REVIEW: Musical genius Bill Bailey at his whimsical best

NO-ONE else can get away with Bill Bailey’s unique style of whimsical ramblings and intelligent musings quite like he can.

His manner and stage presence means he could probably wander around a stage for two hours spouting nonsense and you would still come away feeling both more intelligent and highly amused.

He is a musical genius and has spent decades honing his ability to use traditional and more unusual instruments to entertain and educate his audiences.

A live Bill Bailey performance, such as Larks In Transit at the Doncaster Dome last night (Tuesday), just wouldn’t be the same without his keyboard, guitars or his trusty theremin — an instrument played using the proximity of your hand, or, as Bill demonstrates, your head.

Bill also has a few muscial surprises up his sleeve — such as a button which turns the venue into a jazz club, which he only deploys “in emergencies”.

Melodic delights also include a performance on a handpan — which is essentially an inverted steel drum — and a tune played using Apple’s Garage Band app which Bill describes as “Chinese hip-hop”.

His insight into songs played in the major key and the minor key is Bill’s brand of entertaining musical theory at its best, and his rendition of a Russian-sounding American national anthem played in the minor key is somehow bizarre, amusing and topical.

Bill’s imagination knows no bounds and he demonstrates this with his reinvention of the children’s nursery rhyme, Old MacDonald, in a Tom Waits “crooner” style.

Away from the symphonious sorcery, Bill analyses the state of affairs in British politics and muses on which political party might save us from the chaos of Brexit.

He also dabbles in poetry and stories of how being “a person of note” leads to some strange encounters with members of the public.

As well dazzling audiences with his intelligence, he can also entertain with something as mundane as the reflection from the tuning nuts on his guitar or even just walking off stage in a funny way — perhaps also an example of his genius.

They say comedy is all about timing and delivery, and Bill nails both when he takes an Indonesian phrasebook and reads some of the rather unusual conversations suggested within.

There’s never a dull moment as Bill combines his trademark wit, surreal humour and intelligent insights.

Bill Bailey performs at FlyDSA Arena, Sheffield, on Saturday and is on tour until June 14.