Spinal Tap’s World Tour Not As Extensive As It Sounds

By Akela Talamasca on April 7th, 2009

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Aging rock gods unite! Spinal Tap, the British hard rock phenomenon who debuted on the big screen exactly 25 years ago this June 25th, are celebrating their anniversary with a one-night concert in Wembley Arena.

Fans of the trio are bound to overwhelm call centers once the tickets go on sale at 9 AM this Thursday, April 9th. This will be the group’s first time on stage since the Live Earth concert in 2007. There is no news concerning who will be playing drums for the band, a position with a highly combustible history.

Interestingly enough, the actors who comprise Spinal Tap — Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer — will go on their own American visit this Summer as themselves, for the “Unwigged and Unplugged Tour”.

Certainly Spinal Tap is no less revered than other rock stars of their age, like Robert Plant or Mick Jagger, and it’s curious that they’ve chosen to celebrate their 25th anniversary in England with just one show, though perhaps that has more to do with their acoustic “Unwigged” show than any non-musical performance obligations. The group deserves respect for their managing to remain active without being over-exposed. I’ve never felt that they leaned too heavily on the commercialization of the Spinal Tap name, though the pressure to do so must surely have been horrendous.

Still, their close-knit group of performers have kept themselves busy, with similar “mockumentaries” “Waiting For Guffman”, “Best of Show”, and the most recent “A Mighty Wind” — one of whose groups, The Folksmen, will be opening for Spinal Tap for their World Tour. If this is Spinal Tap’s last on-stage performance — not that they’re saying it is, mind you — you can hardly blame them. Like me, they’re probably just tired of hearing jokes about taking things to eleven.