Tenacious D Kick Off Back-To-Back Sold-Out Shows at Palace Theatre With Blistering Performance

Last updated on February 18th, 2022 at 09:53 pm

When I was 10 years old, I vividly remember sitting in a friend’s basement messing around on the computer when he pulled up a song on LimeWire titled “Fuck Her Gently” by a band called Tenacious D. It was the most vulgar, outrageous, and hilarious thing we had ever heard in our lives, probably because of its incredibly liberal use of the word fuck, and we proceeded to listen to it about fifteen times in a row.

A few years later during my middle school and early high school days, I grew my hair out fairly long and, unbeknownst to me at the time, struck a glaring resemblance to Jack Black’s character as a child in their cult-classic film “Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny.” This resemblance was pointed out to me by multiple people, but I had no idea what they were talking about until I sat down and watched the film when I was about sixteen.

Troy Gentile (left) who played the role of a young Jack Black in their film “Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny” and Me (right) a kid who just happened to look like Troy Gentile in his role as a young Jack Black in the film “Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny.”

After sitting down to watch the movie, and confirming that I did have a shocking resemblance to Troy Gentile’s character, I was totally hooked on this band. Later on, I would find artists like Bo Burnham, The Lonely Island, Flight of the Conchords, and other similar acts, but up until this point, I had never heard something that so expertly combined two of my favorite things: music and comedy. It was a total gamechanger for me, and they’ve been in regular rotation on my listening devices ever since.

The group released their fourth full-length album, Post-Apocalypto, late last year. When they announced this summer’s ‘Tenacious D In Post-Apocalypto The Tour 2019,’ which included a performance at the Palace Theatre in St. Paul, I knew I had to be there!

Tenacious D Palace Theatre St. Paul Minnesota Tenacious D In Post-Apocalypto The Tour 2019 — Photo Credit: Sara Fish

The tour is the duo’s first in nearly five years, which resulted in a mad-dash (or rather, furiously fast clicking) right when tickets went on sale in February. The July 30th date at Palace Theatre ended up selling-out almost immediately. Luckily, a second date the following night was added shortly thereafter, giving tons of fans who missed their opportunity to snag tickets one more chance.

The band sold over 5,500 tickets for their two-night run at Palace Theatre, kicking off their stay in the Twin Cities with an absolutely blistering performance on Tuesday night. Opening the night up was Wynchester, a band comprised of Kyle Gass Band singer Mike Bray and Tenacious D guitarist John Konesky, who have been providing support on all dates so far.

I arrived about ten minutes into their performance, grabbed a beer, and found my very, very nice seat in the balcony (more on that later) and began watching. Mike & John put on a great 30-minute performance, playing off the fact that they are opening for such a legendary act. They understood that the people in the crowd definitely were not there to see them, and they handled that with great comedic timing and a relaxed set.

By far the best, funniest portion of their set was when they sang a song about their truck-driver friend, Cliff. He drives the Tenacious D semi-truck from venue to venue, and is, in a word, interesting. Before the song even started, the crowd broke out in a “Cliff! Cliff! Cliff!” chant, and by the end of the song they had Cliff come out for a curtain call. It was the perfect setup for the night, and a very refreshing opening act to enjoy.

After a thirty-minute changeover, the lights went down in the venue and the crowd immediately lost their minds. Chants of “D! D! D! D!” bounced off the walls of the venue, as a large scrim was illuminated on the stage.

For the first forty minutes of the set, Jack Black and Kyle Gass recreated their fourth and most recent album, “Post-Apocalypto,” in its entirety. The two of them stood behind the curtain and played the songs as drawings and pre-recorded dialogue told the story of the duo surviving the apocalypse, having sex, getting sent into outer space, having more sex, stealing a magic Egyptian crystal from the White House, having even more sex, and ultimately saving the world.

After that concluded, the two stepped out in front of the curtain and declared that it was time for the hits, to even more delight from the crowd. The band then performed the first two songs from their 2012 album Rize Of The Fenix before then jumping into Jack Black’s famous “Sax-a-Boom,” resulting in him absolutely refusing to stop playing the funky instrumental until every single person in the building was dancing.

After that, they played a string of songs from the roots that shaped Tenacious D into what they are today. The crowd sang every single word to “Kickapoo” and “Beezleboss,” the latter of which featured the bands backing-guitarist playing the role of Satan (which he was great at, by the way).

When the song was finished, a mock argument took place between the two frontmen, with Gass declaring “I quit!” before walking off the stage. Black then started singing “Dude (I Totally Miss You)” with Gass rejoining him about halfway through to perform his famous guitar solo.

Then it was time for more sing-a-longs with “Kielbasa” and “Tribute” before wrapping up their initial set with the hilarious “Double Team.” After a brief pause, more “D! D! D! D!” chants filled the venue, and the band quickly scurried back out for a one-song encore.

Obviously, that song was “Fuck Her Gently,” which I truthfully had a difficult time hearing them perform because the crowd behind me was singing so loudly.

After their encore and bowing to the crowd is where my story gets a little strange, though. You see, when I arrived at the venue to pick up my ticket, the one that was located in the second-row of the upstairs balcony, I was also handed something else. That thing happened to be a post-show VIP Meet & Greet pass.

I asked an usher where I was supposed to go and was told to meet by the elevators next to the stage after the show was finished. So, that’s what I did. When the show was done, I went and met up with a group of about fifteen or twenty other people, and took the elevator down below the venue to hang out with Tenacious D!

It was very, very obviously some sort of mixup, as the other members of this group included First Avenue ownership, an owner of a local record label, Tame Impala, who came over after their show at Surly Brewing earlier in the night, as well as close friends and family of the band and its members.

Then, there was me. Just hanging out, along for the ride, taking advantage of the free beer and seeing where the night took me. I didn’t stay long but certainly hung around until I could meet and shake hands with both Jack Black and Kyle Gass, and compliment them on a wonderful performance. You can see my photo with Jack Black here if you would like!

All in all, it was an absolutely unforgettable night for a multitude of reasons. Even if you are not the beneficiary of a credential mixup allowing you to meet the band after the show, the nearly two-hour-long set is more than worth it, and these two put every ounce of energy they possibly can into crafting an amazing experience for every person who walks through the doors.