Remember When: Spinal Tap Played a Secret Club Tour in 1984

It is now established lore that’s faux rockers Spinal Tap—portrayed on screen and later onstage by Michael McKean (as frontman/guitarist David St. Hubbins), Christopher Guest (guitarist Nigel Tufnel), and Harry Shearer (bassist Derek Smalls)—actually played live on L.A.’s Sunset Strip scene back in the early 1980s before they made the infamous and beloved 1984 mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap. What many people probably don’t know is after the movie came out, the group did five dates in summer 1984. This journalist caught their show on Saturday, July 7, at The Channel in Boston. They did two shows, an afternoon all-ages show for us non-drinking teens, and a show for adults at 1 a.m.

Blurring the Line Between Rock Reality and Fiction

Spinal Tap have always played fast and loose with reality. The group originally did a 20-minute short film called Spinal Tap: The Final Tour to sell the idea of the feature, and it actually included real-life Uriah Heap keyboardist John Sinclair as part of the band. In fact, Sinclair’s classical-sounding work is heard in the movie and on the soundtrack album of the same name, most notably on “Stonehenge” and “Cups and Cakes.” (Heep’s demonic Abominog album cover from 1982 may have inspired the giant grinning skull seen on stage in the film.) Also in the movie, Rough Cutt frontman Paul Shortino cameoed as the more popular rock star Duke Fame during a hotel sequence.

In its April 14, 1984 issue, Billboard released their first heavy metal special supplement in the center of the magazine, and the gatefold image was a two-page spread featuring the actual unseen Spinal Tap cover for Smell the Glove—yes, a greased woman wearing a dog collar with a leather glove thrust into her scowling face—contrasted with the black album cover shown in the movie. The ad’s tagline proclaimed: “This is what they wanted. This is what they got.” Six tiny images of the other Spinal Tap album covers were placed in the lower right-hand corner. (It turned out that Smell the Glove was already “certified onyx.”) This actually came out after the movie’s March 2 release, likely in order to boost soundtrack sales and future home video sales and rentals.

A Secret “Comeback” Tour

After the movie came out and made a modest amount of money—and long before its cult status turned it into a cultural touchstone that led to more Spinal Tap reunion albums and tours—the group decided to embark on a reported five-city U.S. tour. They probably it did more for fun than anything else since they already had been playing out live to begin with. (In character, it was likely done to celebrate their “comeback” at the end of the film.) The Channel concert was only announced through local metal shows; in this case, I believe I heard about it through the famed WERS college show “Nasty Habits” and its knowledgable DJ Mike Jones, who later went on to work Epic Records, Metal Blade Records, and the Universal Music Group.

I brought along two friends to the Spinal Tap all-ages show. My best friend, Stephen, had seen the movie with me. Another friend, Rob, had no idea about it until I explained it to him on the way over to the gig. Ultimately, I think he had even more fun because it was his first exposure to the group, whereas Steve and I were in on the joke.

Local hard rock band August opened up the show with a solid set of songs, although funnily enough they proved to be twice as loud as Spinal Tap, who probably didn’t want to blow out the eardrums of fans not used to hard rock and heavy metal shows. It seemed that one August band member’s wife had brought their 5-year-old to the show without ear protection, which would be a no-no today.

From the Screen to the Stage

All five band members in the movie—the above-mentioned trio along with David Kaff (keyboardist Viv Savage) and R.J. Parnell (drummer Mick Shrimpton, now sporting short hair and a mustache)—took the stage for a set that lasted between about 90 minutes. They played all the songs that you came to know and love, including “Hell Hole,” “Sex Farm,” and “Big Bottom,” for which, yes, there were three bass guitars on stage. They opened with a small a cappella bit of Curtis Lee’s 1961 doo-wop hit “Pretty Little Angel Eyes,” which led into their future holiday single “Christmas with the Devil.” They played all the songs from the movie and also covered Bobby Day’s 1958 hit “Rockin’ Robin.”

The fans that attended the show, and there were probably 150 to 200 of them, loved seeing them live. The actors stayed within their personas. Shrimpton looked perpetually stoned, and Tufnel chewed gum but would stick it against the side of the microphone when he was required to sing certain vocal harmonies. They made all the ridiculous gestures that people recalled from the movie. And before the band hit the stage, a roadie even tested each of their towels on his brow before placing them on their amps. (That’s quality control.)

Electrified Irony

Another situation was brewing that fans were oblivious to. When I met Michael McKean a couple of times in later years, he remarked to me about how it was raining outside the night of the show and the Channel’s roof was leaking. As Guest told me during a group interview for Billboard in 2019: “It’s not a terrible premise to think that it’s raining and you’re playing electric guitar and might die.”

That would’ve been an unfortunate—and sadly appropriate—Spinal Tap moment for, well, Spinal Tap.

This Is Spinal Tap truly inspired a lot of future rock ‘n’ roll satire. There are likely many young moviegoers today who are unaware of the film and might not get some of the references since the fictional group reached the height of their popularity in the 1970s, and certain cultural in-jokes might not be so obvious today. But it remains a classic rock ‘n’ roll movie that has now spawned a sequel that will be coming out in spring or summer of 2025. It’ll be interesting to see if the cast can retain the same level of mirthful humor that was exhibited in the first film, and which they’ve carried over to subsequent tours and reunion albums.

Seeing Spinal Tap live in 1984 was a hoot and a great memory. The fact they could pull that off on stage so easily is a testament to how inspired they were when taking on those characters. As the cliché goes: Actors secretly want to be rock stars, and rock stars secretly want to be actors. The guys in Spinal Tap have pulled off both.

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