David Brent and Foregone Conclusion, Bloomsbury Theatre, review Maybe it was me thinking too much about Slough and its ring-roads on the way to the Bloomsbury Theatre, but I'm afraid I suffered a bit of a humour bypass at this debut rock gig by Ricky Gervais's finest, funniest alter-ego David Brent. I'm aware there are people who'd probably be happy to attack me with the nearest photo-copier for saying as much. Tickets for this show sold out online in a preposterous 15 seconds. One Twitter follower told Gervais that a tout had asked for more than £3,500 for just three tickets; "****ing disgusting" the star said, not to mention wholly ridiculous. Although you can understand the fuss. Brent has been away from our screens for the best part of 10 years now - The Office wrapped up in Christmas 2003, allowing its creator to pursue his other projects - but he was such a potent archetype we can't quite live without him. It has been one of the joys of the year to see him emerge from the shadows with his faux-earnest "Learn Guitar with David Brent" series on YouTube - the perfect comic marriage of DIY broadcast technology and unfulfilled creative yearning. The songs he has aired in that series have been accomplished and wryly entertaining - pastiche American middle-of-the-road anthems shot through with English suburban bathos. We heard most of them at this work-in-progress bash, properly souped up with a four-strong backing band (Foregone Conclusion). But the evening doesn't take the inveterate show-off's come-back to another level. After a disarming warm-up spot by comedy rap artist Doc Brown and a perfunctory intro from The Office's Keith (a heavy-breathing, scotch-egg eating Ewen MacIntosh), a goatee'd Brent and co ploughed through the numbers. They got whoops and cheers. They even raised the roof with that jaunty reggae spoof Equality Street. But even with an encore of the properly catchy Free Love Freeway - the song that first demonstrated Brent's thwarted talent - the set was over after 40 minutes or so. There was little between-songs banter, and from that squirm-making figure who famously "fused Flashdance with MC Hammer" in his infamous goonish dance, surprisingly few moves. Gervais played it straight - showed us who's boss; that's funny up to a point. But couldn't he have let his hair down? How is the eternal dreamer feeling now he's living the dream? We're left wanting more. Brent once played the clown at Wernham Hogg paper-suppliers. Now there's talk of playing Wembley Arena. Hold your horses, I'd say.