Shopocalypse 09

At the grand old Battersea Art Centre, we managed to catch the tail end of Rev Billy Stop Shopping ‘Shopocalypse’ tour.

It was a long day for the good rev and choir, as they had been preeching in the behemoth commonly known as Westfield shopping centre all day and had encountered an unnecessary amount of static from under-trained heavy handed security guards.

Their fatigue did not effect the performance in any way and the small theatre was transformed immediately by their brightly coloured smocks, energy and vocal depth. I go to lots of music festivals and see lots of musicians play ‘live’ but I can honestly say that the choir and accompanying jazzy trio were amongst the best I have ever seen!

After a few hand clapping performances, the Rev Billy took the stage to deliver his sermon, which was both hilarious and relevant, and touched lightly on topics like globalisation, sleaze and the breakdown of community, throughout the performance we were educated on the evils of brands who fund terrorism, Tesco’s deathhold grip and the sins of convenience shopping.

I managed to have a quick chat with two of the choir members after show and enquired briefly to their background: theatre and theatre studies, but as they spoke it became immediately apparent that they were more than aspiring broadway workers, they were passionate activists and this only enhanced the experience as the girl with the booming voice told me about the redwoods in California.

Then the Reverend himself, a tanned extremely approachable figure with eyes as bright as a fox, when asked about himself and the origins of the show he explained that he was “post religious” having been raised in West Virginia by “Dutch Calvinists”. He sees “preaching as a vocal form akin to rap or poetry”

“We are a Ma and Pa Store” he replies with a wry smile when asked about his wife being a key part of the fold since it’s inception almost ten years ago.

When asked about the key moments in his decade of delivering the good anti consumerist word, he explained that after 9/11 “the parody got washed out of Rev Billy” as people would approach him for guidance, the performer became pastor and he has married, buried and baptised many typed of people without ascribing to any particular type of religion.

To learn more about the church of stop shopping, you can catch a screening of Morgan Spurlocks documentary ‘What Would Jesus Buy?’ which is showing at cinemas nationwide.