Tim Minchin has been one of my favourite comedians for years now. If you’re not aware of who he is (first, where have you been?!!) he’s a Australian comedian and musician who has played several sell-out tours around the world, and has offered his musical talent to several big productions that you may have heard of – Matilda the Musical, Goundhog Day, and more.
He hasn’t toured for a few years, so when tickets went on sale last year for his 2019 tour, they undoubtedly sold out in minutes. I was lucky enough to get tickets for his show at St. David’s Hall, Cardiff, on 29th October. We waited an entire YEAR to see the show after we booked the tickets, but every second of the show made the ridiculously long wait worth it.
The show started in a very understated why that’s typical of Minchin’s laid back shows: the house lights went down, a single light shone on the stage, and Minchin appeared at his piano. He opened with a brand new song (If the Plane Goes Down), and a definite fan favourite: F Sharp.
Then, after a few more songs, a bit of banter, and some stories about what’s been happening in Minchin’s life, the laid back, relaxed atmosphere was suddenly flipped upside down when, mid-song, the curtain blocking the back half of the stage fell and a full band started playing along with him. Guitars, drums, various brass instruments, and backing vocals – the whole shebang – launched an explosion of sound that lifted the tone and turned it almost into a rock show. With the band playing alongside Minchin’s incredible (and by that, I mean practically superhuman) piano skills, it was an atmosphere I’ll never forget.
Some of the particular highlights for me were:
- Minchin’s performance of When I Grow Up from Matilda the Musical, which I have been dying to see him play live
- The show opening with F Sharp, which has been a firm favourite of mine for a long time
- The performance of the 8-minute rock opera called Cheese (which is actually about cheese and contains several awful-but-genius cheese puns
- How Minchin performed a perfect mixture of old fan favourites as well as new, never-heard-before songs
The second half of the show had a different mood to the first; while the first half was lively, upbeat and full of fun, some of the second half took a more somber turn as Minchin told everyone about his mental health, the devastating cancellation of his $100m animation he was working on with Dreamworks, and more. It wasn’t all sad and depressing, though – it still had a ton of Minchin’s wit and dark humour, and I loved every minute.
I’m not sure if there are any tickets left for this tour considering the Cardiff date sold out in minutes, and Twitter went crazy with all the other dates too. But if there is a chance in hell that you might be able to get a ticket, it’ll be well worth it.
