Tim put this tour together to celebrate his twenty years of success in The Business and to promote his upcoming album, Time Machine.
My history with Tim Minchin goes back to 2008. His first Edinburgh run had been a smash hit, so his subsequent return spurred me to catch him.
After the show, he manned his own merch stall outside the Pleasance Grand. I joined the long queue of young, desirable women looking to meet him and buy his wares. When I reached the front, I became totally starstruck, barely able to speak my own name. He repeated my grunt and asked me to spell it, and I complied. He was then able to sign the canvas bag I purchased (which, unfortunately, I have now lost).
I was so impressed by his show that I caught him both times he brought the tour back to Glasgow.
I was also lucky enough to attend each of his subsequent tours: Tim Minchin and the Heritage Orchestra Tour (2011), Back (2019), and An Unfunny Evening with Tim Minchin and His Piano (2023).
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| No paper tickets For Tim's shows after this, which I lament now the industry has switched to mobile tickets |
When the dates for this new tour, Songs the World Will Never Hear, were announced, I had a problem. I was elsewhere on both Scottish dates. I had to come up with a plan; otherwise, the tour title, 'Songs the World Will Never Hear,' would be personally pertinent.
I noted he was due to play Leeds First Direct Arena on Monday, 23rd June. That date would work, and handily, I have a friend, Kenny, who lives near Leeds. Plan hatched, I checked if he wanted to go. Success!
Then disaster. When the tickets went on sale, every time I attempted to basket three tickets, Ticketmaster told me they were unable to complete the transaction. The tickets were unavailable. Eventually, I secured three tickets in the middle of section 216. Not the best view.
Later, I checked the ticketing site, AXS, only to discover that all the seats I had tried to buy from Ticketmaster were still on sale through them. I hadn't known that AXS were the official ticketing agency for the First Direct Arena.
Then I did something stupid. I bought three more. These tickets offered a better view, were centrally located, and were closer to the stage without straying into the exorbitant VIP territory. I managed to find someone to take two of the original tickets, leaving me with one to sell.
Sorted.
Everything was going well until five days before the event, when my friend's partner, Amanda, contracted COVID-19. She would not be able to attend the concert, and I would have to find somewhere else to stay, given that their home was now a plague zone. I also discovered another problem, as Ticketmaster stated that tickets for this event were not transferable. I had no way to give Amanda's friends their tickets, except in person.
I booked a hotel room and a train ticket down to Leeds. My Ticketmaster query, having already found the chatbot unhelpful, was met with a generic response from the human customer service advisor, stating that the tickets are not usually transferable until at least 48 hours before the event.
Then Kenny tested positive. None of the tickets had sold, so I suggested that Amanda's friends sit with me in the central section, and I would put all the rear tickets up for resale, dropping the price, hoping that would entice a purchaser.
I went onto Tim's website and noted Twickets was the official site for reselling the tickets. How would that work if Ticketmaster didn't allow transfers? I left a comment on the tour post outlining my dilemma.
Now that we were less than two days from showtime, I complained to Ticketmaster again about the lack of ticket transfer. The bot replied that someone would be in touch within 24 hours. The human response was again generic and unhelpful, stating that the organisers had determined that transfers would remain disabled.
To my surprise, one of Tim's web fairies got in touch, concerned about my situation regarding the lack of transfer. She had already passed on my feedback to the organisers, confirming that transfers should definitely be allowed. She promised they would instruct Ticketmaster to remedy this situation, as it was not their intention to block transfers.
On the day of the concert, Ticketmaster contacted me one more time, stating transfers were now allowed. Given the information I had already received directly from the organiser, the cynic in me suspects that Ticketmaster, as the non-primary ticket seller, had deliberately prevented their customers from reselling elsewhere in order to profit from additional charges. My action had forced them to change their plan. Unfortunately, my three unused tickets remained unsold.
(Boy, this is a lengthy post, and we haven't even got to the gig yet.)
Alone in Leeds, a city I've never visited before, I went for a wander prior to the gig. I found the venue and the location of the restaurant where I'd arranged to meet my two guests for the evening. I avoided the beggars and the homeless and the junkies. Leeds is much like any large city in this respect, though I was approached by the same vagrant twice on different streets.
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| First Direct Arena, Leeds |
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| I waited nearly fifteen minutes for this to come around. |
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| Zaap Thai - the company was good, The food was gorgeous and filling |
Recently, I've stopped buying concert programmes, figuring I look at them once and then put them away. Feeling nostalgic about Tim's anniversary tour, I decided I wanted one to remember the event. I didn't bother buying a new canvas bag or any of the other items on sale. It wasn't as if he was going to autograph them for me after the show.
