Henry Rollins Spoken Word Show, Sunday 19th October, 1997.


Octagon Theatre, University of Western Australia

I had been looking forward to the show for weeks, and finally the day arrived where I would go see one of the Spoken Word shows which I'd heard so much about. Firstly, I'm a huge Rollins fan, I've got most of the Rollins Band albums, so I guess you could say that I'm pretty biased in favour of Rollins.

My friend came over and picked me up, and we headed off to the UWA lecture theatre, an hour early. I though that this would give us plenty of time to arrive early and check things out, but we got lost on the way there, and we ended up searching through Claremont for the university, which was a fucking pain in the ass. Eventually we recognized the clock tower of UWA (Thank God!!!), but we had absouletly no idea of the time (no watches or clocks inside the car), so we were pretty anxious that we'd end up getting there late.

Anyway, we eventually found the carpark, and then after searching for the Octagon Theatre (UWA's a pretty big campus by West Australian standards) we finally made our way into our seats at the show. Henry had started about a minute or two before we arrived, so at least we weren't too late, which was a huge relief. By the way, Henry doesn't bother abusing or ridiculing people who show up late, like so many poor comedians do.

The show was absouletly amazing. For those of you who don't know, Henry's spoken word shows are basically stories of things that have happened to him, and are excellent. I was expecting a funny show, but not as hilarious as it turned out to be. I won't ruin it for those who are about to see Henry on the rest of his spoken word shows, but he talks about a lot of stuff including how his body and brain were functioning after a few days without sleep, his recent trip to Thailand (including a visit to a sex show), his visit to Auschwitz, his collaboration with RuPaul recently, his solution to the Middle East conflict, his band, and experiences he's had with various people, including Marilyn Manson (he described him in a positive way, which was a pleasant surprise), Sheryl Crow and David Bowie.

I was absouletly pissing my pants (not literally) throughout the entire show (except of course when Henry recounts his trip to Auschwitz), and everything he said was extremely interesting. He's got very definite ideas about almost everything in life, and it is all extremely interesting. I'm pretty sure that the show was recorded, and i personally can't wait until its available (on tape or video, I'm not sure), because I definetly want a copy.

By the way, for those who don't know, Henry's Spoken Word shows are nothing like his Rollins Band tour dates. On the Spoken Word he's relaxed, calm and extremely funny. When I met him afterwards I found out that this is closer to the personality he uses for most social settings.

As me and my friend were making our way out of the show I couldn't help overhearing a couple of would-be art critics discussing the show, with comments like "Well, I don't agree with his idea that those over 30 whose job is flipping burgers are failures", and "His show was very confrontational, very in-your-face, and I accpeted his point of view early in the piece". As I was laughing away listening to these dickheads, I decided to buy one of the tour T-shirts.

Ok, I'd heard that after shows you can sometimes meet Henry, so me and my friend (who also thought that the show was excellent) waited around outside the theatre. We spotted a few people waiting around outside an entrance to the back of the building, so we decided to wait there and see what happens. I thought that we'd wait around for a few minutes, and then leave if nothing was happening.

Then, all of a sudden, the door opened and we were told that 5 people could go in at atime, since it was a really small room that we were going to meet Henry in. My friend went in with the first lot of 5, and I waited outside, not believing how lucky I was: I was about to meet the person I respect most in the world, Henry Rollins!. About 5-10 minutes later, the group made its way out of the room, and the rest of us (5 people including me) were motioned to go into the room.

When I walked in, Henry was in the centre of the room talking to this good looking girl (about 20-22 years old).

Girl-Don't you remember me?

Henry-No...

Girl-You don't remember me?

Henry-No..

Girl-You're saying you don't remember me?

Henry-Am I supposed to remember you? have we met before?

Girl-why are you being such an asshole, henry?

Henry-How am I supposed to remember you?

(Henry is taking this really calm, and talking to her nicely, even though she's getting pissed off)

Girl-We met before, in a metaphorical way...

Henry-What?!?

Girl-Stop being such an asshole henry!

Henry-Last time I was here in Fremantle, there was a naked girl knocking at my door at 5 o clock in the morning, was that you?

Girl-Hmmmm.. (doesn't answer question)

Henry-what are you talking about?

(I was getting a bit nervous here, not knowing if he was going to hit someone or go nuts or what. By the way, this had been going on for a full 5-10 mins)

Girl-why are you being such an asshole to me henry?

Henry-what do you mean, have we met before?

Girl-I'm trying to think of a metaphorical way to put it...

Henry-why don't you just say what happened...

Girl-why are you doing this to me? why don't you be honest?

Henry-I am being honest

Girl-why are you being such an asshole?

At this point me and the other four people were ushered out of the room by the security to leave the girl alone with Henry to argue about god knows what. I was getting a bit anxious here, not knowing if i was going to be able to meet Henry, or if he was going to be in a shitty mood

I could hear the girl continually asking him why he's being such an asshole and a bastard, to which Henry was replying that he was an asshole anyway. Everyone else and myself were cracking up at this. Then we heard what the girl had taken so long to get the guts to say - "don't you remember? I was doing Michael Stipe on the bed and you were watching!"

We all pissed ourselves at this, and a few moments later the girl was finally ushered out of the room by the security. She walked out of the area saying to herself "What an asshole!, that fucking asshole!" So we finally went in and met Henry, and we were talking about how nuts that chick must have been. Henry told us that she said that he and Michael Stipe lived in her head, we all laughed real hard.

He was then talking to us about fans who follow him around, including one woman who was throwing cans of tinned corn at Henry from above at a book opening once, and a guy who was adament that 'Weight' was written about him, and wanted to know why Henry and the band didn't acknowledge him whenever they played the album live.

Henry was in a really good mood, despite all the shit he had to put up with before, and was joking and telling us stories - he really is an awesome story teller. He told us how he once tied the shoelaces of the Buzzcock's guitarists shoes together, and then untied them and redid them proerly when the guitarist gave Henry a mean stare. Quite a few years later Henry met up with this guy again and asked if the guitarist recognised him; he was the guy who had tied his shoelaces together at a concert all those years ago. The guitarists' face changed when Henry told him this; gone was the welcoming face, and now the guy was glaring at Henry through the slits of his eyes. Henry apologised to the guy and then left and got on the bus.

After 20 minutes or so, he was told that he'd have to leave pretty soon, so if anyone wanted some stuff signed, nows the time to get it done. I got the T-shirt I'd bought done (just above the Search and Destroy/Sun logo) and also a ticket that this other fan in the room had given me (I only had the stub of my ticket left). After he was done signing stuff for everyone, we all shook hands with him, thanked him and left. He was absouletly awesome, and a really cool guy. Even after putting up with the shit from the bitch before, he still was really friendly and good towards the rest of us.

Me and my friend walked back to the car, still trying to comprehend what had just happened, me especially blown out of my mind - I'd just met Henry Rollins and shook his hand!. I'm still amazed at this, and I plan to get the signed T-shirt and ticket framed and I'm going to stick them up on the wall.

Anyway, last night was easily in the Top 5 nights of my life, and was worth a million times more than the $AUS25 it cost me. I thoroughly reccomend Henry's spoken word show to anyone who's thinking of going, even if they're not a fan of his music. Also, hang arond and meet him afterwards - he's a really great guy.