Review: Russell Brand, Newcastle City Hall

by Sam Wonfor, The Journal

ANY ideas Russell  Brand  would be looking to distance himself from the pre-Christmas  Brand /Ross craziness were firmly put to bed before he  of  the back-combed hair, dark eyes and tight trousers even arrived on stage.

 A  montage  of  news footage, newspaper headlines and Big Ben gongs – all relating to the Sachsgate hysteria – peppered the giant screen which enveloped the stage for the first  of   his  two Newcastle gigs.

And it has to be said, when you see it all in one go, you’d be hard pushed not to come to the conclusion that the whole thing was  a  smidgen overblown.

 A  conclusion helped along by  a  slice  of  the show Russell gives over to postings from newspaper’s message board relating to the story – one  of  which suggests he and Jonathan are sent to Afghanistan... another  of  which demands the comedian be placed on the sex offenders register.

But enough  of  all that (although it did make up  a  large – and very funny – slice  of  Friday night’s proceedings). Russell  Brand  doesn’t need  a  scandal to make  his  stand-up shows stand out. He’s  a  master  of  this particular art – in no small part because you get the feeling that he’s genuinely letting you in to  his  strange little world. Hence he had to talk about the Radio Two debacle, because that’s what he’s been dealing with for the past few months. We also  got  an honest account  of   his  much-flogged presenting  of  the MTV VMA awards in the US – including hearing portions  of  the script which had been intended and the ensuing death threats – and an underpants anecdote involving Dame Helen Mirren.

Loved it, loved it, loved it.