Yesterday’s main event was the screening of Journey of the Childmen, the documentary of The Mighty Boosh on their last tour which played 91 dates…at least according to Wikipedia. I’m sure the documentary quoted more than that, they played a hell of a lot of dates, including the O2 Arena where they played to 12,000 people.

Oliver Ralfe, the documentary’s director was in attendance with his band, The Ralfe Band to perform and to take questions. They soundtracked the film, along with The Bunny and The Bull and they have appeared in small parts during The Mighty Boosh television series.

Proceedings kicked off at half six when the film was shown. The mixture of quirky animation and a close documentary style of film-making gave it a great feel, unlike a lot of talking-head, self-indulgent band documentaries. It would be easy to criticise the film for not having much falling out or arguments, but it’s clear that the Boosh boys get along. The most interesting, or even scary moments come from the adoring fans. Girls crying at signings and chasing their cars, it clearly amuses the team and they take it well. Oliver Ralfe’s film gets in with the gang and as a friend, it allows him to get alongside and to ingrain himself with them.

It’s always funny throughout and each person is as you would expect, but it also allows an insight into the writing process, but not as much as you might have liked. It’s an enjoyable viewing, especially for Boosh fans, and for non Boosh fans too.

The director came onstage to take questions afterwards, to the small, but attentive few. Things were quiet, but he let us know that Noel Fielding is developing his own show, Julian Barratt is appearing in a Russian comedy at a theatre in London and the Boosh album is recorded but he doesn’t know of a release date. When asked if Bunny and the Bull would be on television again soon, he couldn’t give an answer. He said he had forty hours or so of footage and came on around 25-30 dates during the tour, along with having full creative control over the film.

Once the Q & A finished, the band took to the stage for half an hour, and played some songs from their albums and a couple that feature in The Bunny and The Bull. It was really an enjoyable evening and for six pounds, a bigger turn-out should have been expected, but when the sun is out, you can’t blame the people of Preston too much.