The Story of Guitar Heroes

Reviewed by Emma

Beyond the Curtain were gifted free tickets in return for an honest review.
 
What constitutes a guitar hero? Incredible riffs? Popularity? Or the creator of a tune you hear in a DFS advert and go, “oh,I didn’t realise that was by them!”
‘The Story of Guitar Heroes’ - formed of Phil Walker, Ben Kapur, Andy Leslie-Smith and Chris Allan – takes you on a guitar journey from the 1950s to the 1990s, featuring music from such legends as Hank Marvin, Jimmy Page and Brian May. Each man in the group takes a turn on either guitar, bass guitar or drums (except Ben, who doesn’t play the drums … tsk, Ben, such an under-achiever). The entire show – and wall of guitars at the back of the stage – is essentially guitar porn to any musician, and a helpful two-page spread in the programme details the various guitars used, and which artist / band was notorious for using them. 

Kicking off with ‘Move It’ by Cliff Richard and The Shadows (the guitarist being Hank Marvin) and strumming through Eddie Cochran, Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix, Black Sabbath, ZZ Top (complete with fluffy guitars), Eric Clapton and Status Quo, before ending the first half with a very good cover of Pink Floyd’s ‘Comfortably Numb’ (helped along by a fairly impressive light show). It was all very … good. Act two kicked off with ‘Money for Nothing’ by Dire Straits (offensive words changed accordingly) and hit all the right notes of AC/DC, Free, Deep Purple, Van Halen, Guns n Roses, Eagles and Prince, and ending with Queen. The second half was a lot better than the first; maybe it was the popularity of the songs chosen, or maybe it was the one middle-aged lady on Row F dancing away and living her best life.

I was worried going into this that I wouldn’t know much of the music. I was brought up on Queen and in recent years have got into AC/DC and Van Halen, but show me a picture of Gary Moore and I wouldn’t have the foggiest (to anyone shouting, “who the heck is Gary Moore?”, he was the guitarist for Thin Lizzy before going solo). But actually, 95% of the songs played were ones I knew, even if I didn’t necessarily know the artist.

I am not a guitarist. I know who Buddy Holly is, for example, but ask me to name a song by him and I’d struggle for a few minutes. Paul Kossoff? Who’s that? Brian May? Oh yeah, the bloke with hair like Anita Dobson, yeah, I know him (joke … Brian May was one of the few artists mentioned in the show who I could actually talk confidently about afterwards). But what is a guitar hero? I asked my partner, a guitarist himself, what he would have chosen had he been given a setlist to compile. A lot of what you’d expect, both in terms of song and musician choice was both on his list and the actual setlist – Pink Floyd’s ‘Comfortably Numb’, ZZ Top’s ‘Sharp Dressed Man’ and ‘The Audience is Listening’ by Steve Vai. But choosing the guitar solo from ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ over the solo from ‘We Will Rock You’? ‘Highway to Hell’ over ‘Thunderstruck’? No ‘Layla’ by Clapton? Oh no, wait, they did … but it wasn’t the first Clapton song they chose to perform (although ‘Sunshine of Your Love’ did go down well with the audience). A couple of times in the show, the band asked if there were any guitarists in the room, to which my partner said later: “They kept asking if there were any guitarists in the room and then played nothing for the guitarists!” He was thrilled when some Albert Lee was played (who I confused with the guy who does potatoes, then realised that that was Albert Bartlett). Some of the song choices felt more like ‘radio tracks’ than a song chosen to honour or immortalise the guitarist who played it.

The songs were interspersed with video footage of the various bands / artists, often the artist talking about a particular song that was then played. A few times, on a screen at the back of the stage, footage of the actual band playing the actual song would be shown while the men played it live. It achieved what it set out to do; for those of us who maybe didn’t know the artist, it was great to watch them in action. And for a show that is basically four musicians in an empty room, it added some much-needed activity. The band are all very accomplished and talented musicians, no question. But no matter how note-perfect your version of Van Halen’s ‘Jump’ is, it is always going to be overshadowed by the large screen behind you, displaying Van Halen in all their hyperactive, leopard-printed glory. The musicians feel like pit musicians rather than artists; there was a lack of stage presence from most of them. I wanted to see them have fun with what they were playing, and for the most part that didn’t come across (although Andy Leslie-Smith’s impersonation of Mick Jagger was incredible. No notes). But then, this isn’t a Van Halen cover band. If I was seeing that, I’d expect them to be performing the same way as the originals, because that’s the very nature of a cover band. The playing was amazing, but it felt like the music was being regurgitated rather than performed. It didn’t help that it was a very small audience, and De Montfort Hall can be quite the soulless place without an audience member in every seat.

This all kind of leads me onto my main gripe of the evening. I despise cringy banter in shows; it’s not a panto, it’s not a stand-up special, so don’t do it. The show was scripted to within an inch of its life, and the “improvised” banter sticks out like a sore thumb. I also, maybe unfairly, took against Phil Walker; at times, it didn’t feel like a four-piece, it felt like Phil and his backup band. 

And here ends my review of ‘The Story of Guitar Heroes’ (no encore composed of The Who and The Rolling Stones here!). As a guitarist, you’ll enjoy an evening of music from your heroes (and maybe a session in the pub afterwards, arguing the merits of ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ over ‘Welcome to the Jungle’). As a non-guitarist … well, maybe take along a helpful friend to explain the bits you don’t understand, and you’ll be set for a good night.

Here are my own personal top five songs I’d have included in the show:

• ‘Johnny B. Goode’, Chuck Berry

• ‘Thunderstruck’, AC/DC

• ‘We Will Rock You’, Queen

• ‘Panama’, Van Halen

• ‘Smooth’, Santana (feat. Rob Thomas)

Who would be in your list?

⭐️⭐️⭐️. 5

The Story of Guitar Heroes plays on tour until 3rd May 2025. Visit https://www.storyofguitarheroes.com/ for full tour information and tickets.