"The greatest band on Earth" took on the devil and won in Sunday's duel of rocking guitars.

Preposterous and hilarious, Tenacious D's stage show mixed the pomposity of Spinal Tap and the optimism of Bill & Ted into a night of rocking belly laughs.

Made up of duo Jables (Jack Black) and Cage (Kyle Gass), The D are convinced of their musical brilliance and the success, superstardom and unlimited groupies, which are just around the corner.

But before they can become rock gods, they must first defeat Satan (JR Reid), who seems to be spending eternal damnation trying to turn this chunky duo into his sex slaves.

Of course, while Black and Gass are really comedians pretending to be a pair of deluded losers, they can both play and sing in their own right and the people they are lampooning clearly get the joke.

After all, these two hang out with the likes of Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, Josh Homme of QOTSA and Ronnie James Dio. Grohl and Dio, along with Meatloaf, also pop up in The D's new film, The Pick of Destiny.

And with that calibre of showbiz pal, there was always hope of megastardom. But it wasn't to be. Instead, they put together an all-star backing group, made up of the Antichrist, Colonel Sanders and Charlie Chaplin.

"Why are you down here, Charlie? You never did anything wrong," asks Jables. "I'm gay,"

Chaplin explains.

Ironic and demented, The D were a hit with the young audience and proved even the devil can't keep a good rocker down.