Henry Rollins brought his spoken word tour to Buffalo’s Town Ballroom on Sunday. The former frontman of the hardcore punk band Black Flag shared a variety of stories with the capacity crowd. Rollins’ nearly three hour monologue included everything from punk rock to women’s rights. He even touched on the so-called “forbidden” topics, like politics and religion, as the audience hung on his every word. We heard about his travels with National Geographic, his radio show and much more. He also provided comic relief as he told us about the serious stuff. He took the stage shortly after 8:00PM and was a ball of energy from beginning to end, ranting about all that is Henry. Seemingly, it was everything this sold-out crowd wanted to hear. Henry Rollins began the show by thanking the audience for coming out on a Sunday and saying that he noticed the “green people” all over town. It just so happened that Buffalo’s annual Saint Patrick’s Day Parade took place earlier in the day and many revelers were still out and about at the time of the show.
Henry told the audience that he gets lots of letters and emails from fans. People tend to ask him for advice these days. He said that he always replies to these letters and went on to detail some of those that have really left an impact, citing letters from military people and, in particular, a military mom that thanked him for bringing joy to her son, who was killed while serving overseas. Henry also said since he’s old, he can give advice. He’s “Uncle Henry” now! In the words of Uncle Henry, “Respect yourself so others can respect you!”
With a career spanning more than three (3) decades, he was never at a loss for words and has proven to be as well-known as an orator as he is as a punk rocker. Wearing his usual black pants and black T-shirt, his spoken word performance was intense and as sweaty as a concert. Henry said himself that this is what he does now. It’s who he is and he is certainly worth getting to know. That’s what I liked most about his performance. I left the venue feeling like I know this guy that was up on stage. He told his stories, and they were exclusively his. He’s a live audio book, complete with an animated spirit! If you want to get to know a fascinating person, take the time to check out Henry Rollins when he visits your town.
Photos by Heidi May. We would like to thank Mike Magnuson for the tickets to review the show.
