Henry Rollins 'Provoked' - Melbourne

I found myself working at one of Henry Rollins’ spoken word gigs in Melbourne on April 19. Having never heard of him I didn’t know what to expect. The poster for Provoked read “Quintessentially American opinionated editorializing”. I had heard he speaks for 3 hours without an interval and in moments of excitement yells at the audience…What is he? A comedian? A political commentator? A motivational speaker? Judging by the four speakers set up around his feet, he’s a man that loves the sound of him own voice!

It didn’t matter…I left that night a fan and wanting more. It’s an incredible talent to be able to speak for so long (seemingly without drawing breath), to be articulate, to hold an audience engaged (and your own train of thought) beginning a story and getting to its point twenty minutes later. It is a tirade but who cares! Rollins is an amazing storyteller and has some very interesting things to say, particularly when goes off on a tangent. Here’s a man who has strong opinions, who has led an interesting life and wants to share it with as many people as he can and perhaps make a difference somewhere along the way. Kudos to him!

I’m the sort of person who prefers to turn a blind eye to the greater problems in the world but Rollins got me thinking. It’s the way he makes his case. It’s not preachy, he just tells it the way he sees it, with wry observations and a subtle plea (like congratulating the Australian public on voting out John Howard and hoping his own country will follow the example).

At times he had me in uproarious laughter, at times he had me sad about the state of the world, but he always had me waiting to hear what he’d say next. No doubt he’s cynic and holds no punches in telling it how it is, how fucked up the world is. But he’s intriguing and even inspirational. Perhaps he spoke to me because I identified with his take on life – basically that you should get as much out of it until life is happy to see you gone.

One of his poignant points was that everyone in the world should travel more. People should visit new places and just walk around and meet people and the world would be a better place for it. He said every time George W. Bush puts a new country on his axis of evil, he makes it his next travel destination. It was refreshing to see an American being so intrigued as to what is happening outside his own country and wanting to experience it all. I enjoyed his travel anecdotes about countries such as Syria, Iran, Lebanon and Pakistan (for example walking into the midst of mourning following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto). Also notable were his musical experiences (meeting Eddie Van Halen and singing with Nick Cave). It brought worshipping gasps from the audience when he listed his involvement with music scene as legendary bands such as Van Halen, the Clash, the Ramones and more began their careers. I also loved his description of the terrifying sight of fans at a Van Halen concert devouring and spitting out junk food at astounding rates. As Rollins says, if the US invaded Iraq with those Van Halen fans they would have surrendered their oil immediately.

As he encouraged people not to feed their children junk food (or they will turn into couch potatoes attached to a remote control and ‘books will be turn to salt in your hand’), he also explained why he’s never had kids (I paraphrase): ‘I’ve never had children because I’d fuck them up. One day when my boy is about 11, I’d sit him down and say, ‘Look kid here’s the truth, your mum’s a whore, you’re dad’s an asshole and in a few years you’ll be one too…the world’s fucked up!’

One of my favourite Rollins’ lines was “you have to approach old age with a sense of humour, irony and humility.” I hope I can remember that when the years start ticking by at breakneck speeds!

I walked out feeling like I’d had an ‘experience’. Yes, as Rollins warned, my butt cheeks were sore but the epic length was part of the impact. We had endured and enjoyed!