Posted in: Movies, Recent Updates, Review | Tagged:

Review: Tim Minchin And The Heritage Orchestra Live At Albert Hall Is Really Bleeding Good

Alright, let's get this out of the way. This is not a review of a comic book. It's not a review of a film. It's not even a television review, though we often consider TV to be within our jurisdiction because when you get right down to it TV is just film but shorter and broken up by adverts for Cillit Bang. However, this is a review of Tim Minchin, and Tim Minchin is pretty bleeding cool, which means that all his base are belong to us etc. and I get to review him. Woo-yay!

Even before we get down to the details, I have to say that the DVD* is worth buying purely for the experience of seeing the prestigious Heritage Orchestra playing, to an audience of thousands of people in the beautiful and austere Royal Albert Hall, a song about cheese. I enjoyed this immensely, and apparently so did the Heritage Orchestra, members of which can be seen throughout the performance grinning around their flutes and laughing through their tubas.

Minchin has immense range as a performer and is fascinating to watch, perhaps most fascinating in the moments between the jokes. There's something almost hypnotic about the anticipation of a punchline that may or may not ever arrive, which means that when one is fired out of left field in the middle of a serious speech it becomes that much more memorable, and when Minchin delivers one of his rare but beautiful "serious" songs to an audience anticipating a broadly comedic number, the impact is that much greater.

But wait! This is a DVD of a live show, not the live show itself, so how well does it condense the live experience onto a shiny metal disc? In my interview with Tim last month he mentioned how much work had been put into the post production sound mix, and it shows. Because I work in sound engineering, I have an expensive and unhealthy fetish for a good set of headphones, and so I was watching this DVD with a head crowned by a very sexy set of Sennheiser HD 205s, and I can vouch for how well the recording strikes the delicate balance between the many instruments onstage.

The footage was shot in a fairly creative way from a pleasant array of angles, my personal favourites being the shots framed by instruments in the orchestra (everything looks better through a tuba). If I have one criticism, it's that the way that the shots are cut together isn't too spectacular, particularly because of a tendency to frequently cut back to long, wide shots of the entire theatre when it would have been much more preferable to see Tim Minchin or the other musicians. I suppose it gives a reminder of how impressive the venue and turnout was, but all I know is that when I'm in the audience for a show I tend to look at what's going on onstage, rather than looking around and thinking, "Blimey, there's a lot of people here!" Though I suppose it does evoke a sense of what it would be like to buy your tickets at the last minute and end up with really rubbish seats.

The appeal of Tim Minchin, for most people, has always been the combination of intelligent humour and unique musical talent. There's no shortage of comic musicians out there, but too often the strength lies either in the music or the comedy, with one aspect merely being used as a platform for the other. With the emphasis here being upon the impressive backing orchestra, the show is somewhat biased towards the music, and with songs that the viewer is already familiar with they may find themselves listening more and laughing less. Tim Minchin and the Heritage Orchestra probably isn't the best way to introduce Minchin to a friend as a comedian, but for existing fans and music snobs it's two and a half hours in heaven. The song selection is a healthy mixture of old favourites (there's a double bill of songs about the Pope) and fresh material like the aforementioned song about cheese, which contains puns about cheese, as well as a serious message about the burden of being lactose intolerant.

So if you haven't guessed already, this DVD has my stamp of approval. On Monday I'm going to sneak into HMV and put a literal stamp of approval on every copy until the security guards throw me out.

Things to look out for:

Tim Minchin breaking out a keytar.

A member of the audience losing control and throwing an item of lingerie onto the stage (I won't say if it was a man or a woman).

The drummer in the orchestra, who looks nearly identical to Tim Minchin, though through the power of editing and/or time travel they could well be the same person.

You can pre-order Tim Minchin and the Heritage Orchestra on Amazon now, or you can go into a shop from Monday November 14th and buy a copy from a real person if you're feeling retro.

It's also not too late to get tickets for the West End production of Matilda The Musical, for which Tim Minchin wrote the music and lyrics. I hear it's really good. I haven't seen it myself, though, so if you want to go ahead and buy me a ticket while you're at it I'll be eternally grateful and bring a large pack of Werther's Originals with me that we can split 60-40.

*In the interests of honesty I should disclose that I was watching the show via an online screening room and not the DVD.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!