It’s an entirely sold-out tour for the duo of Jack Black and Kyle Gass, but we are on the first leg of the Tenacious D UK part tonight in good ol’ Brummie. This is home to bands like Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Led Zeppelin, all of whom Jack Black later plays homage to.
Tenacious D
Resorts World Arena, Birmingham – 7 May 2024
Words And Photography: Georgia Brittain
The arena is absolutely packed out, and with the movie intro music blasting for their entrance, the crowd goes wild at the first glimpse of the pair coming on stage.
We are treated to Kickapoo as an opener, with the crowd singing almost louder than Jack Black himself. Admittedly, his voice isn’t in the same pitch as originally sung, but we can’t blame him considering this was originally released almost 20 years ago now.
Here’s what I like the most about watching Tenacious D live. It’s like watching an actual show. It’s not just song – crowd interaction – song. They almost play out entire scenes.
From a giant robot coming onstage being ‘The Metal’ to a staged argument and a cheeky mooning from Kyle Gass ‘quitting for Dude I Totally Miss You, you almost look forward to the song’s ending to see what the pair get up to next. 
While they do their cover of Wicked Game, the pair sticks to their comedy roots by having their music video play on the big screens, which is nothing but them running around in tight swimsuits in the sea. 
It warms me to hear the crowd singing to every single song, the loudest being to the absolute classic, Tribute. Although Black doesn’t hit the same notes as he used to, apart from the iconic “rock – aaaaaahhhh!!”, the crowd does it for him without hesitation. 
The show cannot end without Gass and Black showing appreciation for ALL of their crew, something that is not often seen with bands. Anyone near the stage is called on, and the sound and light tech are told to give their solos, which is met with a bit of ‘check 1, 2’ and a silent light show.
Though this part goes on a little long, you can tell it’s for the band to show appreciation to everyone around them so the crowd doesn’t care much at this dragging out. 
Ultimately, I’m sad the show has ended, knowing I didn’t stop smiling for the entire hour and a half.
If you were unfortunate enough to miss out on a ticket, I recommend finding one on resale asap, because you will experience extreme FOMO (fear-of-missing-out) for sitting on this one. 
