Nevermind: the bollocks - here's the King

ELVANA, 2ND SEPTEMBER 2016, OXFORD ACADEMY

Right, let's get one thing straight immediately. Any po-faced pissant carping about the concept behind Elvana - the self-proclaimed (though probably truthfully described) finest Elvis-fronted Nirvana tribute act in the world - is conveniently forgetting that Nirvana themselves have essentially endorsed it. Kurt Cobain having proven in 1994 that he did indeed have a gun after all, the remaining members chose to play Celebrity Karaoke twenty years later, inviting a quartet of singers to take his place for the live performance that marked the band's induction into the Rock 'N' Roll Hall Of Fame. If Kim Gordon, St Vincent, Joan Jett and Lorde could all have a crack at the standards, then why can't the King?

Emerging stage right with hamburger in hand as his preppily dressed band kick into 'Aneurysm', this Elvis is not the clean-cut sex symbol of the 1950s and 1960s, but the bejewelled behemoth of the 1970s, dragged straight from the Vegas strip. He's suffering for his art, clad in a snugly-fitting jumpsuit that results in a sweaty groin and sporting a tan that makes him look like the varnished offspring of David Dickinson and Claudia Winkelman.

Disrespectful to both artists? Not a bit of it. A grunged-up cover of 'All Shook Up' ("We like to call it 'All Fucked Up'") provokes an animated response, while potent renditions of 'Lithium', 'Heart-Shaped Box', 'You Know You're Right' and especially 'All Apologies' are a timely and surprisingly poignant reminder of Nirvana's power and Cobain's considerable songwriting chops in the month that Nevermind turns 25.

The encore ends with 'The Man Who Sold The World', and a Geordie pretending to be Elvis pretending to be Kurt Cobain pretending to be David Bowie. A complete headfuck, in other words - but one they manage to pull off.

Elvana may have started out as a joke, but it's a joke that certainly hasn't gone too far yet.

(This review originally appeared in the October issue of Nightshift.)