The End of Silence

On the Friday night just gone I witnessed one of the greatest performances I have ever seen. Henry Rollins stopped by at London’s Royal Festival Hall on his Frequent Flyer Spoken Word Tour and Charlotte, being the wonderful girl that she is, got us tickets to go see and see him as a treat for my birthday.

Now I’m not sure if you’re familiar with Henry Rollins or the stupidly large body of work he has behind him, but if you aren’t let me tell you this man is the embodiment of the phrase ‘strong work ethic.’ A legend in his own right as a punk vocalist he also writes books, acts in films, presents TV and radio shows, performs immense spoken word tours and still finds time to wander the planet, visiting US troops in Afghanistan, Iraq and other less stable areas of the world as well as taking trips to a whole range of far flung countries with stories to tell. Put simply the man is perpetual motion.

As we arrived at the Royal Festival Hall, a great venue on the South Bank in London, Charlotte pointed out to me that there were signs outside the auditorium entrances that read, ‘please be advised there will be no intermission during tonight’s performance.’

‘How long’s the show on for?’ I asked her.
‘About three hours,’ Charlotte replied.

Three hours? I could almost hear old Hank’s voice in my head screaming drill instructor style, ‘SHUT THE FUCK UP, INTERMISSIONS ARE FOR THE WEAK!’.

We took our seats and at 7.30pm prompt, Henry took the stage. Then for three hours he talked none stop. I’m not kidding, three hours of Rollins covering a vast amount of material in a way that is best described as relentless. And do you know, throughout the entire show I can’t remember Henry becoming lost or saying, ‘erm’ once.

And I thought I could talk.

What is also incredibly surprising is the amount of information that sticks in your head after the show’s finished. When I’ve been to see comedians or similar performers in the past – not that Henry Rollins is a comic - I’m usually buggered if I can remember what they talked about, but with this show I can remember more than three quarters of it. I think it’s because he kind of grabs your attention in a choke hold and refuses to let go until he’s done with you. Don’t get me wrong though he isn’t just a rant machine set on eleven, his performance was funny, moving, informative and most of all inspirational.

Covering subjects from the election of President Obama and the subsequent American right wing backlash, to the blasphemy law in Ireland and the illegality of holocaust denial in the Czech Republic, free speech, the twenty fifth anniversary of the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal in India and my personal favourite, his flipping the bird to Burmese dictator and general fuckhead, Than Shwe, Rollins was seamless throughout.

I came out of the show inspired. If I’m honest I also came out of it feeling a little lazy; it’s hard not to when you compare yourself to the workaholic nut job that is Henry Rollins. I urge you to seek out some of his stuff on the internet, especially his spoken word material. If I did heroes, which I don’t, he’d certainly be one of them. I do however deeply admire this ageing punk icon and all round maniac and feel better knowing that the world has people like him in it.