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The Founder | Wednesday 25 November 2009
E X T R A
21
Music
Tim Minchin
‘Ready for this’
at the Hammersmith Apollo
Dan Woodruff
As Australian Tim Minchin appears
barefoot onstage amongst
the smoke and lights he bursts out
into his introductory song. He
wears his trademark eye-liner and
his hair is typically wild and the
many cameras are focused on him,
presumably filming for a DVD that
will no doubt be ready in time for
Christmas.
The first half of the set is dedicated
to new material. I wondered
if these could ever live up to some
of his classic songs, and I genuinely
think he pulled it off. For example
his song titled “Prejudice” tackled
the subject of being a ‘ginger’ in a
very clever way using fast and fluid
rhyming and superb wordplay.
However merely describing the
song does not do justice without
listening to it. He seemed totally
comfortable with these although he
did fumble his lines in ‘If I didn’t
have you’ a song about his wife –
but he didn’t seem to care too much
anyway.
The second half featured some
of the old favourites including the
nine minute monologue about a
fictional conversation with the fairy
tattooed hippie called ‘Storm’ and
the semi-love song “If you really
loved me.” It is strange because
you would never ask a stand-up
comedian to repeat material he performed
on their previous tour, but
with Minchin the songs don’t lose
their humour and so you welcome
the classics.
Tim Minchin is first and foremost
a comedian, entertaining the
crowd with his witty songs, but he
is far more than just this. He is a
sharp lyricist, brilliant singer, and
an impeccable pianist. He alternates
between song and chatter, telling
not so many jokes with punch
lines but having a simply hilarious
interaction with the crowd often
ad-libbing effortlessly.
One of the definite highlights of
the night involved Minchin singing
about use of bears as some sort
of spectacle, in particular making
them dance. However that was not
all, he proceeded to dress a member
of the audience member - who
later turned out to be a professional
dancer – in a bear costume along
with a whole troupe of other dancing
bears.
It is true many of his songs can
seemingly be silly and a dark sort
of humour that would perhaps be
offensive to many. However there is
a more serious side to them which
can be easy to overlook. He uses his
logical take on issues to make sense
of and dismiss religion or champion
the importance of the environment
in ‘Canvas Bags’.
Before the penultimate song
Minchin explains how sometimes
he fears that his songs lack a certain
depth. So he tries to fight this assumption
– and a good example
of this was by far the best song of
the night: the finale. The song was
called the “White Wine in the Sun”
and gave him his second standing
ovation of the night. It was simply
beautiful.
His humour may not be to everyone’s
taste but I can assure you that
the night was thoroughly enjoyable
and full of laughter and insight
into the slightly twisted mind but
ingeniously constructed songs of
Tim Minchin.
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