This Is Spinal Tap - The Premiere


	This Is Spinal Tap - The Premiere

		by Guido Henkel

	A belated premiere of Rob Reiner’s comedy brought celebrities and the press together for an exciting night of total Tap-treatment. When Rob Reiner’s mock rockumentary “This Is Spinal Tap” first hit theater screens some 16 years go, many didn’t really get the joke that this was not a real band, but a bunch of hired actors, posing as a mentally defunct heavy metal band. Now the film is celebrating its 16^th Anniversary in the form of a big re-release through MGM Home Entertainment, including a Special Edition DVD.

	On Tuesday, September 5, MGM put up a full theatrical premiere of the movie at the Egyptian theater in Hollywood in celebration of the event. A star-studded event with red-carpet treatment accompanied by legions of photographers and hordes of fans clogging Hollywood Boulevard, the screening of the movie was only the beginning.


	Celebrities like Jamie Lee Curtis, Tim Curry, Fran Dresher, director Rob Reiner and of course the band itself showed up for the premiere, as did countless other stars such as Laura San Giacomo and Kathy Najimy. After the celebrities had run the red-carpet gauntlet Rob Reiner opened the actual screening of the movie “This Is Spinal Tap,” stating that this is actually THE premiere of the movie since it never really had one before. He also mentioned that he was at the screening as a messenger for director Marty DiBergi, who would officially and publicly apologize to the band “Spinal Tap” for portraying them so inadequately in his movie. As you can certainly tell, Reiner opened the evening on a very funny note and soon the movie started rolling accompanied by roaring applause and laughter in many of the key scenes. I think everyone in the audience was just caught up in the movie and reminded that “This Is Spinal Tap” is indeed the best rock and roll comedy ever made.



	A super-sized Marshall stack graced the entrance to the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood


	In a funny twist, Jamie Lee Curtis took other people’s cell phone calls as she walked the red carpet



	A look down the red carpet reveals a gauntlet of journalists and photographers


	Tim Curry, always eager to talk to members of the press and the fans



			Tim Curry was one of the stars who celebrated this exciting moment.


			A big ruckus was caused on the Hollywood Boulevard when the event opened


	Jamie Lee Curtis, always with a smile, a joke and a kind word. This is what real superstars are made of.



	This are the guys from Spinal Tap in yet another disguise - as aging folk singers, opening for... themselves. A real treat, but sadly we were not allowed to take any more pictures.


	After the movie was over, the action was relocated to the “House Of Blues” on Sunset Boulevard, a number of blocks away. Inside it got very busy very quickly as more and more people arrived, filling the concert area of the venue with ease. Soon the opening band appeared on stage and it took me a few seconds to realize that what we were offered there were none others than Spinal Tap, playing folk songs - with a twist of course. Wearing bald caps and aging make-up you could hardly recognize them, standing there as old men on stage with their acoustic instruments, bellowing out tunes with heavy southern accents. Once they were pulled off stage... literally, the atmosphere in the room intensified and about thirty minutes later, Spinal Tap took the stage. To be honest, it was quite incredible to see how Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer played through their set list of Spinal Tap classics.

Keep in mind that these guys are actors and no professional musicians, but they easily managed to make you believe otherwise. A few dissonances here, a missed chord change there didn’t make a difference at all. What you saw on stage was a solid rock band, backed up by an incredibly groovy, tight drum section and a keyboarder. Amazing...

But it got better. Towards the end of the gig, suddenly Toto axeman and veteran studio guitarist Steve Lukather entered the stage to play with the band, and although his class made an immediate mockery out of Tap’s playing, it was a fascinating moment. But it got better still. To play the song “Big Bottoms” Spinal Tap brought out Weird Al Yankovic with his tuba and infamous bassist Lee Sklar to play with them and in earth-shattering unison, the guys physically shook the “House Of Blues” to its foundations.

This was an exciting night and a fantastic party that MGM put up for their re-release of “This Is Spinal Tap.” It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get to actually get to see “Spinal Tap” live and I am thankful I didn’t miss it.


	Don’t miss our review of MGM Home Entertainment’s brand new Special Edition DVD of This Is Spinal Tap

			September 8, 2000