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The Rutles' farewell tour, The 100 Club, London

9th June 2005

As the second of two consecutive nights at the 100 Club, this was the last ever opportunity to see The Rutles live in London. And what a way to go -- they were brilliant. Everyone there was in a jolly mood and the atmosphere was great.

The night was in two sets; the first was "Neil Innes & Friends" (JJ Jones on drums and double-bassist Tom Fry) doing material from the Bonzo Dog days and Neil's solo albums, then after a break we had Ron Nasty and Barry Wom presenting "The Rutles in Concert". Eric Idle obviously wasn't there -- although The Rutles were conceived and created by him, he only mimed in the film (and rumour has it that he and Neil aren't on the best of terms anyway) -- but as well as Neil and John Halsey, the Rutles' band included Mark Griffiths on bass and Mickey Simmonds on keyboards (and others whose names I forget, to my shame).

They played pretty much everything from The Rutles and Archaeology, ending with Get up and go before coming back for the predicted encore. What wasn't predicted, however, was the the surprise performance of George Harrison's wonderful Isn't it a pity (played of course because the Rutles wouldn't have happened if it hadn't been for George). Then they ended with Back in '64 -- rather more expected as it'd been conspicuous by its absence from the main set.

We hung around to speak to Neil at the end and I got a Rutles CD signed by both Neil and John -- but owing to a mis-hearing on both his and my part (the venue was still loud), Neil signed it to "Bobby" rather than "poppy"! Of course, this somehow adds to the charm -- I have other stuff signed by Neil and I'm chuffed to bits anyway. I told him that I was sad that they won't be playing Rutles songs any more (although I love his solo stuff too). He replied that if this is the "farewell tour", it won't be long before they can do the "reunion tour". We'll all be waiting with baited breath.

[Neil with Tom]
Neil Innes with Tom Fry on bass
[Neil playing ukelele]
Under the evening sun -- Neil plays ukelele
[Ron Nasty]
Neil Innes is Ron Nasty

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