If you wanted Gruff Rhys to turn up, play a load of Super Furry Animals songs and a handful of solo tracks on his current tour then you’d be in for a bit of a disappointment. However, if you wanted a thoroughly entertaining evening of humour, storytelling, fantastic songs….. and a slideshow too, then this is the gig for you! 

 

The show opens with Gruff wandering onstage dressed in an inflatable life jacket, hunting hat and holding a sign with the name of his tour/latest album “American Interior” and introducing a 5 minute video about the a Welsh prince (Prince Madoc) who it claims was actually the first to sail to America and subsequently form the mythological Welsh speaking tribes of American Indians. Right away we know this isn’t going to be your average kind of gig.

 

Gruff (complete with band) then tell the tale of John Evans (a Welshman who set out in the 1700’s to seek these fabled Welsh speaking tribes of America) with songs from the album, a very dry wit and a powerpoint slideshow.  John Evans “for the 2nd or possibly 3rd time in Manchester” also makes an appearance in the form of a felt puppet.

 

The story includes imprisonment, defection to the Spanish, catching Malaria, walking across most of America, surviving an assassination attempt, not finding the Welsh speaking tribe he set out to seek, and worst of all “he even had to live in London for a while”.

 

At the end of the tale, a good hour into the show, Gruff then announces “so that’s a bit of background information for you, and now we can begin tonights gig”. The encore then comprises of a set of about 9 songs from his solo albums played to an audience who are already enthralled, excited, entertained & safe in the wisdom that if “challenged to a duel whilst walking down Oxford road later, you can just say 'no thanks'.”

 

Part gig, part comedy show and part history lecture, everyone leaves the evening with a big grin on their face!