Blue Man Group

London O2 shows on sale

Blue Man Group UK tour tickets are on sale now.

Ultimate concert experience with virtuoso tubes performance
Anarchistic rock star instruction manual

The Blue Man Group is packing its bags and going on tour. While the original theatre production continues to wow people from all over the world the blue men are putting on the ultimate concert experience with their new, spectacular show. The Megastar World Tour, arrives at the O2 Arena on Sunday 15 February 2009. 

The Blue Man Group will be presenting their perfect anarchistic instruction manual on gaining popularity in the modern world of music and beyond. Needless to say, the three seemingly emotionless, bald, glistening blue, mute men have taken with them all their self-crafted ensembles, together with Blue Man favourites such as whirlpool drumming, marshmallow throwing and paint spitting. In arenas, the multimedia show is in its element, with innovative components from surreal theatre, slapstick, video, lightshow and stimulating rock music. With its splendid malapropism of rock stars and their attitudes, the Blue Man Group Megastar World Tour has already captivated more than two million people in the USA.

The Blue Man Group’s energetic tour production, "How To Be A Megastar", lays emphasis on dynamics, rhythm and audience participation. The show is a shining response to modernity and the technological overkill of the internet era.  The Blue Men, mimicking expert motionlessness, use their live stage as a playground for music and art – but seemingly forgoing all rules. The figures, wrapped in blue-coloured latex, spread amusement and curiosity with their virtuoso tube-playing act, without words but with eyes open wide. The main motivation of the performance lies in working with bizarre percussion instruments and obscure ensembles - with a maze of pipes, the tubes.

Hence the Drumbone, a cross between a trombone and a drum. Two performers place several tubes over each other and move them around, creating pitch variation. At the same time, the third member of the group plays the tubes with drumsticks. The PVC Instrument, with a six metre-wide network of pipes, can be played by all three at the same time, and is based on the principle of a bamboo instrument. The Big Drum, with its two-metre diameter, is reminiscent of a kettledrum. The Airpoles’ artificial antennae are swung to produce a "swoosh" sound.

The Blue Man Group emerged from the New York underground art scene of the late 80s. In 1987, Matt Goldman, Phil Stanton und Chris Wink, while working for a catering company in Manhattan, started holding organised street-art events and performing in parks and clubs. At the legendary La Mamma Experimental Theatre Club, they produced their first show "Tubes". It was met with a rapturous response from both audiences and the media. The Blue Man Group moved to the Astor Place Theatre, where the show has been playing ever since.

With New York as their starting point, the Blue Man Group began their triumphal march around the globe – with their production "Rewired", the misfits were now the darlings of the audiences in Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Berlin, Toronto, London und Amsterdam.  Worldwide, more than 16 million Blue Man fans saw the theatre version. At the same time, the three men in blue paved the way for an era of popular Off-Broadway shows such as "Stomp" and "De La Guarda".

Co-founder Chris Wink compares his Blue Man Group to "an Yves Klein painting, whose colour is now independent and enjoys its own autonomy.  A moment of surreal comedy in the monotony of human existence".  The New York Times describes the Blue Man Group as "a radical test of the boundaries of commercial entertainment". "The best light-hearted amusement you could expose yourself to", is the verdict of the American magazine Variety.

Despite their mass appeal, an aura of mystery always surrounds the Blue Man Group, which explains part of their attraction. With their combination of grotesque pantomime and wordlessness, stimulating percussion and groovy rock music, situation comedy and element of surprise, high tech features und vaudeville, the Blue Man Group creates unique, innovative entertainment.