I’ve been to London again and thanks to one of my friends, I really feel like a Local, with my very own Oyster card and all! Reason this time was an invite from Edd, who introduced me to Tim Minchin a while ago and got tickets for his show last Friday… Ready for this?
Tim Minchin, comedian/musician/genius from Australia, is currently touring through England and I witnessed him doing ‘his thing’ at Hammersmith Apollo in London. This review is based on that evening, biased by me listening to his three CDs recently. Other than that he’s pretty much new to me and I find that ‘this’ is nothing like I’ve seen before.
Minchin makes performing look like an easy job: he moves on stage and plays his piano in a natural confident way, like he’s enjoying it himself too. He’s a born entertainer. A multi-talent with a message, who’s not afraid to make smart but on-edge jokes. Recurring topic of his fun rants is religion, for which he sometimes warns his possibly religious public. And from what he says in his nine minute beat poem ‘Storm’, where he quotes Shakespeare as: “To gild refined gold, to paint the lily, to throw perfume on the violet… is just fucking silly”, I think he believes we should appreciate our planet more too.
Which brings me to ‘Canvas bags’, a sarcastic, over-the-top rock song, which still manages to make you feel like you actually are at a rock concert, complete with special effects and Tim’s energy of a whole band. His voice is powerful and moving, especially obvious at the beautiful encore ‘White wine in the Sun’.
All of this leaves me wondering why he’s doing the show in such a ‘shitty’ theatre. I’ve never seen one where the seats were so badly organised, making it almost impossible to see anything but the person in front of you. The bass was also way too loud, compared to the rest. Isn’t he a bit too big for this venue? Though I liked the CDs, it’s nothing compared to seeing it presented with the expressions on Tim’s face. How about a big monitor? Of course his make-up helps, which is all I’m going to say about his apparently often discussed fashion icon style – which does suit him very well.
Don’t let that minor point of criticism about the location stop you from seeing this hilarious show though! With Tim’s ability to improvise, I’m sure none of the evenings will be the same. When for instance one of the security guys interrupted with his radio, Tim jumped off stage, took it from him saying he could have it back after class, to go on making fun of him and his colleagues.
So, have a look at his website, buy the DVDs and go see him live. It’s one of the funniest, wittiest and most awesome shows you’ll see. And maybe you’ll find what a lovely person Tim is outside the theatre too, when he takes time to talk to his fans – of which I’m definitely one now. I’m ready.
(Picture by Qwerty).
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I should add that my editor advised me not to be so harsh on the theatre, which was apparantly built to be a cinema. So I apologise to the people who have a soft spot for it. So much for being a local huh.
And while I’m commenting on my own review, I’d like to thank Qwerty again for letting me use her picture. I was actually standing next to Tim when I found out my own camera had died! Tim kindly asked a lovely girl to take the picture, so if she didn’t loose the e-mail address, I hope I’ll be able to update this with that picture. Either way, it was a great experience.
Great guy! and I have happy memories of great gigs at the cinema :0
LOVE his make-up. It reminds me of Alice Cooper back in the ’70′s