At the warm and friendly Intimate Theatre on the Hiddingh Campus, comedian Pierre Malherbe – chiefly known for his Duncan Farenheit character and other music obsessives – now plays himself in Another Friggin’ Tribute Show, billed as ‘a non-musical tribute to music’.
Tossing gags at the bands and the artists who have influenced his life, he alternates between a cynical rant against his least favourite bands, an attempt to clarify the evolution of piracy and a diatribe against music radio.
The late 70s and 80s were his main focus so if you were only a baby in the 80s as I was, then many of his references will miss their mark. Maybe that was one of the reasons for the age restriction, though the man was also pretty crude at times.
In a pair of skinny jeans which seemed to be trying a bit too hard to ‘youth’ his 40 years, Malherbe opened by cautioning the audience that the show was for non-musicians, before launching into an attack on the likes of Nickelback and Coldplay, whose music he considers to be crap. But the opinions of anyone who boasts about listening to the same album twice every day for four years are unlikely to be that balanced. Even if that album is Pink Floyd’s The Wall.
With his passion for music you’d swear he must have tried starting a band in some garage in his youth but instead he was busy killing the music with bungling attempts at piracy. “Why do music stores sell blank cassettes and CDs if they don’t want music to be copied?” he asked, while laughing at the early days of his piracy schemes – hiring vinyls from rental stores and copying them to TDK cassettes with a portable tape recorders and a vinyl deck. A tricky business, he recalled, as absolute silence was required for a half decent recording – a rare occurrence in the neighbourhood in which he grew up.
Other favourite topics were the relationship between music and drugs (for which he even produced graphs) and how radio DJs are a drain on inspiration, giving irrelevant information on their shows and playing the same music for months on end. Apparently UB40’s ‘Red Red Wine’ topped Springbok Radio’s charts for two years running. Ahem, more Pink Floyd, Pierre?
Top marks should be given for the concept of this piece and maximum respect to Vincent Meyburgh the director and the lighting guy who did a pretty good job. But Pierre Malherbe himself was too animated and his unnecessarily vulgarities became tedious at times. That aside, there’s a lot of thought gone into this show and once it’s worked out the wrinkles it’ll be one to look out for. Especially for those with a shared memory of Malherbe’s experiences. Eighties babies be warned.
Inga Fihla
Pierre Malherbe’s Another Friggin Tribute Show runs at the Intimate Theatre 5 – 15 October 2011.
