Tim Minchin - Ready For This?

Back in 2005 when Tim Minchin first stormed Edinburgh and picked up the Perrier Best Newcomer Award, things were different.

It was before skinny jeans, and before Russell Brand had pioneered birds' nest hair as a plausibly sexy look. It was before The God Delusion became a bestseller, and the hip young likes of Sarah Silverman and Justin Timberlake recorded comedy songs that broke out into the mainstream.

Fast-forward a few years and as if by magic everything is in perfect alignment: the bare feet and eyeliner mark Minchin out as a metrosexual trendsetter rather than an oddball; his songs mocking religion and superstition are met with vigorous approval and gales of laughter, and he begins his show like a proper rock star, with an invigorating anthem and exciting lighting effects.

The entire performance is of such a fantastically high standard that it's difficult to pick out highlights, but If I Didn't Have You (or more likely U) stands out as a genius reinvention of the contemporary R 'n' B ballad as a lesson in statistical probability.

There's a measured response to an inexplicably damning newspaper review from three years ago, a spot of Bible-bashing (although not in the usual sense), and a glorious nine-minute beat poem about an encounter with a fellow Australian at a dinner party.

It's not all negativity, though. A new campaign song has an unexpectedly joyful climax, and of course there's a brand new love song for the encore. This is truly masterful stuff.

Reviewed at the Edinburgh Fringe in August 2008. A version of this review first appeared in The Herald.