Hugh Laurie singing Dr. John is like John Key serving a romantic dinner – however well-intentioned you just can’t feel comfortable with the end result.

That was (part of) what I said in my review. And I really enjoyed the show actually. A surprise, because Hugh Laurie, charming though he is, was excruciatingly bad to hear on record.  But in concert it’s like he knows how to play it – a bit more. He knows that his role, really, is as curator. And when he settled into that, and ditched the Prince George voices and the hammy mugging, he sat before an incredible band and offered a decent repertoire. Yes, it’s cruel to think that his day-job is to convince people of things and he’s utterly unconvincing as singer of songs – these songs anyway.

But good on him for having a passion and following his heart. He sure has great taste in music. I just preferred it when he took a back seat. The saving grace really was that it was fairly clear he preferred that too.
Stubs is an occasional feature here at Off The Tracks – looking back through the ticket-stub box and remembering how the show went down.