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| Front cover |
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| Back cover |
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| Before the show |
Our view from Section 105, Row Q, was excellent, still quite far from the action, but still close enough to see the keys of Tim's piano.
I took no photos or videos during the show (except at the bow - see below) as I heeded the message of the first song. For once, the rest of the audience complied too. From our vantage point, I didn't spot a single phone screen taking snaps or videos (except for a brief one by the guy in front of me during Canvas Bags). Everyone was living in the moment as prescribed.
My controversial opinion of the concert is that it isn't my favourite show of his. That might be due to the venue. Intimate, it was not, compared to, say, the Theatre Royal. The sound mix was off in the first half, with the band sounding muted, which upset the overall balance. The staging was unusual, with the band squeezed into the corner, rather than spread out behind him as per Back. Tim made good use of the platforms, occasionally performing from the ramped area at the back and on top of his piano. He played far more songs than he usually would, which was good, but this meant he limited his chat to telling the story of his career journey and sharing the background to his songs. I liked how he incorporated video footage of his early career into the performance. I hadn't seen any of this early pre-fame work.
Given the nature of the show, the musical tone was all over the place, something Tim intended, playing a set that included ballads, jazz numbers, songs from musicals, and full-on rocking tracks. I'm not familiar with his musicals (sacrilege!), so that might also explain why the overall concert appealed to me less. However, it was worth it to see him go full rock god once again during Canvas Bags.
As a performer, he dislikes being categorised, so this tour marks the next step of his evolution away from being a comedian, as identified in the image used for the backdrop and on the programme cover. He's happy so many have continued to follow him on this journey, but I feel I'm now hanging back. I loved comedian Tim: erudite, thoughtful, vulgar and funny. Perhaps I haven't evolved at quite the same pace. I still love his music. I'd have preferred this one were just unadulterated Tim.
Setlist
Set 1:
Turn your mother fucking phone off
Rock 'n' Roll Nerd
You Grew on Me
Ruby
Lullaby
The Good Book
I Wouldn't Like You
I'll Take Lonely Tonight
Canvas Bags
Set 2:
YouTube Lament
Confessions
Revolting Children (from Matilda)
Apart Together
Peace
The Song of the Masochist (Timmy the Dog song)
I Know Everything (from Groundhog Day)
Seeing You (from Groundhog Day)
Encore:
Dark Side
White Wine in the Sun
That's What Friends Are For (Dionne Warwick cover)
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| Screen is out of sync. |
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| And goodnight! |
Ticket Price: £148.50 (3 Tickets)
Booking Fee £19.50
Transaction Fee £2.75
Facility Fee £9.75
Total: £180.50 from AXS.
3 Full Price Ticket £49.50 x3 £148.50
Per Item Fees £6.20 (Service Charge Full Price Ticket) x3
£3.25 (Facility Charge Full Price Ticket) x3 £28.35
Order Processing Fees
Handling Fee £2.75
Total £179.60 from Ticketmaster.
Blurb:
Audiences can expect an evening packed with unforgettable songs and stories, as Tim looks back on how a Perth cabaret pianist ended up building one of the most eclectic and extraordinary careers in entertainment. Delivered with his signature blend of razor-sharp wit, musical virtuosity, and disarming honesty, the set list will see Tim and his band draw from three decades of unique songwriting.
Tim: ”Incredibly, many of my UK fans have been by my side for two decades. They have never flinched as I’ve turned corners and reinvented myself, always engaging open-heartedly with whatever I have to offer. I’m the luckiest artist on the planet, and I can’t wait to be back to deliver a big joyous show, spanning the whole bloody thing.”
The following day, I had a fantastic breakfast at Farmhouse, an all-day, independent restaurant located on Lands Lane. The food looked so good, I did something I never do. I took a picture of it. It tasted even better.
The rail journey home was uneventful, except when a coachload of Last of the Summer Wine castoffs in brightly coloured waterproof jackets invaded the train at Settle. Every empty seat was filled, except for the occasions when they left them to catch a glimpse of the location their voluntary tour guide was describing. He provided a commentary in a thick Yorkshire accent throughout the rest of the journey to Carlisle. The pensioner beside me was constantly up and down, swinging from the handle of the seat in front like a geriatric chimpanzee. Later, I thought my tinnitus was playing up, but it turned out the discordant screech was hearing aid feedback emitting from multiple nearby travellers.
Unrelated but interesting:
Researching my ticket stubs, I dug out the piles of folders and discovered I had a programme for Hamlet which had been signed by some of the cast. We'd left it at the stage door along with a stamped, addressed envelope. Somehow, I failed to spot the signatures when it arrived and got depressed that my ploy had failed. Alas, my grief must have blinded me.
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| We think "Patrick Stewart" and "D Tennant" |
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