Peter Kay

The Tour That Doesn’t Tour

MEN Arena 27th April 2010

The 7 year itch? Is that what Peter Kay has been feeling having not done stand up for that amount of time? Well the crowd were certainly feeling itchy as they awaited his arrival. After being entertained for half an hour by the surprise appearance of 1980’s pop star Rick Astley, a blown fuse meant that they had to wait for almost half an hour for the Bolton superstar to appear. The crowd even amused themselves by performing a Mexican Wave, but eventually the lights went down and then the atmosphere became electric.

And then there he was, his 7 year itch about to be scratched. He bounced onto the stage, after an overlong bleeped out rendition of John Denver’s ‘You Fill Up My Senses’, and boy was it worth the wait!

Peter Kay is a comic genius, of this there can be no doubt, and despite him showing signs of being a little bit nervous (and who can blame him – a full house at the MEN, not having done stand up for 7 years and the expectation of a nation) he did not disappoint.
It was all there, stories and observations about: family, TV programmes, how his life is ruled by Sky + and hilariously his recent school reunion montage brought the house down. This was followed by his unique look at how we all make up our own words to songs – once again; comic genius.

There is a saying ‘Leave the Best ‘till Last’ well Peter Kay certainly did. I will not spoil it here by going into detail, but it involves pure Rock Theatre and an end to a show that many rock bands would love to have for themselves!

I for one am so happy that Peter Kay decided to give that itch a scratch – long may he continue to be itchy.

10/10

Martin Maloney