Monty Python @ The O2

Sometime last year the legends that are Monty Python announced that they were reforming to play a few nights at The O2. Somehow in the rush for tickets that nearly broke the Interwebs I managed to get a single ticket.

At the time I was the most expensive ticket I'd ever purchased (since beaten into second place by Kate Bush) at a tad over £100. So they'd better be bloody good to justify the expense.

With the opening night a few days before, I'd done my best to avoid the spoilers, and hadn't read any of the reviews. I wanted to make up my own opinion and not have it dictated by the mainstream media that seemingly runs our lives.

Friday 4th July came and I was to find out if they were worth it?

In what was basically their greatest hits there were of course some brilliant moments... The lumberjack song, dead parrot, spam spam spam spam spam spam spam and spam, the argument sketch and the grand finale Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life being my favourites.

There was too much reliance on the old video footage, although that said the Professor Brian Cox / Stephen Hawking sketch was comedy gold.

At times I was a bit lost, clearly I hadn't watched enough Monty Python growing up. I didn't know some of the sketches, and perhaps some just weren't that funny in the first place?

The dancers were mostly just a time waster, perhaps to give the old boys a chance to catch their breath and change outfits. Their finest moment was all too brief, when they were silhouetted against a vivid red background doing John Cleese's silly walks. I've never been to a musical before but I imagine them to be a bit like this with the dancers and slightly cheesey show music.

Were they worth the £100? No, they weren't. Was I glad I went, ab-so-bloody-lutely I was!

Oh, one final moan, the merchandise stalls. With £25 for a t-shirt that probably cost a couple of quid to produce perhaps the final laugh was against the audience and anyone stupid enough to pay that much?

Now to the pictures. £100 bought me a seat somewhere towards the arse end of The O2 and I only had a 75mm (150mm full frame equivalent) with me. So sadly no close ups of the stars of the show, but they do the job nicely for me and act as a very good memory jog to a great evening.

The big venues seem to have relaxed their camera policies now.  The security guards didn't even blink and my camera, and I had it deliberately in plain sight.  I used the Olympus E-P5 with the tiny 14mm lens when I was walking in, and swapped it for the 75mm f/1.8 for a bit more reach when inside.