I’ve been to a few rock shows in my lifetime – some of them big, some of them down right huge. But, until I’d seen Tenacious D live in concert, I’d never been to a Rock show. Saturday night in Seattle, Tenacious D or “The D” as their fans affectionately chanted all night put on a Rock show.

As a band, Tenacious D has never claimed itself to be as serious or monumental in shifting the tides of popular music as some of their idols. They aren’t Dio or The Who. They’re Tenacious D, and Tenacious D takes the best of what made Dio and The Who so big and blows it up to caricature. Don’t let that alter your opinion of their music though, because these guys can seriously rock.

The show started maliciously enough with a half hour set from a comic the likes of which I’ve never had the displeasure of witnessing. In classic Jack Black humor, Tenacious D sent out one of the worst opening acts I’ve ever seen. A series of one rank, often humorless one liners and heckling from the crowd dragged on for almost a 25 minutes, to be succeeded by another 25 minutes of sound check. But, the false start and all the poor taste in the world only proved to whet the appetites of Seattle’s Parmount Theater and its sold out crowd.

When the curtain fell and JB and KG woke from their stage beds to take the stage as Tenacious D the place erupted, everyone on their feet including the upper rows of the balcony above. In rocking acoustic glory the two set off on an epic hour and forty-five minute set through their first two albums and the cast of characters they collected along the way.

Jack Black’s comedic timing is as perfect live as it is in any of his more prepared productions, a ribald, energy overdose shooting all over the stage, hitting up every fan in the venue with as much of his pompous show rocking as possible.

After a particularly electric skit, the two took leave of the stage, a curtain dropped and a short film played of their descent to hell where they meet the Anti-christ guitar god (who looks conspicuously like Jesus), Charlie Chaplin, and Colonel Sanders, forming the new Tenacious D, a full feature Rock Band. The curtain rises and the stage takes on an entirely new presence, complete with fiery infernos and steaming crags propping up the drum kit. Hell’s band walks out on stage and the music kicks up a half dozen notches.

The two battle “The Metal”, a giant mechanical representation of Heavy Metal, with Jack Black trying his best to succumb to exhaustion flipping across the stage. They take a psychedelic trip on some bad shiitake mushrooms and finally battle Satan in a rock off for their souls. The finale, a 12 minute jam session in classic big rock form showcasing the talents of each of the five band members blew the show out of the water, exploding in an eruption of screaming fans and shouts for the obligatory encore.

After three or four minutes the two were back on stage for the three songs everyone knew were still coming, including the fully choreographed rendition of “Tribute”. As Jack Black and Kyle Gass, surrounded by their band and actors took the final bow, the crowd reeling from one of the best productions they’ll see all year, the curtain dropping and the lights flickering back on, I was left thinking just how better Tenacious D was live than most of the other rock bands I’ve seen in my lifetime. And their songs are primarily comedy.