{"id":207185,"date":"2025-06-23T08:09:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T08:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/207185\/"},"modified":"2025-06-23T08:09:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T08:09:10","slug":"live-report-tim-minchin-sec-armadillo-glasgow-live","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/207185\/","title":{"rendered":"Live Report: Tim Minchin – SEC Armadillo, Glasgow | Live"},"content":{"rendered":"

A night of wicked wit and disarming tenderness from the polymath songwriter\u2026<\/p>\n

Tim Minchin<\/strong> strides onstage beneath a lurid, psychedelic wash, flanked by a razor\u2011tight five\u2011piece and his regulation shiny black grand. \u201cEvery nerd in Glasgow is here,\u201d observes Tim through his shiny Barry Gibb grin \u2013\u00a0and judging by the packed Armadillo, he may be right. At 50 he looks absurdly healthy, lustrous ginger locks bobbing as he cracks his knuckles over the keys.<\/p>\n

Billed as \u201cSongs The\u202fWorld\u202fWill\u202fNever\u202fHear\u201d \u2013 winking to that line in breakthrough track \u2018Rock & Roll Nerd\u2019 \u2013\u00a0this show is essentially a two\u2011hour retrospective. \u2018Revolting Children\u2019 hearkens back to his Matilda triumph, Netflix projections syncing flawlessly with the band\u2019s toe\u2011tapping swing. His spikier, anti\u2011religious era surfaces in a barn\u2011storming \u2018The Good Book\u2019. \u201cI wasn\u2019t going to play this,\u201d he shrugs, \u201cbut then the Pentecostals put Trump back in the White House, so I thought fuck \u2018em.\u201d<\/p>\n

Minchin isn\u2019t afraid to cock tease his flock, hinting at many a classic song he now refuses to play. Why? It clearly bugs him to be shelved next to \u201cWeird Al\u201d as a novelty turn. But this evening\u2019s pendulum swing between earnestness and unfiltered silliness works, and is exactly why the crowd adores him.<\/p>\n

Those tender moments land hardest, as it happens, A piano\u2011only ode to wife Sarah melts the room, while 2020\u2019s \u2018I\u2019ll Take Lonely Tonight\u2019 \u2013\u00a0about turned-down tour\u2011bus temptation \u2013\u00a0draws cheers of recognition. Recent single \u2018Ruby\u2019, however, for me at least, drifts a little in its earnest abstraction, leaving the hall fidgeting in anticipation of a punchline that never comes.<\/p>\n

Brand\u2011new ballad \u2018Peace\u2019 is outstanding, and strikes a much\u00a0finer balance between the artist he wants to be, and the man we\u2019ve all hired babysitters to come out and see. Vulnerable, lightly comic, \u2018Peace\u2019 reminds everyone why a spotlight and a Steinway were once ample \u2013 whisper it, but at times in the first set, the band overwhelms his piano playing, a little, in a way that serves nobody.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

A preview of forthcoming album Time Machine sparks genuine excitement. \u2018The Song Of The Masochist\u2019 is a wicked, full\u2011throttle banger that proves his older material still bites. It has a hook! Set two opens with his gleeful ode to breasts, confirming Minchin, for all his yearning to be taken seriously, knows precisely which side his bread is buttered.<\/p>\n

Tears flow for seasonal fave \u2018White Wine In The Sun\u2019, written for a baby daughter now eighteen. And in a neat circle, the encore sees Minchin \u2013 having entreated us to \u201cturn off your motherfucking phones\u201d \u2013 now order them aloft, a shimmering swaying sea of LED glow accompanying a 2004 video of an impossibly gawky short\u2011haired Tim hammering a wonky upright in some titchy Melbourne club.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Songs once destined for obscurity find their moment, while others remain locked in Minchin\u2019s vault, tantalising us for a future gig. As the crowd files out into a sultry midsummer night, we\u2019ve all had both the laughs and the lump\u2011in\u2011throat \u2013\u00a0and that, nerds of Glasgow will agree, is exactly why we love\u00a0him. Funny, that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

Words: Andy Hill<\/strong><\/p>\n

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