When your show is part gig and part theatre, it must be quite hard to find an appropriate support act. Tragedy tonight gave us a couple of local bands, kicking things off with the scouse humour and somewhat weird sound of Mr Ted. I’ll be honest, watching all the man-buns and hipster beards nodding along to their rather strange mishmash of sound made me feel really old. It was a bit avant-garde, a bit, well, odd really. The music had slow doomy rock, lively punky bits, a sprinkle of funky reggae. It reminded me in places of Primus, that same kind of mixed-up and slightly wacky sound. I didn’t get it. I felt bewildered and out of place, and went to have a nice sit down at the back in the end. If you’re a lot younger than me you’d probably enjoy them, and also enjoy discussing them over a hand-woven vegan latte in your favourite coffee shop the next day.

I’ve come to the conclusion that I might be somewhat of a jinx for second band Attic Theory. I keep trying to see them, and it keeps going wrong. First it was parking woes, then terrible sound, and tonight? Well tonight the band were on form and I could hear all the guitars, hurrah! The sound was crisp and clear. But. Singer Lewis Wright appears to have lost his voice. When I’ve seen this band before his voice has been powerful and tuneful and tonight it’s croaky and weak, even with the addition of a megaphone in the first song. I’m assuming he has some kind of chest or throat issue, and I hope it’s not to serious. Get well soon Lewis! The songs are still catchy, I still think the drummer is ace, and I love the ballad “Let me Be Your Light” and the last song that they always play with the whoah-oh singalong chorus. I still don’t know what that one’s called though! I’m kind of hoping that next time I see them (and it probably won’t be too long as they currently seem to be Liverpool’s go-to local support act) everything comes together and I can start to really appreciate them. Now though? Still reserving judgement a little. The songs are good, the talent is there, it’s just been that every time I’ve seen them so far something has been lacking.

Tragedy too are, I suspect, something of an acquired taste. They are a band, but not a band. They are also a performance, an act, they are not just Tragedy but also Comedy and Art. The show starts, as usual, with stage hangaround Lance running about with a flashing light on his head. You may wonder what the point of Lance is? Well I think the point of Lance is that he is totally pointless. He’s part of the show, a little light relief, a little manic action. A reminder that this isn’t just music, it’s also Show, with a capital S. Tragedy themselves hit the stage in an explosion of glitter and inappropriate trousers, and launch into a rocked-out version of ‘Fame’, followed by their theme song ‘Tragedy’. That is their entire schtick, they take all those songs that you’ve heard on the radio for your whole life and they rock them out. They add riffs, they add solos, they add style. They all sing, all have a slightly different range, and the vocal harmonies are superb.

They dry-hump guitars. They dance a little, pose a lot, deliver some very rehearsed lines as intros but  with tongues very firmly in cheek. They abuse Lance, they abuse the crowd, they abuse each other. There are inflatable penises (penii?!), glitter wigs, confetti cannons. There is s spot of magic, where the band spin around and miraculously turn into King Neil Diamond to belt out a death metal version of ‘Sweet Caroline’. There’s my personal favourite ‘Raining (In Blood) Men’, Toto’s ‘Africa’, ‘Funky Town’, ‘Grease’, ‘Disco Inferno’. Abba’s ‘Gimme Gimme Gimme’ is aired, along with ‘Dancing Queen’. It’s a riot of shit and giggles, and I love it. Who knew that they could play ‘You Should Be Dancing’ and make it sound like KISS? Who knew that a Norwegian death metal version of ‘You’re The One That I Want’ would work? Who knew that Mo’Royce has such an incredible vocal range that only dogs can hear parts of ‘How Deep Is Your Love’?

All the classic pop songs are there and mangled, but with such love, such attention to detail that you can’t quite believe they haven’t always sounded like this. In the encore, they actually play some KISS but chuck in a bit of Donna Summer, Rick Astley and others. There is glitter everywhere, and the evening ends on a high. Watching Tragedy isn’t just a gig, it’s an experience, and I like to think I am smart enough to get what they do and dumb enough to enjoy it.