Oh dear. Poor Gary Lachman... Nothing went right for him this evening. Technical hitches plus an uncomfortable atmosphere of both social and climatic heat.
Really though, he should have done better. The man was reading banal facts off a sheet of paper – facts that anyone could have found on their iPhones – and did not have even a semblance of charisma to back it up.
The unprepared speech was interspaced with the projection of old horror films, for which he scarcely offered commentary. The films were simply left to play, out of context, for the audience to make their own impressions.
The funniest moment of the evening probably came from the audience members surrounding me. Each time the man behind me sneezed, the man next to me covered his nose with his jumper for fear of infection. Offended, the sneezing man told him with a passive-aggressive smile that he was sneezing into his arm, and that there was no need to be so cautious. Hilarious.
Oh right, the show... Hmmm. I’m glad I didn’t have to pay £10 for this, because I would have had to ask for my money back and have an awkward exchange with the lovely people who run the venue. As I left, there was a sense that everybody felt the same.
I have some sympathy, but ultimately Lachman should not have been this unprepared. Disappointing.
