I’ve never laughed so much at a someone else’s shortcomings in my life. Josh Weller’s Age Against The Machine was ridiculous, comical and highly observational of the harsh music industry. Weller tells us the story of his childhood dream to be a pop star just like his idol Phill Collins, after being rejected from most labels, Weller was signed to a big (French) record company in 2008 who gave him at the naive age of 23, £60,000 upfront… you can imagine where that money went.
Weller’s observations on music will make you laugh but also think
Weller was dropped from his label after one whole year and now he has a comedy show based around his failed career in pop music. I mean if you don’t laugh…
Weller pokes fun at himself, at his own discography and at the music business in general, it’s an hour of comical cynicism and I loved it.
In-between the story being told of Weller’s journey with music he interludes with short parodies of music from each decade from Vaudeville to Cardi B. Each take is ridiculous yet accurate, and on the way home with my earphones in, I genuinely thought about how ridiculous the lyrics I was hearing were and it made me giggle for a minute.
Weller’s observations on music will make you laugh but also think. Despite his clown-ish antics the man does seem to know a lot about music – it’s informed comedy.
Age Against The Machine is arranged very well; Weller uses his musical smarts to create a very entertaining show, even with the mishap that occurred when someone arrived late and the show had already begun. Weller handled it very well making a joke and even catching the late-comer up to speed on what he had already said jokingly “you missed the best bits”.
So if you like a bit of music knowledge go to this show, if you don’t, still go to this show because it is hilarious and Weller has done a great job of being served lemons and making lemonade.
