There were chairs in the Town Ballroom Tuesday night, an unusual sight for the venue known for its raging concerts. Audience members enjoyed their seats as a rampant force filled the room - the spoken word of a Renaissance man with a purpose, Henry Rollins.
The former lead singer of punk pioneers Black Flag and his later project Rollins Band stopped in to Buffalo as part of his Provoked tour, which maps a grueling 50 cities in less than two months.
Taking the stage with nothing more than a fist-clenched microphone, the road warrior looked weathered as he began his act. Once a burly wrecking-ball of a man, the self-proclaimed "adventurer" is now gray as fading tattoos cover his toned but shriveled figure.
Rollins didn't exit the stage until three hours had elapsed. Not once did he take a sip of water, while his words spit like ammunition in a round of vocabulary-intensive outbursts.
Agitation is at the essence of Provoked. Rollins is fed up with the media calling him provocative because he's convinced that the people with power in this country are the ones provoking him.
He went on to harvest laughs and deliberation from the prominent issues of the day, from the War in Iraq to Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to Columbia University.
"If I was in college, I'd walk 30 miles to hear that psychopath talk for an hour and a half," said Rollins.
The published author and host of The Henry Rollins Show on IFC used the airport sex scandal of former US Senator Larry Craig of Idaho to segue to his own narrative as a homosexual man, who willingly succumbs to the next phase in natural sexuality: fornication with canines, bovines and marriage to a thorough-bred horse.
All the while, Rollins plays the part with his satirical character fragrance that makes it clear how he really feels about gay marriage.
"Sexuality is like laundry," Rollins said. "Boring."
When tackling the War in Iraq, the seasoned storyteller referred to an Iraqi cab driver he met in Sweden.
The driver explained the Iraqi people were appreciative of Saddam's removal, however, they resent the policies that followed, particularly Ambassador Paul Bremer's discharge of half a million Iraqi troops.
From the perspective of the Iraqi people, that was the ultimate "deal-breaker," according to Rollins.
While formulating a convincing argument, Rollins' comparisons did get far-fetched at times, comparing former members of Saddam's army to workers he met at Fox News in terms of their likely discord with their job descriptions.
However, Rollins fully acknowledged his sure inconsistencies with an early disclaimer.
"I'm a hypocrite because I am a human being," said Rollins. "We're all complex creatures. It's what makes us so cute at parties."
At times, Rollins kept the talk light, paying tribute to vintage punk-rockers like The Ruts and The Ramones, idolized by him and many in his age-diverse crowd.
"People are always playing the race card. I want to play the Ramones card," said Rollins. "We gave the world John Coltrane and P-Funk," he added when justifying his love for America.
"It was awesome, like nothing I'd ever seen before," said Jake Johnston, a carpenter from Niagara Falls. "It was real unexpected - an eye opener, I'll tell you that."
At three hours in length, Provoked may have been overly long for some, especially those who arrived at the ballroom too late to claim a seat.
"It tailed off a little bit, but at least he kept it funny," said Kenmore West student Samarah Hagagi.
"A break might have been nice," added fellow student Molly Malone. "But it was really funny and really informative. It made you think."
Political activism is an undeniable forte of Rollins; however, what makes this bull-necked performer so endearing is his unabashed observation on his own mentalities and handicaps.
"If life is a river, I'm standing on the bank going 'that's a river,'" said Rollins when expressing his crippling inability to "live in the moment."
His forthright delivery of spoken word fury is incendiary enough to appease the most hotheaded rebels while being personal and intellectual enough to entertain an assorted audience.
Rollins will be performing Provoked on Friday, Oct. 11 at the Convocation Hall in Toronto at 7 p.m. The Henry Rollins Show airs Fridays at 11 p.m. on IFC.
