totally abandoned." But while unthinkable to fans of the actors and their fictional group, there are still some who are not savvy to their satire. When asked about his thoughts on Spinal Tap, Christian Kebbel (class of 2012) said, "Spinal Tap to me is some kind of rock band-metal band-but I never really got into their stuff, I just saw people wearing shirts-people who I wouldn't normally associate with, the hard-rock metal types." As a fledging comedian himself, Kebbel had heard of the later Guest-directed films, but was unaware of the 1984 film that stands among Library of Congress' 500 American films in The National Film Registry, and whose selection in 2002 preceded the 2004 additions of Ben-Hur and Schindler's List.

Part of the fun of the concert will be seeing how the trio translates some of their metal oeuvre into acoustic pieces. McKean revealed that "Listen to the Flower People" will have a reggae feel, and "Sex Farm" will undergo a hip-hop/funk transformation, but there remains word on how "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight" will faire. The shows are dubbed "multimedia events," and will include rare footage and fan videos that McKean calls "brilliant." Commenting on the tour, he also said: "We thought this would be fun and at the same time, a little challenging, as we have never performed as ourselves. Think of the evening as three old friends playing songs in your living room. As opposed to OUR living rooms; we won't be home." While the three may shed their band image and screeching sound, their musical talent and face-value humor will remain.

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