ERIC IDLE LIVE

Let me start by saying that there is little doubt that Eric Idle is a very very funny man. Of that there is little doubt, and quite a lot of this one man tour contains evidence of that. The video content in the show displays so much of that clever and once innovative material and for an audience of mainly gentlemen of a certain age it was great to be reminded of that.

And Idle does share the glory with his fellow Pythons, well some of them, there is clearly an ongoing and bitter battle between him and John Cleese. He pays due respect to Graham Chapman but as for the rest… well it’s a cursory nod.

So what we get is two long sets of anecdotal silliness punctuated by a few songs and lots of video clips. Oh yes, his band is virtual too, a witty concept or an economical conceit?

The songs are okay, nowhere near as good or as funny as his earlier work and there is a marked absence of the great material he wrote for the musical Spamalot. There are however two rather mawkish numbers that he wrote after the death of his two friends George Harrison and Robin Williams. And in that there is his unapologetic, although he does apologise for it, dependence on name dropping, the evening is literally littered with the names of the rich and famous. Friends some and fans too.

It all goes down well, an audience of fans lapping it up, but there is a sadness to the whole. And I have to say that the turn-out is small, this rendering the cavernous space of the Brighton Centre rather hollow. The whole would have felt so much nicer in a more intimate setting, warmer and gentler, perhaps ticket sales did not match up to expectations.

So as I started, Eric Idle is a very very funny man, but here, sadly, he is only being quite funny on this occasion. I left, sadly not feeling that I was on the bright side of life.

Andrew Kay

12 September

The Brighton Centre

Rating: