Spinals reunite for Live Earth gig

Spinal Tap are to reunite for the Live Earth gig in the new Wembley Stadium on July 7.

The band will also release a new single, Warmer Than Hell, to mark the event - one of a series of worldwide concerts to spread the word about climate change.

Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer will recreate the roles as guitarist Nigel Tufnell, singer David St Hubbins and bassist Derek Smalls for the concert. And Rob Reiner, who directed the 1984 mockumentary This is Spinal Tap will also be there.

Reiner said: ‘They're not that environmentally conscious, but they've heard of global warming.

‘Nigel thought it was just because he was wearing too much clothing - that if he just took his jacket off it would be cooler.’

Reiner has also offered a sneak peak at the lyrics to Warmer Than Hell: ‘The devil went to Devon, it felt like the fourth degree/ He said, “Is it hot in here, or is it only me?”’

The band have reunited several times before. In 1992, they released their last album, Break Like the Wind, and took it on tour. And in 2001 they staged a nine-city Back From The Dead reunion tour, which took in the Montreal Just for Laughs comedy festival.

A new 15-minute film directed by Reiner on the band's latest reunion will also open the Tribeca Film Festival in New York on Wednesday.

It will explain how Nigel has been raising miniature horses to race, but can't find jockeys small enough to ride them; how David is now a hip-hop producer who also runs a colonic clinic; and how Derek is in rehab for addiction to the internet.

Published: 25 Apr 2007