Hollywood star Jack Black left baffled by 'Yorkshire' chants during hilarious Tenacious D Leeds First Direct Arena show

Hollywood star Jack Black had a delicious frenetic energy as he took to the stage in Leeds First Direct Arena as part of Tenacious D’s The Spicy Meatball Tour – even if he did seem slightly baffled by the sustained chants of ‘Yorkshire, Yorkshire, Yorkshire!’ swelling from the audience.

It was such a pleasurable experience to witness the School of Rock legend rock out with his best mate Kyle Gass. This chummy pair hold a sentimental place in the hearts of many rock fans and the whole evening was an absolute blast, start to finish. "I had such a nice stroll up your canal. I saw a swan there!" Black announced on stage, to rapturous applause.

Even before the D took to the stage, their support act comedy musician Dave Hill was just utterly masterful. The perfect warm-up act for JB and KG. Hill’s act is very niche, going in hard on the ‘anti-comedy,’ his style feels very similar to Donny Dunn’s standup in Netflix smash-hit Baby Reindeer, to put it into perspective.

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Hill is a fantastic guitarist, ripping apart the strings with some awesome solos, while also delivering some great comedy bits. The American comedian started his act with the chorus ‘I’m a caveman in a spaceship,’ his song presenting the humorous dichotomy of the most primitive individual being inside one of the most advanced pieces of technology – the absurdism baffling half the audience and giving the rest the giggles.

Then we got some ‘unique and tailored’ Leeds and West Yorkshire pick-up lines, from him, which were so over the top, deliberately awful and very clever. A real highlight of the night as it was such an unpredictable wild support act which at one point even included Gass making a surprise appearance to perform a range of recorder solos.

So, back onto the D. The duo came out and played their old bangers, rousing the crowd with classics like Kickapoo, Wonderboy and Tribute. The Leeds First Direct Arena atmosphere, which was wholly seated allocation for the show, at times felt too sedate for the group who seemed to be giving it their all on stage.

Along with the songs, there were amusing skits where Black, who looked magnificent in his flaming red jumpsuit, played up the rockstar-diva-esque mentality. Particularly, involving their befuddled stage tech ‘Biffy Pyro’ who kept messing up the pyrotechnic affects. And in one segment the pair danced with the physical embodiment of ‘heavy metal,’ a rather amusing giant robot. After 'Metal' had departed, Black flippantly remarked ‘he’s off the conquer the other genres’.

The Hollywood A-lister came out with lots of funny lines on the night, ‘Gotta keep hydrated when you rock so hard!’ he chirped. And after the huge life size model of Satan deflated behind them on stage, he remarked: ‘We defeated Satan...with our rock! There's only five bands who have ever been able to achieve that feat’.

Tenacious D absolutely tore the house down with their final song of the night, F*** Her Gently. The Spicy Meatball Tour provided a night of nostalgia and high voltage belly laughs.

Setlist

• Kickapoo

• Low Hangin' Fruit

• Rize of the Fenix

• Wonderboy

• Tribute

• Video Games

• The Metal

• Sax-a-Boom

• Baker Street

• Roadie

• Dude (I Totally Miss You)

• Friendship

• Wicked Game

• Beelzeboss (The Final Showdown)

• Double Team

Encore

• Pinball Wizard / There's a Doctor / Go to the Mirror!

• Master Exploder

• The Spicy Meatball Song

• F**k Her Gently

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