The Mighty Boosh Rock O2 Arena This Week

The Mighty Boosh finally have their name up in lights – the lights of the O2 Arena, and not before time. For ten years Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt have slowly built up a cult following for their BBC3 show. But in the last year, their rise to comedy stardom has been nothing less than meteoric.

They launched the ‘Boosh Band’, hosted their own festival and released a best selling book to accompany their mammoth five month sell-out tour. This week, the Boosh circus descended on the O2 Arena with such energy and enthusiasm, you’d never guess they were over 80 shows in.

Taking to the stage with Fielding on a gigantic glittering galleon and Barratt in an inflatable dinghy, the pair launched into Future Sailors before commencing their usual front-of-curtain banter. ‘Fuck me!’ said Fielding as he stared into the abyss of the O2, clearly overawed by the sheer scale of the event. ‘Yes please’ heckled a female voice, predictably! Whilst Barratt retreated behind the curtain, ‘I can’t do this’ he joked. The famous rapport that underpins everything is evident throughout; little nods, winks and nudges and still seeming to make each other laugh.

Fielding and Barratt effortlessly assume their Boosh alter egos Vince Noir and Howard Moon respectively, to introduce an energetic first half cabaret of favourite characters. Bob Fossil (Rich Fulcher) got the entire audience up to teach them his dance moves. A pimped up Naboo (Mike Fielding) in a full length purple fur coat delivered a hilarious rap about his love of pussy, with his gorilla sidekick, Bollo (Dave Brown) bigging him up at every opportunity! Tony Harrison – essentially just a head with tentacles and not an easy character to play live – was a real crowd pleaser. Fielding ventured into the crowd as the Hitcher ‘It’s a fucking puppet show at best from here’ he said in disbelief from the back tiers, and he was right. It was a bit of an odd choice for a comedy gig, how the audience could see anything from the back is beyond me.

The second half saw wannabe actor Moon (Barratt) presenting his apocalyptic drama, which was predictably hijacked by Noir (Fielding), a Barbarella vision in gold loin cloth and knee-high gold boots, and his robot side-kick (Fulcher). Mayhem ensued, the pair reconciling their differences in a foot-stomping rendition of favourite ‘crimps’.

But it didn’t end there, the encore followed with Fielding (in true rock-star style) performing favourite Boosh songs like Nanageddon and Charlie. With their live band and Barratt on lead guitar, it was the perfect culmination to a unique show, blurring the boundaries between comedy and music, and getting the audience up and dancing. They were encouraged by Mike Fielding (brilliant in his own right) who seemed to be the Boosh’s answer to Happy Mondays’ Bez!

Although not the tried and tested ‘journey into time a space’ formula, the show is constructed with trademark deceptive skill and cleverly executed. The props and effects are fantastic but it’s the shambolic, ‘handmade’ feel that the fans adore, and amazingly the show manages to keep this innate ‘Booshyness’. In a venue the size of the O2 – that’s no mean feat!

This is the Boosh at their best with laugh-out-loud moments at every turn. It’s not meant to be seamless; it wouldn’t be the Boosh if it was. Lines are fluffed, props fail and hilarity sets in, but the strength of the material, the relationship between the cast and the interaction with the crowd draws you in – and once you come in, you can never leave.

The Mighty Boosh are on tour until January 2009
www.themightyboosh.com