2 w. ago
Eric Idle: Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, Live! review – mock’n’roll star’s night of nostalgia
Playhouse, EdinburghThe Monty Python man revisits his remarkable career, with songs dedicated to George Harrison and Robin Williams – and some ribbing of John CleeseA career retrospective fondly remembering a previous career retrospective: who said pop will eat itself? I enjoyed Eric Idle’s touring “one-man musical” very much: he seems like a thoroughly good egg, he’s led a remarkable entertainment life, and who’d begrudge him, now 82, the chance to bask in it – and his audience’s palpable affection – at least one more time? But even I found it a bit much when, reaching the end of this greatest hits compendium, Idle includes Monty Python’s 2014 O2 gigs in his pantheon of past glories. A show for nostalgists warmly recalling an earlier show for nostalgists? Welcome to entertainment in the age of the never-ending showbiz afterlife.In fairness to Idle, this show (called – what else? – Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, Live!) is not about Python, it’s about him, from South Shields...
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