Genius in for the long haul

Henry Rollins
Hammersmith Apollo
***

Considerable praise has recently been heaped on Jeremy Irons for his memory-challenging speech in Embers. For a real monologue marathon man, however, critics should check out America's Henry Rollins, who came onstage at 8.03pm and departed at 10.41pm.

Some disciples were disappointed - 2005's gig was 19 minutes longer.

Rollins, who started out fronting seminal US punk band Black Flag, does not do things by half. He does not drink, does not smoke and does not do small-talk.

When not gigging or reading Proust at home in his 'utilitarian hovel' he is experiencing life to the max.

This was not so much a gig as live blog, with the tattooed raconteur laying himself bare. Part-satire, part-anecdote, the personal and political overlapped.

He grinned as he revealed how he was reported to Australian airline security for reading a book called Jihad, despite the fact that it is recommended US military reading.

Elsewhere, he recalled watching the OJ Simpson trial with John Lee Hooker and entertaining the troops, or, rather, 'cleaning-up after the President.'

Most colourful was the account of his Trans-Siberian Railway trip, an evocative tale involving teenage drinking, eating 'string beans like dead men's fingers' and full of 'regret, vomit and deja vu'.

Unless you are a Rollins devotee - and there were enough to sell out the Apollo with minimal publicity - his shows are undeniably endurance tests.

Yet give him a courageous director and he could be preaching to more than the grungey converted who look like they've been bussed in from Camden Market circa 1989.

Rollins calls his performances 'spoken word' rather than comedy, but with his formidable stage presence, his eye for detail and his intense, mordant wit he could wipe the floor with many stand-ups.