Gig Review: Tim Minchin and Pink Martini - Kew the Music ✭✭✭✭

Tim Minchin and Pink Martini 

Photo by Ann Reid

Kew the Music 

On one of the few dry days of the week, Kew Gardens was filled with picnickers for the “little orchestra’  Pink Martini and their special guest, Tim Minchin.

Minchin began the evening with a fifty minute set of some of his popular comedy songs. The standing members of the audience danced and sang along in their ‘mosh pit’, and this natural entertainer displayed his song-writing genius with numbers including Only A Ginger, Woody Allen Jesus and the energy-packed Darkside. To end the set, Minchin performed When I Grow Up that he wrote for the award winning musical ‘Matilda’ and this was followed by rapturous applause.

The headline act ‘Pink Martini’ are a collection of singers and instrumentalists from Oregon, formed in 1994 by pianist Thomas Lauderdale. Their set covered a range of styles and inspiration from all over the world, including Cuban beats, swinging brass and European folk melodies.

Highlights of the program included vocal performances by Storm Large of the opening Amado Mio and a beautiful Romanian folk song telling of heartbreak. I was incredibly impressed by her ability to adapt from singing in one language to the next whilst expressing the words and mood of the songs.

The other instrumental and male vocal pieces were equally entertaining and the comedic homage to Schubert through two songs representing the two sides of a lover’s tiff, were both very clever and enjoyable.

If you get the chance, go and see Pink Martini for an evening of eclectic sounds that will leave you both dancing along and talking about in days to come.
4 out of 5 stars ✭✭✭✭

Review by Philippa Bellis