If you think the audience for Marc Burrows’ The Britpop Hour will be primarily middle-aged men in polo shirts — the audience for Marc Burrows’ The Britpop Hour is primarily middle-aged men in polo shirts (artist included). But that does not at all detract from what is a beautifully pitched, wonderfully entertaining hour of comedy-education that never, ever veers into the overly-sentimental (genuinely).
The Britpop Hour defies whatever indulgent nostalgia-fest you may have written it off as: this is a clever, sharp, and not at all misty-eyed show about the sometimes brutal and often batshit Britpop wave of the 1990s. Burrows, a music journalist and self-confessed Pulp obsessive, begins his show by making a PSA of sorts, to ensure we’re all on the same page regarding exactly WHAT Britpop is: “It is… nonsense.”
Preach — and thus sets the tone for the next hour of wonderfully astute observations, the occasional sing-along, and a mad but very touching motif of the Chainsaw Man (a manga series, the Britpop to Burrows’ son). The staging is minimal, consisting of a Jarvis Cocker cut-out and a greatly utilised powerpoint — we’re shown several very serious graphs of e.g., the timeline of the world (stretching from the Birth of Christ to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour), and some literal stats on the of the number of women and/or people of colour in Britpop bands (it’s a very countable number!).
Burrows is a greatly likeable host, self-aware and silly, with a genuine appreciation and knowledge of the music he’s dedicated this hour to: a particular highlight includes a live guitar demonstration of all the songs Britpop bands blatantly ripped off (Oasis’ “Whatever”, followed by Neil Innes’ “How To Be an Idiot”).
There’s some amazing lines in here, too, that ensure Burrows is never fawning over these incredibly-easy-to-ridicule men: “Damon Albarn is what happens when you mix a mid-level sociology degree with the Artful Dodger”, “when Oasis ran out of other people’s songs, they had to make their own”, and a great bit about Noel’s being a “shy Tory”. Burrows is definitely an Oasis moderate, a commendable feat in a room of people willing to shed £500 to their name.
That’s not to say there are no moments of earnestness or pure, delighted love: The Britpop Hour finishes on a supremely touching and uplifting note, with a mass performance of “Common People”. Burrows bounces around the stage, finger-pointing and twitching with all the charisma and excitement of 1990s Jarvis Cocker. Oh yeah!
The Britpop Hour with Marc Burrows is running until 25 August at Dairy Room at Underbelly, Bristo Square.
Buy tickets here.
Image courtesy of Alexis Dubos, provided to The Student to use as press material.