In the bar before the performance it as obvious to see that most of the crowd at the De Montfort Hall were here to see one of their Idols. The black jeans, died hair, leather jackets (with patches) and roll-ups-a-plenty were amassed and looking pretty relaxed. If this had been Henry Rollins singing with his former Black Flag in the late 80's I think the scene would have been altogether a little more riotous. It is unusual for an artist to echo the life course of his audience. The crowd are all touching 30, probably all have jobs and no longer got to The Charlotte every week to head bang and to be spat on. They probably take an interest in world politics and feel as they mature the world around us isn't what we were promised it would be at school. | "Rollins is incredibly intelligent. A fact he doesn't ram down your throat..." | | Lee Monk |
Rollins reflects this, he was one of the original angry men of rock, he concedes himself he never sang, he shouted and grimaced through his rock career and was immensely successful at it. His bands may never have reached the stadium capacities of some of his contemporaries such as the Red Hot Chill Peppers but his contribution to rock music is a valued one. His evolution from berserker front man to book writer, political activist, actor and of course now as we know a spoken word artist would seem at opposites to his former career, but after spending a mammoth three hours with him at the De Montfort Hall, all becomes clear. Rollins is incredibly intelligent. A fact he doesn't ram down your throat but interwoven into his stories he manages to back up his arguments through name dropping some serious literary and philosophical heavyweights. You get the feeling he has no script for the show, but as he does around 300 shows a year and he has been doing this for some 10 years now, he has a huge repertoire of tales from his rock days, film career, encounters with celebrities (the William Shatner part is hilarious) and the fascination he seems to have for anything and everything. Within his performance he does not hide, he shares everything with the audience, his fears, why he feels compelled to work so much and not just retire on the royalties from his music career and his indignation at what has become of us in post 9/11 western civilisation. You feel a mutual respect I really can’t explain. There is a genuine interchange between Rollins and the audience. In the audience I felt part of something and without speaking we as an audience knew that he respected us and is probably still slightly amazed people turn up to listen to him for three hours. I can highly recommend this show to anybody that wants to see a real American, that is an American that is the complete antithesis of the current Bush administration, well read, liberal, culturally aware, humble, eloquent and intelligent. Henry Rollins' is an uncut diamond a of performance, but to hold an audience for three hours and to keep getting stronger as it goes on is very unique and shows immense confidence in his own abilities. Were you there - do you agree with Lee? | 
