Concert review: Tenacious D at Auckland Town Hall

Tenacious D. Photo/supplied

If you love throwing your goats in the air and yelling "rock" at the top of your lungs, then you would've felt right at home in the near capacity crowd at the Town Hall on Monday night.

Actor Jack Black and his mate Kyle Gass, known better together as Tenacious D (or "the D" as fans affectionately chanted), might be past their peak of genius (Tribute is still the best song they've done, despite two further albums since), but the crowd were just about as rabidly devoted as a bunch of One Direction fans, singing along to all their songs, the front row desperate to touch their heroes.

Jack Black did proffer a little finger, but he wasn't letting them anywhere near his guitar.

They opened with Rize of the Fenix, from their 2012 album of the same name, an ironic tale reflecting their own 'rise from the ashes', and spent the next 80 minutes entertaining the crowd with just their acoustic guitars and voices, fairly well non stop, with only their friend the Sasquatch and roadie Johnnie for a bit of extra support on the clapping solos and backing vocals.

They did have a brief break where Gass quit the band, and Black had to lure him back with Dude (I Totally Miss You), before they could do a nice country turn on Friendship.

And that's the thing about Tenacious D, despite the fact that their jokes don't really go the distance over 80 minutes (the humour can be a little tedious and lacking in subtlety), they are great musicians - Black is a singer with a large dose of the X-factor, and Gass is a top guitarist.

Despite their very large bellies, they're just as capable of pulling off a Led Zeppelin cover (Rock and Roll, which segued into their own song Rock Is Dead) as they are doing a Spanish strum on Senorita ("about a woman who gave me blue balls, and a blue heart," proclaimed Black).

Set highlights included their clever song in honour of all roadies (called Roadie, of course) and Black's Saxaboom solo.

And then he offered some very sage advice about being successful, which, to paraphrase went something like this: you've got to fake it all the way to the top of the mountain, but if you haven't made it after a couple of years, then stop.

And that is the gospel according to The D.

- TimeOut