"He smells like the inside of your grandmother's purse": Spinal Tap's improbable return is the comeback no one expected – and even fewer requested

Spinal Tap onstage.

Of all the comebacks of the 21st century, the return of Spinal Tap is simultaneously the most consequential and inconsequential of them all. Led Zeppelin’s one-off show at London’s O2 in 2007 might have been the most talked about, and Black Sabbath’s recent reunion/farewell the most poignant, but nothing will provoke as much joy, celebration and mockery as the return of Tap.

A brand new documentary, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, sees the band reuniting with director Marty DiBergi, the man behind celebrated 1984 documentary This Is Spinal Tap, which captured the disastrous US tour in support of their infamous Smell The Glove album.